Ken Mason's Professional Portfolio

This blog entry will read best if you read my Introduction first.

Let's see, why did I start a blog again?  That's right, it was to provide a platform for the files I want to share with my professional network.  This also gives me an opportunity to provide a bit of background for the files with no obvious reason for their being shared.  Let's dive in.

First a bit of housekeeping.  Box has limited options for sorting files:  name, date or size.  For simplicity, I am sticking with name.  However, I want to discuss the files in an order that flows more logically, so the discussion below is deliberately not in sync with the file list.  That said...

Ken Mason Resume 2013:  My resume is attached to my profile for obvious reasons.

Ken Mason Consultant Profile:  I was challenged early in my career by being assigned to lead the PBM Conversion Task Force at the Long Beach Press-Telegram.  The mission of the task force was to plan and execute the conversion of the pay-by-mail (PBM) subscriber database from an old in-house system (written in RPG, if memory serves) to the Collier-Jackson module that Knight-Ridder partnered in developing.  I was a brand new manager, new to the organization and joined the project mid-stream.  However, I quickly grew into the role of project lead, enjoyed leading a cross-functional team and was able to deliver a successful outcome to the company.  I came to view this and later projects as consulting roles, even though they were internal to the organizations, and am thinking about a future blog post on the topic.  I subsequently have performed consulting engagements as an outside contractor.  I developed this profile as a communication tool for the value I bring in that type of role. 

Ken Mason - reference letters:  LinkedIn provides its members a platform to recommend each other's work.  However, not all professionals are on LinkedIn or they may have written traditional letters of recommendation.  I scanned the letters that were in my files.

IFRS Update and Outlook cert:  There is a great deal of discussion about convergence of U.S. (FASB) and international (IFRS) reporting standards.  I attended this webinar to gain knowledge in an area of particular interest in my ongoing professional learning.

Loan Amort - Construction:  I participate in LinkedIn Groups to discuss issues of interest to fellow professionals.  There was a request in one of the groups for an amortization template.  Since I had previously obtained and improved one, I was only too happy to post it to my profile and invite my fellow group members to download it.

Simple Forecast Model:  As above.  Earlier in 2011, I had created a cash flow model for my then-employer, so it was a simple matter to re-create a generic version that incorporated additional elements in response to the request.