After earning his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Valparaiso University in Indiana, Steve began his professional career with Johansen & Associates in 1989. Steve served a one-year "apprenticeship" under Jan Johansen, who helped him discover a deep passion for technical communications and training development.
As part of the J&A team, Steve contributed to a number of large documentation & training projects for clients such as McDonald's, Abbott Laboratories, and Xerox.
Over the next decade, Steve continued to hone his technical writing skills by providing services for companies in a variety of industries. He wrote user, technical, and reference manuals, as well as online help for Health Charge Corp., Omron Systems of America, Intelligent Resources, Komatsu America, and Siemens Building Technologies. Each offered a unique challenge and allowed Steve to expand his expertise.
In August of 2000 Steve contracted with VW Credit, Inc. to provide web content authoring, content management, and HTML development services. As an integral part of a talented web application development team, Steve created Volkswagen's initial Dealer Extranet site for both the VW and Audi brands. Subsequent sites were developed for Canadian dealers and translated into French.
For the last several years, Steve has worked closely with the J&A team and has contributed to a variety of their projects, including those for ServiceMaster & Terminix. He has also provided instructional design & technical communciation services for Kraft Foods and Childrens' Memorial Hospital.
In his free time, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, participating in a variety of athletic pursuits, reading, and keeping abreast of the latest technological advances.
