Will Chase
1477 Oak St. #1
San Francisco, CA 94117
willchase (at) earthlink (dot) net
(415) 847-6382
www.willchase.com

SUMMARY

Over 12 years of project management and product management experience, including development of wireless, financial services, internet and entertainment software, with a proven track record of versatility and success.

EXPERIENCE

Feb 05 - Present
WAVEMARKET, INC., EMERYVILLE, CA
WaveMarket is an industry-leading developer of location-based services, alert systems, and mobile social networking applications.

Project Manager (Contract)
Responsible for managing a team of 12 engineers, user experience designers, front-end developers, and quality assurance testers to develop and launch Crunkie 2.0, a mobile social networking application running on J2ME and BREW-enabled handsets, complimented by an information-rich website constructed in JSP, CSS2, XHTML, and SQL. Also responsible for establishing workflow processes and procedures at this rapidly-growing startup.

Oct 02 - Present
BLACK ROCK CITY LLC, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Black Rock City, LLC works year-round to create the infrastructure for a temporary city in the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada, in which Burning Man takes place. Burning Man is a unique environment in which radical self-expression, radical self-reliance, community spirit, and an appreciation of interactive art flourishes. Over 35,000 participants flock to the desert each year to create this city, play their part in the community, and depart having left no trace whatsoever.

Feb 04 - Present
Web Team Project Manager (Contract)
Responsible for all aspects of project management of a volunteer team to support the maintenance and ongoing development of the Burning Man website (www.burningman.com). Developed organizational systems, workflow processes and development policies to ensure the timely completion of tasks related to the site. Also responsible for working with the broader Technology Team to implement a comprehensive community collaboration extranet system (Plone) to enhance the overall site experience.

Oct 02 - Present
Operations Manager, Art Council (Volunteer)
Responsible for the planning and operations management of the Art Department headquarters during the Burning Man event, directly managing a staff of 5 volunteers. The Artery (the headquarters) staffs approximately 30 people during the event.

Nov 01 - Jan 03
VIRGIN MOBILE USA, SAN FRANCISCO , CA
Virgin Mobile USA is the first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in the United States, providing nationwide pre-paid cellular phone service to the youth market.

Product Development Manager
Responsible for the development of the Virgin Xtras application suite, a combination of web, WAP, IVR (Interactive Voice Response), SMS, and back-end processing systems. Specific responsibilities included:

• Managing both internal and external cross-functional teams
• Designing and managing the development of efficient content management processes that seamlessly integrated internal and external systems
• Interfacing with and managing third party content providers (e.g. ringtones)
• Creating and managing internal and external reporting requirements
• Creating highly-detailed Business Requirements and Functional Requirements documents for web, WAP, IVR and SMS products

Sep 98 - Aug 01
THE BRODIA GROUP, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
A leading technology provider to Fortune 500 companies. Brodia's technology powered 7 of the top 10 American financial institutions, including JP Morgan Chase & Co, Citibank, MasterCard, Discover, MBNA, Capital One, Providian and Wells Fargo.

Sep 00 - Aug 01
Sr. Director of Product Development
Responsible for all product and project management for three major projects in Brodia's E-Commerce Platform: Wireless Services, Authenticated Payments and the Identity Management System. The Brodia Platform was targeted to large financial institutions and enterprises in need of identity management and secure payments solutions. Specific responsibilities included:

• Development of Business Requirements, Functional Requirements and Functional Specifications documents
• Formulation and communication of market strategy, business cases and long-term roadmaps for products
• Translation of market requirements to functional specifications
• Creation and management of detailed project schedules
• Direct management of multi-departmental core teams to see projects through to completion, on time and on budget
• Real-time risk management, issue resolution and resource balancing
• Evangelism of products to executive management, external partners and potential customers
• Giving product and sales presentations to venture capitalists, financial institution clients, wireless carriers, technology partners, and potential customers

Wireless Services
Was responsible for product strategy, product roadmap, and implementation of wireless financial services, including a personal commerce manager and e-wallet for WAP and Palm devices. This partner-branded, server-side JSP application allowed for simplified purchasing of products and content on wireless devices. Deployed a fully functional service for WAP-enabled cell phones, which was piloted by JP Morgan Chase & Co. Also managed the design and development of a prototype IVR (Interactive Voice Response) interface to the e-wallet and identity management system.

Authenticated Payments System
Also responsible for the development of an Authenticated Payments system, conforming to MasterCard and Visa specifications and protocols for authenticated payments. This system enabled verifiable authentication of credit cards and their cardholders during online transactions to eliminate the risk of fraud for online merchants. The system was designed and implemented for integration into issuing banks' credit card authorization process.

Identity Management System
Managed the development and deployment of the Identity Management System (IDMS), which was the core business logic of Brodia's E-Commerce Platform. Its primary role was to provide a suite of robust, abstracted business rules and logic (business objects) allowing for the secure storage and transaction of critical user data. It also featured the IDMX protocol, an XML DTD allowing trusted partners to utilize the IDMS through a simplified interface.

Sep 98 - Sep 00
Director of Product Development
Managed the design, development and deployment of Brodia's flagship Personal Commerce Manager and Digital Wallet products for the web. This JSP-based platform and application suite was developed, branded, and hosted for 7 of the top 10 financial institutions in the US. Product included the integration and real-time updating of content from 5 external data sources, such as Epinions, BizRate and DealTime. Built and directly managed a team of 20+ engineers, web developers, artists and designers to bring this product to market, maintain it, and customize it for new financial institutions.

Mar 96 - Sep 98
POSTLINEAR ENTERTAINMENT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
An entertainment software development company, which became The Brodia Group, above.

Producer
Producer of the game Vigilance, a realtime 3D action adventure game for PC, published by SegaSoft, Inc. Vigilance features solo play, LAN play, and play on HEAT.NET, SegaSoft's former internet gaming network.

Over the course of this 2 year, $2M project, coordinated the efforts of 20 internal and 15 external resources, including 3D modelers/animators, 2D artists, conceptual artists, engineers, designers, mission designers, script writers, voice actors, and audio technicians. Responsible for all aspects of project management from design and prototype through to launch, under tight deadlines. Responsible for recruiting resources; structuring teams; building and managing schedules and budgets; client relations; and all other aspects of product development cycle, including final production decisions.

Prior to starting Vigilance, oversaw the design and prototype phase of several games, including creation of design and technical specifications, and pitching those games to potential clients.

Apr 95 - Mar 96
WILL CHASE CONSULTING, OAKLAND, CA
Consulting Producer; clients included:

DIGITAL ECLIPSE, INC., EMERYVILLE, CA
Managed the development of Mortal Kombat 3 for Mac, assisted with proposals for new business, and team building for their multiple platform versions of Robotron, Defender, Joust, Sinistar, and Bubbles.

CAPS SOFTWARE, INC, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Simultaneously managed two game projects in their HeadGames Studio, one a 3D first-person action-adventure game for MPC and Sony Playstation, and the other a 3D arcade-style race game for Sony Playstation.

HYPNOVISTA SOFTWARE, OAKLAND, CA
Helped this small startup company establish a business strategy for its contract software development services, including building a sales and marketing strategy, and a project management infrastructure.

Apr 91 - Apr 95
BERKELEY SYSTEMS, INC., BERKELEY, CA

Aug 93 - Apr 95
Producer

Aug 92 - Aug 93
Assistant Producer
Products: After Dark 2.0, 3.0, The Complete After Dark CD-ROM, After Dark for DOS, More After Dark, The Totally Twisted Screen Saver, The X-Men Screen Saver, Marvel Comics Screen Posters, Star Trek Screen Posters, The Disney Collection Screen Saver, Star Trek: The Screen Saver (all Mac and Windows). Managed all aspects of product development. Notable achievements include:

• Developed and implemented new methods for product conceptualization, development and production that were then adopted across Berkeley Systems' entire product line. Implemented radical and substantial cost-cutting measures in products' build-of-materials that were then adopted across the product line.
• Helped establish relationships with and wrote proposals to major licensors, including Disney, Fox, Warner Brothers, Jim Henson Productions (Muppets), Universal Pictures (Jurassic Park), National Geographic, Successories, Where's Waldo, Winterland, The World Wildlife Federation, and Leisure Concepts (Incredible Crash Dummies), the Estate of Marilyn Monroe and Graceland.
• Instituted Berkeley's custom screen saver program, which was then taken over by a full-time spin-off group within the company. Planned, budgeted, designed and executed a highly successful (20% response rate) direct mail promotion for More After Dark for Windows.

Jul 91 - Aug 92
Marketing Associate
Responsible for all aspects of product marketing, including retail channel partner relations, writing press releases for new product launches, co-writing of scripts for tradeshow demonstrations, and demonstrating Berkeley's screen savers at tradeshows. Created, implemented and maintained an OEM and bundling program for BSI's product line. Strategized, coordinated and ran the first annual $10,000 After Dark Module Contest, judged by 14 computer industry luminaries. The contest became a permanent fixture in the company's marketing mix.

Apr 91 - Jul 91
PC Technical Support Representative
Helped organize and set up the fledgling Windows Technical Support Department, while providing technical support to Berkeley's customers.

Aug 89 - Feb 91
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Student Professor of Public Speaking
Taught an undergraduate course on public speaking, together with an instructor. For 3 semesters, gave lectures and conducted interactive seminars and workshops for classes of 25 students.

Writing Tutor
Taught fundamental and advanced writing techniques to individuals and workshops of 5-8 undergraduate students studying English, Rhetoric and Comparative Literature.

EDUCATION

University of California, Berkeley
B.A. in Rhetorical Theory and Practice conferred December 1990.
UC Berkeley Honor Students' Society member, 1988-1990.