Benjamin Douglas Newman

Wiesliacher 42
CH 8053, Zürich
Switzerland
T:+41 (0)43 344 9091
M:+41 (0)79 638 3425
E:ben@newman.ch

Highlights
of Skills

  • Software support, development and training on the PC, Unix and Mac OS
  • Website implementation using HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Java, JSP, PERL, XML, XSL and ASP
  • Excellent SQL skills (Sybase and Oracle)
  • Superlative communication and client skills
  • Project management skills

Professional &
Academic Experience

UBS Investment Bank, Zürich (2002 - Present)
  • Support Analyst in Global Service Delivery (GSD) team for IT Risk
  • Primary GSD contact for Credit and Settlement Risk systems in Switzerland
  • Futher responsibilities in supporting Market Risk and Financial Control applications
  • Although based in the Investment Bank division I have also worked closely with users in Corporate Centre and Wealth Management
  • Manager of the GSD Risk Website which includes:
    • Monthly dashboard reports for the business
    • Account maintenance utilities for helping Audit, Security and GSD in their daily work
    • Online Key performance and reporting indicators (KPI & KRI)
    • Departmental documentation and contact information
  • Extensive involvement in UAT of applications
  • Responsible for change management of applications
  • Business Continuity Planning (BCP) lead for local department
Quest Enterprises Ltd, Zürich (2001 - 2002)
  • Lotus Domino and Notes consultant for a Lotus Business Partner producing web and Notes solutions for companies in many different areas of business.
  • UBS Risk Intranet for online management of daily reports and Excel spreadsheets. Achievements included:
    • Migration of the Intranet from r4 to r5 and NT to Solaris.
    • A new version of the site was created introducing more features and performance enhancements through CSS, script libraries, client-side validation, improved error handling and logging.
    • Additional features include: data transfer with Sybase via Lotus Connectors; Search engine; Spell-checker; Automatic file zipping.
  • Created a web-site for Viadukt - used by the construction industry for the electronic transfer of tenders. The system includes:
    • Automatic PDF creation via OLE
    • Multilanguage support of up to 10 languages
    • Bespoke session tracking and security system
  • Development of ABN bank's faxing intranet with features including:
    • Addition of Notrix for user controlled integration with 3rd party databases.
    • Oracle connections via ODBC and Lotus connectors to import user and workflow information from the Bank's mainframe.
  • Created the reporting solution for a time-keeping package for Givaudan perfume company.
    • The extensive reporting provides results via both Notes, the Web and Excel.
    • The creation of Excel files is via XML, not OLE with the files produced via LotusScript.
Black Sun Plc, London (2000 - 2001)
  • Web Engineer for one of the UK's leading Loyalty Solutions Providers of on and off-line media. Whilst creating on-line solutions (as intranets, extranets and public sites) I had close exposure to print work in the company, particularly the integration of above and below the line strategies, segmentation and branding for clients.
  • Input into many stages of projects' life-cycles, from technical and requirement specifications to production and on-going maintenance of sites.
  • WebMaster for British Airways Interface. This responsibility involved working closely with the client's Relationship Marketing department, managing and developing their extranet that is used worldwide by the company's advertising agencies.
  • Engineer for the British Airways Trade & Leisure extranets. These sites, with a total of 7,000 users, are also constructed through Domino r5 with source control applied using Ciao's Team Studio.
  • Programmer for British Airways' Recruitment web site. This is constructed using JSPs that link via Enterprise Java Beans to a backend Oracle database via JDBC. The web server used is iPlanet hosted on a Solaris platform. Source is managed using Microsoft's SourceSafe.
  • Programmed ASP sites for Strutt and Parker, Scarborough Building Society & MEPC. Each site is hosted through IIS on an NT workstation.
Scottish & Newcastle, Edinburgh (1997 - 2000)
  • Business Systems support and developer for Scottish Brewers, part of S & N.
  • Webmaster for the company Intranet (created in 1997) which includes:
    • Interactive capabilities - with content management, ordering and feedback
    • Fully integrated security and user personalisation
    • Real-time statistics
    • Complex search engine facilities which use both internal and external sources
    • Low maintenance with automatic archiving and index page creation
  • Created systems for:
    • Customer tracking (monitoring promotions, installations and services)
    • Asset Managenent (tracking all PC equipment)
    • Purchase Orders (enabling Finance to track departmental orders)
    • Driver clock on/off times (calculating employees' bonus pay)
    • Support (improving the Business Systems Department's service level and efficiency)
    • Returned goods monitor (highlighting issues with the supply chain)
    • Personnel (giving lookup information and an online phone directory)
    • Correspondence (producing mail-shots for specific customers)
    • Promotions (analysing customer discounts)
    • Employee productivity (producing metrics of Telesales staff's selling skills)
  • Advise other companies within S & N on their E-Commerce and Internet strategy
  • Administer Windows, NT, DOS, OS/2 and Novel platforms
  • Provide support and training for MS Office, SmartSuite and in-house packages
  • Install and repair Laptop, PC and Server hardware
Cafe Cyberia, Edinburgh (1997 - 1999)
  • Duty Manager at Edinburgh's premier Internet Cafe
  • Responsible for training sessions on HTML and the Internet in general
University of Edinburgh, (1993 - 1997)
  • BMus (Hons) 2.1 with external courses in Computer Programming (1st) and Applications (2.1)
  • Experience of programming in C, HTML, PostScript, SQL and Visual Basic
  • Created a database to catalogue 3000 folk songs for publication. The system includes automatic musical transposition to enable thematic searches
  • Publicity manager for Edinburgh University Chamber choir, producing programmes, posters and tickets
St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (1993 - 1997)
  • Bass Lay-Clerk in the only Scottish Cathedral to have daily evensong services
  • Created the cathedral Internet web-site (utilising PERL, JavaScript & Real-Audio)
  • Cathedral librarian from 1995-96, organising and ordering music for the daily liturgy
Macintosh Association, Oxford (1992 - 1993)
  • Represented Claris at the UK Apple Expo and delivered the exhibition's opening seminar.
  • Created and edited the magazine "ClarisWorks Views", writing articles (covering news, reviews and solutions) and producing all of the artwork and layout. Also produced many articles for "FileMaker Views".
  • Organised a conference for Filemaker attended by the UK's leading developers and companies such as ITN
  • Provided telephone support for the company's user-group on Macintosh software and liaised with many organisations (both national and international) about product information
  • Developed software solutions (eg HyperCard and FileMaker databases) for companies such as Mercury

Interests &
Achievements

Music

Since coming to Switzerland I have sung in various ensembles with whom I have been all over Switzerland and parts of Europe. Concerts have been many and varied including sacred and secular music and also a staged performance of Purcell's King Arthur. I made my solo debuts in Zürich, Sion and St.Gallen in 2005.

In my final three years in Edinburgh I sang with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, plus various smaller ensembles. As a member of the SCO Chorus I recorded three CDs (with repertoire ranging from Mozart to premieres of Maxwell Davies) and broadcast on the BBC. In 1999 I sang with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado.

As part of my degree I specialised in Music Technology, developing my skills and experience in sound-engineering and producing live recordings. At St. Mary's Cathedral I sang on many recordings and broadcasts (both radio and live television). I sang in a variety of vocal groups including the University of Edinburgh Chamber Choir and also played Double Bass in the Symphony Orchestra. In 1997 I represented my faculty in Radio 3's The Department Score - the musical equivalent of University Challenge.

I have taken an active part in the running of certain musical ventures. For fourteen years I helped on the Oundle International Festival, acting as a steward, controlling video relays of concerts, producing publicity and performing general administration.

Travel & Language

In Zürich I have had private German lessons to further develop the initial training which I had in the first year of University. In addition I studied French for five years at School where I obtained an A in GCSE. In 1999 I spent two weeks in Uganda, delivering a land-rover to be used as an ambulance by a rural community health project. I have sung in the USA, Czech Republic, France and Germany on choir trips with venues including the United Nations building plus the cathedrals of Notre Dame and Orleans.

Qualifications

Professional: Oracle 9i PL/SQL Programming
Lotus Notes Administration part 1
Courses undertaken at work include
  • Project Management Principles
  • Project Planning
  • ITIL Service Delivery
  • Managing Time and Priorities
  • Business Basics
  • Introduction to VaR (Value at Risk)
University: BMus (Hons) 2.1
The 4 year degree covered all aspects of music (both theoretical and practical). I took outside courses in Computer Science and produced my final dissertation on the "Notation of Music".
A-Level: Mathematics (A), Further Mathematics (B), Physics (B) & Music (B)
AO Level: Mathematics (B), Science (B)
GCSE: 8 at Grade A, 1 at Grade B
Languages: I can speak German and French.
Miscellaneous: I have held a clean driving licence since shortly after my seventeenth birthday.
My typing speed is 58 wpm.

Education

University of Edinburgh,
(1993 - 1997)
Alison House
12 Nicholson Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9DF 		Laxton House,
(1985 - 1992)
Oundle School
North Street
Oundle
Nr. Peterborough