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Robin
Gaster
North
Atlantic Research Inc.
8200
Queen Anne’s Drive
Silver
Spring MD 20910
rgaster@north-atlantic.com |
Tel. 301-589-5965
Fax 301-589-1743
www.north-atlantic.com
www.close2home.net/business |
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Work
Experience
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North
Atlantic Research Inc. (1991-) (CEO and founder)
Directed
major projects covering content and electronic publishing, software
development, market assessment, public policy, industry studies, and
technology reviews. Dr.Gaster's work at NAR’s included: |
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- Articles for publications such as Foreign
Policy, The Atlantic Monthly, and New York NewsDay
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- Major publications, including The 21st
Century Communications Company, for the Economist Intelligence Unit,
and Bit by Bit: Towards a TransAtlantic Telecommunications Policy
(M.E.Sharpe)
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- market assessments and reports for
companies such as Houghton Mifflin, Philips, Olivetti, Bull,
Mitsubishi Research;
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- technology and policy assessments for
agencies such as the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress,
the National Research Council, and the European Commission, Electric
Power Research Institute
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- Internal strategy documents for
companies such as Deloitte and Touche, King Publishing
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- Policy analysis for think-tanks such as
the Economic Strategy Institute, TransAtlantic Futures, Council on
Strategic and International Studies
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- Marketing
brochures and materials for NAR, including maintenance of NAR's web
site
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For
more information about North Atlantic’s consulting activities, see http://www.north-atlantic.com |
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LocalNet
LLC (1998-) (CEO
and founder) |
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LocalNet
was funded by angel investors, on the basis of a business plan developed
by Dr.Gaster, to develop a comprehensive Web-based
platform for providing local services, information, and opportunities.
Uniquely, LocalNet worked closely with local partners to implement a
vision grounded in the local power of the Net. |
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Responsibilities
covered content decisions on these projects. This work
included |
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- Development of an information
architecture for the project
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Convergence
(CEO) |
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Convergence
was a $2m partnership with Deloitte and Touche to create an electronic
publication covering all aspects of telecommunications and the Internet.
The project was on the market for about two years before being
overtaken by the explosive growth of information on the Web.
Responsibilities included: |
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- Information
architecture for database containing more than 25,000 articles
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- Acquisition
arrangements with the owners of more than 400 content sources
(including licensing agreements)
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- Commissioning
and editing 20 major articles covering many aspects of telecom and the
net
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International
Monetary Fund and World Bank |
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Senior
editor for two years working in the IMF board room, responsible for
editing, circulating, and then distributing IMF Board documents and
decisions. |
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Authored
Board glossary for use with MS Word |
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Freelance
editor at the World Bank. Worked extensively with French- and
Spanish-speaking economists to generate clearly written documents for Bank
Board approval. |
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Other
Work
Experience
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SNIP
Software (CEO) (1997-98) |
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Office
of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress (1989-91) (Congressional Fellow)
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University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
(1986-87) (Assistant Professor) |
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U.C.Berkeley,
American U., George Washington U., George Mason U. (Adjunct Professor) |
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Skills
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Writing
(see publications for selected list) |
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20
years experience authoring dozens of documents in many styles, including: |
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- Technical assessments and documentation
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| Editing |
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Edited
authoritative volume on U.S.-European relations in telecommunications.
Freelance editor for World Bank and others. Author/editor of U.C.Berkeley
Writing and Editing Manual used by remedial program for more than 15
years. |
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| Research |
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Extensive
research background, following Ph.D in social sciences. Professional
consulting work includes numerous market assessments and technology
analyses focused on telecommunications and ecommerce. Numerous reports and
assessments completed for government, corporate, and nonprofit clients
(see publications for selected list) |
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| Web
publishing |
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Expert
level proficiency with MS Front Page. Proficiency with database
development for web publishing and internal organizational use. Currently
webmaster for four sites, including for example Takoma
Neighborhood Youth Soccer |
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| Knowledge
Management and Public Presentation |
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Very
strong presentation, desktop publishing, and web skills. Author and
designed of many high quality consulting reports, project web sites, and major PowerPoint
presentations (for the Economist Intelligence Unit and others) Extensive
speaking experience at industry and public policy seminars and
conferences, and as professor at U.C.Berkeley, UI. of Virginia, and others
DC-area universities. Strong inter-personal skills. |
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Advanced
understanding of online research and collaboration technologies, including
web-clipping and management, groupware, shared page technologies e.g. web
logs, instant messaging etc. |
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Very
experienced PowerPoint developer; slides used at major business
conferences as well as informal investor presentations (examples available
on request). |
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Strong
Excel user. Developed very sophisticated projections for use with Localnet
project (examples available on request). |
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Proficient
designer of Access databases |
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| Project
Management and Operations |
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Extensive experience
as manager of major projects over the past 12 years, including LocalNet
projects, Convergence partnership with Deloitte and Touche, and
numerous research and assessment projects for many clients. |
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Creative user of
Internet tools (groupware, instant messaging, quick start web sites,
blogs,) etc. as a means of ensuring tight coordination between virtual
team members. |
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| Business
planning and strategy |
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Ten years of P&L
responsibility, including Convergence project. Extensive internal
and external experience building comprehensive and successful business
plans, used to underpin the work of LocalNet , SNIP! Software, Enersphere
(Canada) (all funded), as well as other partners such as RW Ventures and
Local Net (California) Inc. Additional experience with major proposals and
grant applications. |
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| Marketing
and alliances |
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Ten
years successful experience marketing consulting services to major clients
around the world. Consistent ability to close sales and to generate
repeat business. Additional experience with B2B marketing through the Convergence
project (includes advertising, marketing infrastructure, direct mail,
telesales, trade shows, etc.) Innovative developer of alternative
marketing strategies using the public policy environment. |
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| Legal/intellectual
property |
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Experience
setting up companies and managing legal aspects. Considerable understanding
of intellectual property issues (though I am not a lawyer), based
both on practical experience with Convergence and LocalNet,
and also on recent consulting work on intellectual property for a major
client. |
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