Core Competencies

Technical Writing, Editing, Training, Facilitation, Problem-Solving, Management, Microsoft Office, Adobe Framemaker, PageMaker, Excel

Professional Experience

Owner; KNS Editorial Consultants, Confidential, Hampton, NH 2/94-present

• Provides technical writing, editing, proofreading, documentation consulting, public relations and training services to clients. Also provides marketing/management consulting services. (See detailed sampling of procured work). Project activities generally include:

• Self-motivated, resourceful, and flexible, and has excellent ability to maintain focus and discipline in a highly dynamic environment.
• Detail-oriented and problem-solves effectively.
• Preparing, reviewing, editing, and controlling technical documents, such as O&Ms, ESPRs, IT Documents Proposals, Specifications, Technical Reports, SOPs, etc.
• Analyzing/organizing complex subject matter, transforming it into easy-to-understand language/ diagrams.
• Collaborating across organizational boundaries; Leading, motivating and directing workgroups.
• Providing accurate estimates, multitasking and delivering products on schedule.
• Maintaining high document quality as workload increases.

Senior Marketing Coordinator; Confidential, Cambridge, MA 4/92-2/94

• Managed the editorial production of high-volume technical and marketing publications.
• Wrote, edited and proofread engineering reports, professional papers and corporate documentation. Saved company thousands of quantifiable hours of effort and dollars.
• Created innovative interview packages and proposals using the storyboarding/facilitation process, resulting in more wins on Government projects.
• Applied innovative organizational skills to coordinate manuscript publishing and complete tasks, resulting in facilitated proposal processes, more project wins and less costs to clients.
• Queried/resolved computer software problems, page layout design disputes and marketing materials production issues to facilitate level-of-effort and project costs.
• Managed graphic artists and print-room personnel using excellent people management skills.
• Solicited, edited, proofread, and compiled technical papers of New England contributors of New England Water Environment Federation’s Journal into proper composition and publication order, resulting in increase in sales of journal and greater sales distribution.
• Assisted outside printers in handling art packages, and in completing/distributing publications.
• Performed budgeting and quality assurance/control tasks, eliminating accounting errors and reducing project costs.
• Created and presented technical writing, facilitation, computer, presentation skills seminars, resulting in reduced rewrites of drafts of documents and level of project costs.
• Awarded Outstanding Performance Recognition Awards for several projects: preparation and presentation of first president-endorsed national Technical Writing Seminars; and technical writing accomplishments for the Aluminum Company of America Remediation project, and the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services’ Design of Wastewater Treatment Plant Re-design project.

Managing Technical Editor; Confidential, Wellesley, MA 6/88-12/91

• Managed all stages of editorial production of technical and nontechnical publications.
• Created first Company Style Guide; altered and refined writing to conform to standards.
• Composed and performed technical writing seminars in home and branch offices.

Computer Trainer/Manual Writer; Confidential, Framingham, MA 4/86-6/88

• Trained personnel of 19 US clubs on Fujitsu Electronic POS/online membership systems.
• Wrote reference and computer manuals; developed training materials.

B. S. - Business Administration, Marketing and Communications; English
A. S. - Business Administration, Management

Summary

With ambition and a confidant 8 years experience as Technical Writer, Editor, and Trainer, Mrs. Cullen began a SOWMBA-Certified Woman-Owned Business Enterprise, KNS Editorial Consultants in 1994. She provides top-notch technical writing; editing; proofreading; marketing/management consulting; and training services to her clients; has developed and performed hundreds of Technical Writing and other seminars, and has written/edited training, technical/non-technical documents for various audiences, with successful business outcomes and measured cost-cutting savings. She has considerable management/marketing consulting, and computer experience, as well.

With her exuberant personality; energetic, fastidious work ethic; accomplishment-oriented mindset; and now, many years of hands-on experience, Ms. Cullen is a fantastic consultant, whose goal and accomplishments are always the same: to facilitate the creation of both small and complex documents, and preparation and/or training efforts to successful completion at a reduced level of effort and cost for her clients. She wants to motivate her students in Facing the Writing Dilemma with Confidence!, which is the name of her Technical Writing Seminar.

KNS Editorial Consultants, WBE - Sample Experience by Category

Technical Writing and Presentation Skills Training

Various Clients (samples below). Prepared and performed various successful Presentation Skills and Technical Writing Seminars to help employees communicate professionally, clearly and simply, verbally and/or in writing, and to accomplish the cost-saving, reduced level-of-effort goals:

• Confidential, Cambridge, MA and across US.
• Confidential, Watertown, MA and US. Liberty Mutual, Portsmouth, NH and across US.
• Confidential, Boston, MA.

Technical Writing, Editing and Production Management Projects

Confidential, Boston, MA, Production of Four-Volume Capital Programming Operational Guidelines and Expectations.

• Worked on this 3-year project, under the direction of the Director of Capital Programs, to manage and assist a senior-level management team in the production of a four-volume set of Capital Programming Operational Guidelines and Expectations. She wrote hese documents to provide adequate and clear direction to consultants and construction contractors by which to work collaboratively with Massport on Boston Logan Airport projects.

Confidential, Lowell, MA, Development of Strategic Change Management Process.

• Developed an implementable Change Management Process for a new billing system called ICOMM; implemented the process into regional offices upon system start-up by training staff on new processes and procedures.

Confidential, Portsmouth, NH, Lawson Insight Financial Procedures and Troubleshooting Manuals.

Researched and learned Liberty’s Financial Procedures and the Lawson Insight Financial Software Package that Liberty was converting to in 1998; wrote a Financial Procedures Manual and a Troubleshooting Manual to use to train employees during a difficult software conversion. These manuals required the integration of both hardware and software engineers’ and the primary users’ needs, and working with the web site designer to create a document that would be easily transferred into a web site, then assisting in the creating of the web site.

Confidential, Portsmouth, NH, Design Process Manual.

• Researched and wrote a Design Process for the development of a computer software and hardware component of Objective’s video equipment; coordinated with many senior-level employees, and integrated many different ideas and procedures into one cohesive, effective Design Process Manual. Objective now utilizes the excellem design process, which has allowed it to save substantial money by improving the production of video components.

Confidential, Cambridge, MA, Norumbega Reservoir Project, Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports and Conceptual Design Report.

• Served as Production Coordinator/Writer/Editorial Manager of a twelve-person team in the production of these documents. Being a controversial, expensive project with much opposition, under the direction of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), the development of the project reports required careful consideration of the public’s needs and concerns, and the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency (MEPA), the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA), and various permitting and affiliated agencies. MEPA accepted the successful final report; served as Managing Technical Writer/Editor of the Wachusett Reservoir Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports.

Confidential, Cambridge, MA, South Essex Sewerage District, Danvers, MA, Sewer Rehabilitation Project, Design Specifications.

• Wrote, edited and managed Design Specifications’ effort, which employed a seven-person project team of engineers, word processors, senior-level managers.

Confidential, Cambridge, MA, South Essex Sewerage District, Four Operations and Maintenance Manuals (O&M).

• Coordinated a twelve-­person team to produce four O&M manuals; wrote many sections, and edited and merged other author’s written material into four cohesive manuals.

Confidential, Minneapolis, MN, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES), Design of Wastewater Treatment Facilities Serving Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

• Managed the production of more than 100 deliverables associated with the design of the MCES wastewater facilities servicing the Minnesota’s Twin Cities; wrote and edited the MCES Guidance Manual for the design of large wastewater projects; provided Technical Writing Seminars to train technical staff in efficient and effective writing of the technical reports associated with this comprehensive project.

Confidential, Austin, Texas.

• Completed written documents associated with the Water Environment Federation Research Project, “Evaluate Risks and Benefits of Soil Amendments Used in Agriculture.”

Confidential, Austin, Texas.

• Assisted in writing the Preliminary Design Report for the WWTP Upgrade, which ultimately won CDM the design of the new facilities.

Confidential, Cambridge, MA.

• Edited and assisted in the production of Operations & Maintenance Manuals for two separate WWTP projects for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the South Essex Sewer District in MA.

Confidential, Concord, MA.

• Completed all written technical manuals and deliverables associated with six projects: Millbury, MA, twelve-month Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Upgrade Project; Templeton, MA, twelve-month Contract No. 97-S1: Pumping Stations, Force Mains and Lateral Sewers; North Attleboro, MA, twelve-month Manhole Rehabilitation Project; Norton, MA, twelve-month Sewer Rehabilitation Project; and Augusta, ME, twelve-month WWTP Rehabilitation Project.

Confidential, Wakefield, MA.

• Edited and assisted in the production of both the spring and fall issues of the NEWEA Journal. Mrs. Cullen has performed this job for more than 14 years.

Confidential, Watertown, MA.

• Produced Phases I and II Environmental Services Participation Reports (ESPRs) for the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport).

Other Clients: Confidential

• Created project fact sheets, qualifications packages, SOPs, ESPRs, Specifications, EIRs, Software, etc.; marketing materials and technical manuals for these clients.

Confidential, Naperville, Illinois, Manager, Business Development Group.

• Managed US Filter’s proposal group for 6 months during a difficult transition upon its move from Hampton, NH; provided management consulting expertise to facilitate US Filter’s reorganization of the group and office into a more efficient and effective operation, and to improve the moral of valued personnel; screened potential employees’ resumes; interviewed prospects; provided recommendations to senior management; and hired and trained new employees; managed and contributed to the development of the integrated company’s new marketing materials, including press releases, brochures, qualifications, fact sheets and public relations materials.

Confidential, Hampton, NH, Manager, Business Development Group (BDG).

• Completed a full-time, 5-month Management/Marketing Consulting Project for this subsidiary of Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc.; managed Wheelabrator’s BDG, which was comprised of proposal writers, marketing coordinators and word processors; oversaw the production and delivery of high-quality proposals, qualifications statements, interview packages, presentations, and other company communications to valued clients; trained BDG and senior-level managers in presentation/technical writing skills; facilitated Wheelabrator’s senior-level management team and President in the organization and creation of a new BDG in Naperville, IL, as described above.