About Concerto Designs

I first began working with Content Management Solutions in the summer of 2006 when I developed a large portal site for a community activist in Northeast Minneapolis. This project, which included five different templates and bridges to different platforms, such as phpBB and Wordpress, became a laboratory for exploring and learning the Joomla framework. In January of 2007, I worked as Lead Programmer for Karma Marketing and Media, a small website development firm in St. Cloud that specializes in Joomla e-commerce and e-marketing sites. There, I learned firsthand from the owner, Michael Givens about the critical importance of merging SEO strategies with Joomla’s content management functionality. In July of 2007, I accepted a full-time position as Web Producer at Weblease USA. Weblease provides search engine-optimized, e-marketing websites to small- and medium-sized organizations both locally and across the United States and Canada. The websites are custom-designed and hand-coded in xhtml with tableless layouts. I am responsible for project management, SEO/marketing consulting, and technical (coding) support throughout the development process. I have produced over 100 websites for all kinds of clients, ranging from attorneys and financial services to large general contractors, manufacturers, and non-profit organizations. This past June, my position has recently evolved to Producer/Developer. Whenever project specs require complex navigation, challenging design implementations (e.g. transparent .pngs), or customized javascript applications (client-side), I hand-code the entire site. In addition, I perform 80-90% of all post-build repairs to fix cross-browser compatibility issues. I have advanced coding skills in xhtml and css; I rate my skill level in javascript as intermediate. I also provide photography services for Weblease clients.

During this period, I have continued to work on free-lance CMS projects under the auspices of Concerto Designs. My services for these clients have recently expanded to include the creation of Flash movies and banners. This past July, I began working as Lead Developer for The Dream Foundry, based in Minneapolis with affiliate offices in New York and Los Angeles. We recently completed a large Joomla website project for Denuo, a major advertising firm in Chicago.