Professional Summary

Peter Fingar is one of the industry's noted experts in component-based electronic commerce and an internationally recognized author. As a practitioner, Peter's systems architecture and development experience was gained in diverse industries and spans technology generations from unit-record to web object computing for the Digital Economy. He has played an active role in promoting the commercial applications of object-oriented and intelligent agent technology for competitive advantage and business transformation.

Peter is a hands-on expert in e-business transformation and the component- based, agent-oriented technologies needed to power large-scale collaboration communities and trading exchanges. He is a systems architect, writer, teacher and builder with over three decades of professional experience in the US and abroad. He is a recognized authority on business-to-business electronic commerce and an e-business architect, delivering multi-application community-commerce architectures that have Change Built-In.

Over his career he has held technical and management positions with GTE Data Services, the Arabian American Oil Company, American Software and Computer Services, King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals, and Perot Systems' Technical Resource Connection. He served as Director of Information Technology for the University of Tampa and as an object technology consultant for IBM Global Services.

Peter has written six books on computing, presented conference papers worldwide and published numerous professional articles in CIO Magazine, Component Strategies, Object Magazine, SunWorld Online, Datamation, firstMonday, Application Development Trends, E-Commerce World, Computerworld, and Montgomery Research/ Anderson Consulting's CRM Project.

Peter taught graduate and undergraduate university computing studies in the United States and Saudi Arabia. Peter is a long standing member of the IEEE Computer Society and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and assists the Object Management Group with its representation in the Middle East.

Peter has delivered keynote talks and  papers to professional conferences in the USA, Austria, Canada, South Africa, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, including: Object EXPO 2000- New York, CIO Masters Series-Toronto, The 5th International Congress on Computing In Europe- Vienna, Association of Educational Data systems- Dallas, the Saudi National Computing Conference- Jeddah, PlanetIT E-Business Forum, 4th Distuributed Computing Seminar- Tokyo, the Gulf Computer Conference- Dubai, and the 2nd Saudi E-Commerce Forum- Riyadh (Building Bridges to the New Economy).

Peter's book, Enterprise E-commerce, is a seminal work immediately adopted as the basis of graduate courses at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Notre Dame and over 50 top MBA programs across the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Bud Tribble, Chief Technology Officer, Sun/Netscape Alliance, Sun Microsystems, Inc. had this to say, "My advice for the Internet generation of business and technology leaders is -- Just read it!"

Leslie Lundquist, Vice President of the Research Group at CommerceNet said, "This is the best-researched book I've seen on enterprise-class electronic commerce." The book shares lessons learned from pioneering work with GE, American Express, Transamerica and Mastercard International. Of Peter's previously published works, Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems says, "A must-read for the new generation of business and technology leaders."

Peter's groundbreaking book, The Death of e, and the Birth of the Real New Economy: Business Modles, Technologies and Strategies for the 21st Century, is described by Internet World as "the must-read book of the year." Dr. John Seely Brown, Chief Scientist at Xerox, stated that "The Death of e is unquestionably the birth of a new understanding of where the real new economy is headed." The book clearly explains the new business models for value chain optimization, collaborative commerce and the critical role of enabling technologies for conducting business at the network’s edge: Web-services, peer-to-peer computing and intelligent agents as well as integrated Commerce Resource Platforms. Over 15 industry thought leaders contributed to the work, making it the most comprehensive analysis available, and a crisp synthesis for companies to chart their course to the digital economy.

His series of articles on the third wave of e-Commerce appear in Component Strategies magazine and examine XML, intelligent agents, enterprise architecture, inter-enterprise process engineering and e-commerce business models. Peter's research on the future of e-commerce has been featured by CommerceNet since 1998 (see publications below).

Peter's management style is that of a mentor, team builder and savvy strategist who values and respects the business and technical team members he coaches. He understands team performance and how to manage teams effectively. He builds learning organizations that promote loyalty, productivity, and positive change. Equally comfortable in the boardroom or the computer room, he brings a unique blend of business and technology leadership to the table.

Peter Fingar Associates. August 1996 - present. Peter assists companies making transitions to e-business, component-based technologies and enterprise-class electronic commerce. His e-business strategy consulting focuses on open architecture, open markets, standards-based component technology, organizational design and the critical factor --people. 

Recent projects include developing product and business strategies for EC Cubed, developers of component-based e-commerce solutions. The company provides custom, build-to-order B2B eMarketplaces using a component-based platform for rapid delivery.  EC Cubed clients include GE, American Express, Mastercard and other well known corporations.  As the company's Technology Advocate and Advisor, he wrote the corporate white papers that explain the concepts of the Third Wave of e-Commerce; and provided leadership, technology direction, and liaison with industry standards organizations and strategic business partners. 

He served as a strategy consultant for a $100 million Internet Infrastructure start-up in the Middle East. The project scope included an ATM/IP network, Managed Data Center Services, ASP Services, B2B sourcing and B2B Communities.  Peter is an Executive Partner in the digital strategy firm, Greystone Group. Greystone provides end-to-end business strategy and execution services to guide clients in their digital transformation.

As a consultant to IBM Global Services, he was invited to speak on next generation Systems Architecture for the IBM International Insurance Alliance. Peter's technical knowledge includes CORBA, Strategic IT Planning and Architecture, OO Project Management, Agent-Oriented Systems Architecture, and Management Control and Auditing -- and the enterprise-level context of these disciplines for agile e-business.

Peter maintains the popular Web site, The Essential  Library for the Digital Economy (Visit the Library). The site is regularly visited by business and technology professionals through links at CommerceNet,  Cetus in Berlin and the Object Management Group (OMG) in Boston. 

Director. The Technical Resource Connection, (subsidiary of Perot Systems). March 1995 - July 1996. Peter shaped the engagement management practice of this object technology firm and developed strategy for individual client engagements at JMFE, USAA, and American Airlines-Sabre. Peter developed technology transition plans for client companies including the "Next Generation SABRE Learning Organization" for American Airlines-Sabre. Peter developed a set of widely read white papers explaining the impact of emerging object-oriented technology in business. The papers were so well received that Sun Microsystems' SunWorld Online and Datamation magazine published several of them in their online magazines, and Prentice-Hall / Cambridge University Press published the papers as an anthology. The papers were the primary vehicle for TRC to provide educational materials to the marketplace.

Director of Information Technology. The University of Tampa. August 1989 to September 1994. Peter served as chief information officer for the University, including all academic computing and core business systems. He was recruited to manage a stalled installation of the University's current integrated administrative packages. His leadership not only brought this mission-critical project back on track, it accelerate-d the conversion timeframe and repaired strained relations with the software provider, Software Research Northwest. He initiated the University's first data warehousing project and worked directly with users to help them master this new capability. He chaired the Long Range Computing Planning Task Force and the Academic Computer Users Group, wrote the NSF Grant that put the University on the Internet, and designed the campus-wide network infrastructure. He was appointed to the University's Quality Council, made regular Board of Trustees presentations, and managed the annual EDP Audits conducted by Deloitte and Touche.

Technical Analyst and Supervisor. Arabian American Oil Company, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. September 1984 - September 1989. Peter managed a corporate training curriculum consisting of over 40 technical courses for the EXPEC Computer Center. He was responsible for the design, development or procurement, and delivery of courses for computing specialists and geoscientists in this major exploration and production center. Peter designed the integrated training records system for EXPEC, linking corporate IMS databases to VM/SAS for one of Aramco's first distributed applications. His efforts were recognized by his appointment to the technical planning work group for EXPEC and his duties included assisting the General Manager in strategy planning and selling those plans to Aramco management. The ECC is one of the world's largest and most sophisticated scientific computer centers deploying advanced engineering workstations, IBM mainframes and Cray supercomputers.

Systems Analyst and Senior Lecturer. The University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. September 1975 - June 1977 and September 1982 - September 1984. Peter joined UPM in 1975 as an Educational Specialist to teach a one year applications programming course conducted for industry and government ministries. Peter served as a systems analyst in the administrative systems group and his systems responsibilities included the conversion to Information Associates' integrated university planning system and developing an in-house, multi-language Government reporting system. In this role he managed professionals form six countries and cultures. Peter taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Information Systems in the College of Industrial Management. Courses included systems development methods and advanced business programming. Peter led a team that revamped the College's computing curriculum and designed and implemented online computing labs.

Manager. Arabian Data Systems, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. May 1981 - September 1982. Peter worked with client management to develop technical proposals for ADS. This function required developing technically detailed strategic IS plans for ADS clients. He designed and implemented computing training programs for ADS clients in Saudi Arabia and established the ADS Institute at Eckerd College in Florida. The Institute offered a one year intensive business applications programming course that was later relocated in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture with Computer Sciences Corporation.

Senior Technical Analyst. GTE Data Services. July 1968 - September 1970 and June 1979 - May 1981. Peter designed, developed, and taught computing courses including: EDP Controls and Auditability and Information Management, both delivered worldwide throughout the GTE family of companies. He was a member of the team that designed and implemented a major computing training enterprise established within GTEDS to serve GTE system-wide. Peter conducted market research to determine market strategies for the banking and credit union sectors and developed research applications in the APL programming language.

Director and Senior Systems Engineer. American Software and Computer Services. June 1977 - June 1979 plus three years on a consulting and project basis while teaching. Peter developed information systems for numerous client companies, primarily in the distribution trades. Clients included St. Petersburg Printing Company, Jim Walter Celotex, Dental Health Services, Johnson Drug Company, Motor Parts Supply, Hydraulic Equipment Company, Dental Health Services, Flagship Bank Data Center, Kirkconnel Motors (Cayman Islands) and the J. B. Hickey Rental Company. The diversity of businesses, systems and applications of client companies broadened Peter's applied systems development skills and understanding of general systems theory.

Associate Professor. Hillsborough Community College. September 1970 - September 1975. Peter designed industry-based curriculums and taught a full range of information systems and programming courses: Programming Logic and Design, several programming languages, Systems Analysis and Design and Business Applications. He coordinated the industry Advisory Committee for the computing studies program and was awarded tenure. Adjunct Teaching. University of South Florida and AMA courses at Eckerd College.