Biography

Vince graduated from Choctawhatchee High School, Fort Walton Beach, Florida in 1984. He then joined the Army Reserves, attended basic training, and subsequently attended his first year of college at Marion Military Institute in Marion, Alabama. Later he was accepted into and graduated from the Air Force ROTC program. He then served in active duty for the United States Air Force at McChord AFB, Lackland AFB, and Chanute AFB. Vince later left active duty service and went back to school to earn his Master’s Degree. It was at this time that Vince developed his passion for computers.

He started working with computers and subsequently became a software engineer. He has worked as a Software Engineer for numerous companies such as Atlantic Research Corporation, Tybrin Corporation, BTG, Inc., Delta Research Division, Nichols Research, Computer Sciences Corporation, and his own technical consulting firm, VMax Technical Consulting. Vince has also served as the project manager and project technical lead of several multi-million dollar software projects. He has expertise with software engineering, .NET, SQL Server, C++, MFC, COM, ATL, and countless other technologies and tools.

In late 1997, Vince, with his long time best friend Louis J. Erickson, Jr., started laying the foundation of their own software engineering firm. It started as an idea on a napkin at a child's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Vince and Louis wanted to build a company where innovation and creativity would flourish while adhering to proven engineering methods that provided quality within the allotted schedule and budget. Over the next few years, Vince and Louis made detailed plans for the creation and operation of Bit-Wizards. In the early part of 2000, Vince and Louis partnered as independent contractors and incorporated Bit-Wizards in Austin, Texas. After a year of successful projects with various customers, Vince and Louis were faced with a choice: "Do we grow roots here with the relationships we've started, or do we go home?" Vince and Louis were raised in the Fort Walton Beach area and had close ties to the people there. They were aware of the excellent business potential in the Northwest Florida Region. They moved Bit-Wizards to Fort Walton Beach and re-incorporated in Florida, where the company resides today.

In 2009, Bit-Wizards made Inc. Magazine’s List of the Top 5000 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies at number 1617.

Vince is an FAA Commercial Instrument rated Pilot. He has authored and co-authored several programming books: Component Development Using ATL 3.0, Wait Groups COM/DCOM Primer Plus, ActiveX Programming Unleashed, ASP.NET by Example, and Visual C++ 5.0 Developer's Guide. He has also authored several technical articles, papers, and presentations. Vince is a member of Vistage CEO Peer Group and is on the Board of Advisors of the Mobile Alabama Chamber of Commerce.

Vince holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with minors in both Computer Science and Aerospace Science from Troy State University in Troy, Alabama as well as a Master of Science in International Relations from Troy State University. He holds a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer Certification, was an Eagle Scout and earned Civil Air Patrol’s General Carl A. Spaatz Award. Vincent also recently earned an MBA from Notre Dame University.

Vince lives in Shalimar, Florida with his beautiful wife Kimberly, daughter Molly, son Wes, and his two Yellow Labradors, Number Five and Apollo.

Operating Systems

• Windows 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
• Win 2008 / 2003 / 2000
• Win 98 / 95 / ME
• Win CE 3.0 / 4.0
• Windows mobile 5 / 6
• MS-DOS
• Unix / Linux / Solaris

Languages & Databases

• C++ / C / C#
• Java
• SQL server 2008 / 2000
• Oracle 8
• Fortran
• Pascal
• Basic / vb / vb.Net
• HTML / SGML / XML
• SQL / PL*SQL
• PC Assembler
• MS Access 2000
• Sybase Sys 10 & DB2

Software & Technology

• .Net 3.5 / 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.1
• asp.Net
• Silverlight
• Linq
• Visual C++ 6.0
• Visual Basic 6.0
• J++ 6.0
• Com / Ole / ActiveX
• MFC
• Bounds Checker
• MS Office
• Erwin 3.5
• asp.Net / asp
• Internet Explorer
• MS Project
• RoboHtml
• Rational Rose2k / UML
• Crystal Reports
• MS Visual Test 4.0
• IIS 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
• Active Reports
• Infragistics
• Telerik
• Component Art
• WWF
• WPF
• WCF
• Kentico CMS
• InstallShield
• Test Tracks
• HtmlHelp Workshop
• Visio
• Ontime
• PGP
• EDI
• ACH
• Atl 3.0 & Wtl
• ODBC / Dao / Ado+
• MTS / MSMQ
• Objective Toolkit & Grid

Hardware

• Pentium / 486 / 386
• Sun Workstation
• MC 68000
• IBM 4361m5
• IBM 360/370
• Vax 785
• CD-ROM / DVD / CD-RW
• AS400

Work Experience

• Senior Software Engineer, President
  • Bit-Wizards Custom Software Solutions, Inc. Fort Walton Beach, Florida
  • Jan 00 - Present

Management & Entrepreneurship

• Managed a company of 23 employees.
• Increased revenues by 198% over a three year period.
• Managed multiple projects and budgets.
• Wrote proposals
• Managed the sales process, presented seminars, and did public speaking

Technology

• Worked for multiple clients, including cook-Hurlbert, Pearson Education, Computer Sciences Corporation, Dow Chemical, Viva International Group, SeaTac, Atac, pilot catastrophe.
• Architected systems, created high-level design & architecture solving real-world business and technology problems
• Designed, coded, and tested network load balanced, high availability web applications
• Designed, coded, and tested web & Windows forms applications using Microsoft’s .Net 3.5/3.0/2.0/1.1, asp.Net, c#, SQL server 2000/2005/2008.
• Designed, coded, and tested a client-server application to operate on Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 operating systems, using visual C++ 6.0/mfc 4.22 and Oracle 8.
• Designed, coded, and tested applications for the PocketPC to operate under the Windows CE 3.0 palmtop os, .Net compact framework, and Microsoft mobile internet toolkit.
• Designed and implemented SQL and pl*SQL sequences, triggers, queries, and constraints.
• Designed, implemented, and tested software using .Net, Atl, Com, Ado, and ActiveX technologies.
• Utilized rational rose 98, and the UML notation.
• Supervised four software engineers and the design and implementation of a commercial graphical user interface.
• Utilized Erwin in the design and implementation of a relational database.
• Designed and implemented in-process com components, MFC extension libraries, and c dlls.
• Designed and implemented multi-threaded code using threads, mutexes, and events
• Designed and implemented setup utilities using install shield professional for the Windows installer v1.1.
• Integrated HTML help into the application.
• Setup and implemented an integrated build for the graphical user interface.

Senior Software Engineer

• Project technical lead, Nichols Corporation. Shalimar, Florida. Jan 98 – Jan 00
• Designed, coded, and tested a desktop application to operate on Windows 98/95, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000 operating systems, using visual C++ 6.0/MFC 4.22 and MS Access 97.
• Redesigned & re-engineered legacy Fortran and C-based desktop scientific applications to MS Windows.
• Designed, implemented, and tested software using Ole, Com, ODBC, and ActiveX technologies.
• Utilized the rational objectory process, Rational Rose 98, and the UML notation to perform object-oriented design standards.
• Supervised, trained, and managed two software engineers, as well as, provided financial and customer management.
• Utilized Erwin to design and implement a relational database utilizing idef1x RDBMS modeling standards.
• Designed and implemented in-process Com components, MFC extension libraries, and C DLLs.
• Implemented the multi-threaded portion of the application using threads, mutexes, and events.
• Designed and co-authored the on-line HTML help system using RoboHTML 7.0 & WinHelp Office 2000.
• Designed and implemented a setup utility using install shield 5.2.
• Developed and maintained a project schedule utilizing Microsoft project 98.

Senior Software Engineer

• Project technical lead: BTG, Inc. Delta research division. Niceville, Florida. Nov 95 – Dec 97
• Designed, coded, and tested a client-server application under Windows NT 4.0 to operate on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 operating systems, using visual C++ 5.0/MFC 4.21 and Oracle 7.3.
• Designed, implemented, and tested software using Ole, Com, ODBC, and ActiveX technologies.
• Utilized the booche object-oriented design methodology.
• Supervised, trained, and managed 18 software engineers, one computer specialist, and one technical editor.
• Utilized Erwin to design and implement a relational database utilizing idef1x RDBMS modeling standards.
• Implemented software using Ole automation with Microsoft Excel and Delrin FormFlow.
• Created triggers and stored procedures utilizing PL*SQL and SQL and created MFC extension libraries and C DLLs.
• Participated in the design and implementation of the online help system using RoboHelp 3.0 and participated in the design and implementation the setup utility using install shield 4.0.
• Developed and maintained the project schedule utilizing Microsoft project and developed and implemented reports utilizing Crystal Reports and the Crystal Reports print engine.

Lead Software Engineer

• Tybrin Corporation, Shalimar, Florida. Jan 93 - Nov 95
• Designed, coded, and tested software under Windows NT 3.51 to operate in the Windows family of operating systems, in C++ using Visual C++ 1.52, MFC, and a Microsoft Access relational database.
• Provided QA and CM of the developed software for four programmers and three data entry specialists.
• Supervised, trained, and managed 3 data entry specialist.
• Designed, implemented, and generated a help system using RoboHelp 2.61.
• Utilized Microsoft access to design and implement a relational database for the developing application.
• Authored the setup utility using InstallShield & VB setup utilities for distribution on CD-ROM and 3.5 floppy disks.
• Ported 16-bit software to 32 bits for operation under Windows 95 and Windows NT.
• Assisted in the porting of win16 software to X-Windows/Motif & the databases to Sybase on a Sun/Solaris platform.

Systems/Software Engineer

• Atlantic research corporation. Crane, Indiana. Mar 92 - Jan 93
• Analyzed and coded software in C, C++, Fortran, Assembler and CMS-2 languages.
• Provided technical support for the quality control, implementation, and configuration of a real-time multitasking system utilizing interrupts and interrupt handlers.
• Evaluated, analyzed, and identified problems with code from software trouble reports.
• Resolved, coded, and tested solutions to software problems & generated documentation for software changes.
• Utilized a variety of operating systems and tools to include VMS, DCL, Borland C++, Whitesmith cross-compiler, MC-68000 assembly language, and the Windows family of operating systems.

Software Engineer/Technical Consultant

• Bit-Wizards Technical Consulting, Feb 90 – Jan 00
• Provided technical expertise for a variety of computer, aviation, academic, and business clientele.
• Checked, tested, and corrected software examples in C++, Visual Basic, and C.
• Edited and provided technical guidance for computer/software books.
• Provided technical support in computer: Programming, software, and hardware configuration.
• Designed, coded, debugged, and implemented computer applications in various languages.
• Advised and recommended to various computer users, systems and software to fit their needs.

Additional Employment History

• Supervisor of flying: Eglin Aero Club, Eglin AFB, FL
• Aircrew life support specialist AFSC 12250: US Air Force, McChord AFB, WA
• Us Air Force Reserves: detachment 17 TSU, Troy, AL
• Us Army Reserves: Marion Military Institute, Marion, AL
• Computer laboratory assistant: Troy State University, Troy, AL
  • Feb 90 - Mar 92
  • Apr 89 - Feb 90
  • Sep 86 - Apr 89
  • Aug 84 - Jan 86
  • Jan 86 - Aug 86

Awards & Accomplishments

• Authored com DCOM Primer Plus, Wait Group, Macmillan Publishing, Jan 99
• Authored component development using Atl 3.0, Que & Microsoft Press, Macmillan Publishing, Mar 00
• Co-authored asp.Net by example, Pearson Education, Que Publishing, Jan 01
• Co-authored ActiveX Programming Unleashed, Sams Press, Macmillan Publishing, Dec 96
• Co-authored visual C++ 5.0 Developer’s Guide, Sams Press, Macmillan Publishing, Aug 97
• Eagle Scout
• Civil air patrol Carl A. Spaatz award
• American Legion Military Excellence Award
• Dean's list/Commandant's list
• Outstanding Officer of the Year
• Roa Military Excellence Award
• Civil Air Patrol Scholarship Winner
• Air Force Association Military Excellence Award
• Air Force Association Scholarship Winner
• Commander’s Commendation Award

Professional Licenses & Memberships

• Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP ID 252379)
• MCPD
  • Enterprise Application Developer
• MCTS
  • .Net framework 2.0: Distributed applications
  • .Net framework 2.0: Web applications
  • .Net framework 2.0: Windows applications
• Microsoft Office Sharepoint server 2007 configuration
• MCSD .Net
• MCSD, MCAD, MCP
• Microsoft achievement – delivering value planning services
• FAA Commercial pilot license, instrument rating, and advanced ground instructor certificate

Specialized Training

• Software Engineering Institute, capability maturity model level II certification, Nichols Research, Dec 99
• Com Bootcamp, Richard Hale Shaw, San Francisco, CA, May 99 & attended Software Development 96 & 99
• Introduction Sei level II & Sei level II Project Managers course, Nichols Research, Mar – May 99
• Microsoft Certified training course # 476 Fundamentals of Programming MFC Library Applications, HTR, Nov 96
• Microsoft Certified training course # 404 Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic, HTR, Oct 96
• Microsoft Certified training course # 399 Implementing Ole in Microsoft Foundation Classes, HTR, Jul 96
• Oracle Fundamentals & pl*SQL courses, Oracle Corporation, Jan 96
• Intermediate C++ & Windows programming with Borland C++, Computer Education Design, Nov 95
• Sei/CMM Project Managers course, Tybrin Corporation, Aug 95

Education

• M.B.A. Mendoza College of Business, Notre Dame, June 2015
• M.S.C.S. Software Engineering, University of West Florida, Incomplete, GPA: 3.5
• M.S. International Relations. Troy State University, Sept 1991. GPA: 3.99
• B.S. Mathematics, Minors: Computer Science and Aerospace Science.
• Troy State University, Apr 1989
• High school diploma. Choctawhatchee High School, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, May 1984