In a previous post, The ACS R&D Team is Expanding, I listed a new position in R&D titled Programming Manager.
I’m happy to announce that Jamey McElveen has accepted the position and starts immediately. Jamey has over 14 years of experience working with development teams of diverse sizes on multiple platforms. He has had a hand in many of our key products over the years and will use his expertise, dedication, and passion to help lead us into the future. Jamey is also a published author. He partnered with another developer at ACS, Chris Craft, to write a programming reference manual called iPhone Game Development. Jamey has a degree in Computer Engineering from Clemson University. Jamey will be primarily responsble for architectural oversight for all products and direct management of programming staff.
There are other exciting changes in R&D. We announced this week that the group formerly called Professional Services is moving into R&D and is being recast in more of support liaison role. This will help us be more effective in two really important ways. First, it helps us better research and respond to product questions coming from support and customers. Second, the new team will allow development teams to focus on bringing new products to market. It’s the first priority for all of us at ACS to serve the needs of our customers. With forty thousand plus churches and other faith based organizations using our products, the support load on R&D is significant. The new group will consist of System Specialists who are will be “embedded” with development and will be trained to have development level product knowledge. The important distinction is that this group will focus on support, thus leaving programmers and testers more time to allocate to development Sprints.
Ken Hicks will lead the group. Ken has been with ACS for 12 years after 18 years as a full time pastor. He continues to serve the Bishopville Presbyterian Church as a part time pastor. Ken also has an engineering degree from Clemson University, and is that rare individual with a high level of technical and social skills - plus extensive church experience. If you’ve ever had a chance to talk to Ken, you know that he brings a great passion to for problem solving and for serving churches.
Welcome to Jamey and Ken and the others in their new roles. I’m confident the changes will help us better serve our customers!
Last 5 posts by Steve Cumbia
- The Grinch... - December 14th, 2011
- Thanks for the UX - October 6th, 2011
- Crazy Shirt Day - July 29th, 2011
- Let's Hear from a Dev Team - June 28th, 2011
- New Role for Keith Thompson - May 20th, 2011