Suzanne Ryan
1719 Welch Street #A
Houston, TX 77006
[Send email using form at bottom]
214-755-7191 (cell), [Send email to request phone number] 61-1048 (office)
Work Experience
07/2009 – 12/18/2009: Contract Instructional Designer/Writer and SABA Centra
Producer (telecommuting)
St. Charles Consulting Group in Chicago, IL for Deloitte Services LLP (Tax
Learning and Talent Development Dept)
Produce open houses, virtual conferences, and virtual classrooms using SABA
Centra. Recently designed and wrote 5 Virtual Classroom courses, 2 Virtual
Conferences, and 1 Instructor-Led Training to prepare Deloitte Seniors and
Managers for LTS U.S./Hyderabad (India) client-engagements and for LTS tax
consulting in the area of Passthroughs. These courses ranged from 2 to 4 hours
long. Some were converted from Instructor-led Trainings. All include use of Word,
Engage, and Flash for Saba Centra presentation. Remote work with little
supervision in collaboration with Deloitte SMEs located in Atlanta, GA;
Cincinnati, OH; Detroit, MI; Miami, FL; and San Francisco, CA; and with St.
Charles Consulting Group personnel from Chicago, IL. Much team interaction and
self-discipline to meet demanding schedules.
03/2007 – Present: On-Call Editor, Int’l Translation Dept (Orlando, FL until
3/2009; Houston, TX from 3/2009 telecommuting)
The Golf Channel (Headquarters), Orlando/FL
Prepare captioned transcripts of The Golf Channel shows for translation into
Japanese. Work with Word files and VHS tapes. Enter necessary and correct time
codes, confirm titles of participants, ensure proper transcription of the text
based on the audio rather than the captions, add commercial breaks, fix line
breaks and add punctuation as needed for complete understanding by translators.
High-level of attention to detail required. Work remotely with little
supervision, but much teamwork, independence, and self-discipline. Track to
schedules. Remote work with little supervision.
12/2006 – Present: Part Time Instructional Writer (Orlando, FL until 3/2009;
Houston, TX from 3/2009 telecommuting)
The Walt Disney Company at Disney University, Orlando/Florida
Write & edit outlines, instructor-led training, & e-learning for Disney Parks &
Resorts including their first master’s level College Program for hospitality
management accredited by ACE, new software training for concierge & sales cast
members, safety training, valet training, operations training, food & beverage
training, & more for both systems and concepts. Work collaboratively with Walt
Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and Disneyland Paris SMEs & Cast
Members. Follow the ADDIE model, use the Learning Content Repository & Learning
Management Systems, investigate ways to apply SCRUM to instructional design.
Recommend designs & formats. Participate & advise during course pilots. Run
usability testing occasionally. Provide high-level of attention to detail. Remote
work with little supervision but much team interaction and self-discipline to
meet demanding schedules.
7/1998 – 11/2006: Senior Technical Writer/Editor & Instructional Designer
Allegro Business Solutions, Coppell/Texas
Planned, designed, wrote, edited, & managed instructional design, e-learning, &
online & hardcopy documents for custom software for clients. Trained &
experienced in Project Management techniques. Applied best practices to
deliverables & approach while identifying issues, risks, dependencies &
assumptions to ensure accurate planning & execution. Experienced at picking up
new technologies quickly. Adaptable, creative, & dependable. Wrote many RFPs and
proposals. Sold over $300,000 worth of writing projects annually. Experienced as
a writer & manager of teams of 8 – 10 writers/editors/designers, plus up to 9
additional contractors. Excellent team member or sole writer/editor/instructional
designer. Worked remotely and onsite with little supervision, but much teamwork,
independence, and self-discipline. Tracked to schedules.
7/1992- 6/1998: Senior Technical Writer/Editor & Instructional Designer
Technically Write, Coppell/Texas (Sole Proprietorship)
Successfully marketed over a half-million dollars worth of writing & editing
projects to clients for whom I did project management as well as planning,
designing, writing, & editing of requirements documents (RFPs), proposals,
architecture & design documents, data dictionaries, business logic manuals,
training guides, marketing brochures, online helps, installation guides, problem
determination guides, disaster-recovery guides, & more. Created & applied
documentation standards, processes, & templates. Tracked project & process
control documentation against changes, requirements, objectives and/or contract.
Applied best practices to deliverables & approach while identifying issues,
risks, dependencies, & assumptions to ensure accurate planning & execution.
Scheduling, hiring contractors as needed, & budgeting were included. Experienced
as an editor on a Malcolm Baldrige application for IBM & for GTE. At times worked
as the lone editor/writer with a team of my client's employees.
1988-1992: Advisory Information Developer
IBM, Westlake/Texas
Obtained the highest level of technical writer/editor/designer/planner that IBM
offered. Worked on the Malcolm Baldrige application through Somers, Connecticut
with high level corporate leaders across multiple divisions. Completely
overhauled the MVS mainframe system documentation from planning, to installation,
to problem diagnosis, to use & ran an international usability test that resulted
in unparalleled improvements in customer satisfaction. Managed an active team of
17 writers & vendors across the United States, England, The Netherlands, &
Germany. Number 1 rated performer.
1987-1988: Information Development First Line Manager
IBM, Las Colinas (Irving)/Texas
Responsible for a staff of 8 technical writers. Provided software development
assignments for mainframes and PCs, budgets, forecasting (1, 2, and 5 year
plans), development plans, project management, yearly evaluations, and hiring
decisions. Frequently collaborated with product managers, quality assurance, and
usability/human factors.
Before 1987: Junior through Staff Information Developer
IBM, Austin and Las Colinas(Irving)/Texas
Worked on a variety of new software development projects from mainframes through
PCs as the technical writer for installation guides, problem determination
guides, application programming interface guides, user guides, quick reference
cards, marking material, and more.
Education
• Over 40 hours of Human Resources, Security, Guest Services, Learning Content
Repository, and Financial eLearnings and Instructor-Led courses at The Walt
Disney Company
• Certified as an Assisted-Living Administrator in the State of Texas effective
June 2006
• University of North Texas: Earned a Master of Arts in Technical Writing
• Received 6 months of programmer training, attended IBM Management School, and
Project Management School. Also received 2 weeks of training each year in topics
such as Usability, Quality Improvement, ISO9000, SixSigma, online helps &
tutorials, multimedia for distance education, presentation skills, writing, &
editing, and more
• University of Texas: Earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English
Volunteer Work
Within the Greater Houston Area
• 2009 International Competition Judge of Online Information including Training
& Tutorials for Houston STC
• Junior League of Houston Sustainer
Within the Greater Orlando Area
• Served on the Community Advisory Board of WMFE
• Served on the Junior League of Greater Orlando’s Community Action Team. Served
on the committee for the Endowment Fund & for organizing the 2007 Blue Note Gala
to raise money for the League’s community projects;
• Helped run the fall 2006 casino party at Lake Heritage Assisted Living in
Sanford to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Resource Center.
• Ran Orlando Philharmonic’s group sales from 2008-2009
• Ran Orlando Ballet’s group sales from 2006-2008 & assisted with mailings,
reading at area schools for Nutcracker Day, creating the volunteer database,
selling tickets at performances, & phoning season ticket holders with updates.
Skilled in TicketMaster. Ran the box office for a month during the peak of
subscription renewal
• Headed up the highly-successful coordination effort of silent auction
volunteers for the 2006 Grande Masque which in part lead to my becoming Director
of Grande Masque from 2007-2009 when AOL named the event the #6 Place to Be on
New Year’s Eve in the U. S. and which benefited the Orlando Opera Company,
Orlando Ballet, and Orlando Philharmonic. Collaborate with the staffs of all
three organizations and worked very closely with the Executive Directors for all
three.
Skills
Excellent presentation skills. Experienced in working with corporate & community
leaders. Highly adept at learning new software programs.
http://www.examiner.com/x-4979-Houston-Museums-Examiner where I write a regular
column about events and exhibits at Houston area museums.
|
