Date: March 5, 2012 To:
Chris Bragg, Department Chair, College of Southern Idaho Twin Falls, ID 83303.
RE:
Instructor, Technical, Business Management/Entrepreneurship
1236 N. Lincoln Jerome, ID 83338 208-316-5382
I can’t imagine a better application of my knowledge, skills, training and experience than as an instructor / program director for the College of Southern Idaho’s Business and Economics Department. I am a former school teacher. I have been a successful small business owner for 30 years. I have worked with national and international companies. My clients have included Disney, Pixar, Lucas Films, Hallmark Cards, the NFL, the Smithsonian, the USMC, Boise Cascade, Rangen, Project Mutual Telephone and Soran’s Restaurants. I have experience with virtually every aspect of business planning, marketing, sales, development, management and administration. I have developed internships and live projects for area students and teachers. I am extremely tech savvy. I play well with others. While a Washington State University, I was a student body officer for two terms, supervising 22 ASWSU student committees with an annual budget of $500,000. I was the Director of the Pullman Tenants’ Union for four years and worked for the Department of Fine Arts in the Museum and Gallery with duties that included design and marketing, as well as developing & instructing graduate level Museum Science courses. I graduated with a degree in Political Science / Secondary Education and minors in Economics, Sociology, Philosophy, Fine Arts and History. For my post graduate work I attended the University of Utah, Boise State University, the College of Idaho, Washington State University, Western Washington University and the School of Visual Arts in New York. My studies were split between graphic communications (marketing) and economics. I was working within grants from the Taft Foundation, the Idaho Bar Association, IACI, and three grants from the National Science Foundation. I taught US Government and Economics at Jerome High School for 5 years. I developed all of my own courses and materials. I was invited by the graduating seniors to give the Commencement Address 5 times. I was the lead negotiator for the Jerome Teachers’ Union for two consecutive years. We realized the highest salary increases in Jerome’s history with no conflict with the Board or the Administration. I left teaching to buy a small publishing company in Twin Falls that was on the verge of bankruptcy. As President and CEO, I built a company that was one of the largest advertising and marketing firms in Idaho with an expanding international clientele. After a decade of continuous growth that ranged between 65% and 125% annually, the company was nominated by Dun & Bradstreet to Inc magazine’s “500 Fastest Growing Companies.” In 1991, I started JFm Graphic Design, the first 100% digital design and marketing studios in Idaho and one of the first in the US. This company and my commitment to technology has allowed me to be involved with some incredible projects. Over the past 20 years, I have been hired as a troubleshooter, freelancer, consultant, designer, marketing director, creative lead, presentation specialist, product developer, team leader, technology trainer, project manager and just about any other title you can imagine. I became Walmart Retail Link certified. I was allowed access to Walmart’s PetaByte database to run, track and evaluate retail programs. I was the only person in the world allowed to provide Retail Link services to multiple companies simultaneously. I tracked the daily sales of products in every store, every day. I provided a weekly analysis of sales, inventory, distribution and manufacturing. I was responsible for any adjustments required to make each program successful.
I was responsible for managing 72 regional representatives who provided products within Walmart’s “70 Type” program. This is the program which allows individual store managers to work locally for local products (Falls Brand is an example). When the World Trade Center was attacked on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I was asked by Walmart to set up a 70 Type, Patriotic Program. I had the program operational within 48 hours. When the Kobe Japan earthquake destroyed three large microchip manufacturing plants, Micron Technologies was looking to expand its facilities to take advantage of the opportunity. I created the presentation for Crossroads Ranch. After receiving my presentation, Micron sent instructions to all 220 communities to follow my format. I have created, assembled and staffed trade show and media events in Orlando, Las Vegas, Boise, San Francisco and Honolulu. I have designed and prepared teams for trade shows in Italy, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Japan, China, Thailand and Korea. Hallmark Cards hired me to solve a problem with gravure presses in China. As a result, I had a series of contracts which lasted more than 5 years. These assignments included providing Adobe Acrobat training to the Business Division, a four month assignment to the Lettering Studio for small group training and one-onone coaching and the creation of digital illustration courses for the entire Creative Division. When the Cassia Regional Technical Center wanted to add Graphic Communications to its offerings, Dr. Trudy Anderson of the Idaho Department of Vocational Education strongly suggested that they “speak with West Gates,” before they began their planning. They contacted me after being told the same thing by Karen Fraley, Director of Idaho School-to-Work and by Chris Latter the Communications Officer at the J.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation. I created the formal multimedia presentation for the CRTC’s proposal to the Foundation’s Grant Committee which secured $750,000 in funding. When there was only enough students signed up to the CRTC’s course to make it a part time position, I offered my services until it became a full time position. I developed the computer lab and the curriculum for a two year program. The School Board has on file a letter from the Xerox Educational Rep stating that this was “the best graphic communication program I have seen in my 27 years.” While under contract with Samsung and Daewoo, I was able to participate in their internal management training programs. I learned interviewing and hiring practices, TPS, TQM, Sigma 6, 5S and Lean management techniques. I am an associate of the Lean Enterprises Institute and the W. Edwards Deming Institute. I hope I have conveyed my very rich, diverse business and teaching background. I have a wealth of experience and I am excellent in the classroom. I’m looking forward to speaking with you personally about this position.
West Gates 208-316-5382