Professional Experience*
ARMtech Insurance Services Inc. | Product Owner
August 2020 – present
Manage backlog JIRA items with other PO’s as part of a team preparing for bi-weekly sprint planning sessions.
Honestly, this position is not different enough from my position below as a BA to be too big of a deal. We have simply formalized, in an Scrum/Agile framework, many of our previously informal processes.
ARMtech Insurance Services Inc. | Business Analyst
August 2013 – August 2020
Act as liaison between internal and external stakeholders and developers on software issues in regard to MPCI and private-product crop insurance products. In this, I work both on problems as they arise and managing ongoing improvement projects. Projects managed in JIRA.
This position has given me great insight into the world of IT in general, and project management in particular. I now know, what I don’t know.
Blue Hat Trading. | Founder
July 2014 – January 2017
I started Blue Hat Trading as a DBA to trade liquid futures contracts for profit.
I did not like my ratio of capital/risk. And in 2017, I stopped active trading and invested most of the capital in various oil and bond investments. Honestly, with a full-time job too, I just didn’t have the bandwith for it.
Ocho Gin Co. | Cotton Trader
April 2011 – July 2013
I assisted, educated, and executed transactions with producers in implementing cotton marketing strategies – including cash sales, forward contracting, futures, and options. Kept gin’s employees and customers up to date on developments and changes in the cotton market through both primary and secondary sources. Responsible for cotton being ginned on correct account, and shipped and invoiced to the buyer. Operated parent company’s FOB cotton buying firm for a short time. Designed break-even analysis for the gin to run forecasting models of profit and loss. And started IB branch office in the gin.
This was a position I enjoyed immensely. Particularly rewarding were the relationships with growers. We talked about cotton prices, put option spreads, the weather, and football.
Tru Trading Co. | Commodity Broker
April 2011 – July 2013
As a full-service commodity broker, I managed customers in their entry and exit from both hedged and speculative positions. Most of my business dealt with the hedging of physical cotton. Tru Trading Co. merged with Lone Star Portfolio Advisors, Inc. – where I originally started working – in November of 2012. I worked with Tru Trading Co. during my position at Ocho Gin. One day I simply asked: “If we are doing forward contracts and cash sales for customers, why can’t we allow them the option of hedging with futures and options too?” “Go do it,” was the response. And that is how I started as a commodity broker.
As a futures broker, this job allowed me to get my Series-3, which I still maintain as a CTA. I learned the ends and outs of the basic Introducing Broker world and what servicing a small book of customers entails.
Education
Texas Tech University | M.S., Agricultural and Applied Economics
2007 – 2009
After completing undergrad, and my first graduate degree, I spent almost two years unemployed being told I was either overqualified or didn’t have any experience. So what did I do? I went back to school and got another degree. I should have started this website that year.
The University of Texas at San Antonio | M.A., Economics
2003 – 2005
Towards the end of undergrad, I knew I wanted to go to grad school before I set out to conquer the world. I have fond memories of these two years as a carefree student and Teaching Assistant.
Texas Tech University | B.B.A, Economics
1999 – 2003
What is there to say about your undergraduate days? Wish I knew then what I knew now. But I doubt that kid would have even listened.
*Truth be told – at this point – I have the most experience clicking Publish in WordPress.
