My bio stuff
I was born at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ, but spent most of my
youth on the island of Guam
at Andersen AFB.
Returned to Tucson in
the middle of my junior year at Sahuaro High School,
and have since lived in Albuquerque
NM, Las Vegas NV,
Lake Forest CA, Moreno
Valley CA, Pleasanton
CA, Modesto CA, and The Woodlands TX
courtesy of numerous promotions and transfers with Circuit City. I'm married and
have one son.
Summary of Qualifications
Employment
Experience
What have I done? This, that, and the other. Most of my background has been
retail operational and sales management for the largest electronics and
appliance retailers in the country. I've done everything from sell telephones
and boomboxes to manage a district of 13 locations. I've also been in retail
Office Supplies, retail book selling, and managed the National Retail Sales accounts of
Aerial Communications (prior to VoiceStream & T-Mobile) for the Houston
region. My foray into technology came with InfoHighway International, a CLEC and
DSL/Dialup provider in which I managed all Internet Technical Support on a
24/7/365 basis, Installation and Repair crews within Texas (including three
outside contractors in other cities), and after-hours Telephone Repair support
until the company closed its Texas office when the "Internet Bubble"
popped in 2000 and I chose to remain here instead of accepting a transfer to New
York.
Additional Experience
In
addition to my employment experience, I have the following background:
- Consultant to the
Chairman and the President of InfoHighway International to be responsible
for creating and enhancing the operational aspects of this early Internet
start-up beginning in 1994. Advised and
directed on customer service, order entry, billing, customer tracking, human
resources, and troubleshot basic business operations. My success in doing so
earned me an election to the Board of Directors in 1996. This
was all prior to my employment with the company, but this contributed to my
being hired by them once Venture Capital funding was obtained.
- Created
Apex BBS, a subscriber-funded Bulletin Board System (BBS) using Wildcat
software. In addition to shareware files I was one of the first BBS' in the
Houston area to provide Internet newsgroup and e-mail access via
dial-up UUCP. In
addition, beginning in 1994, I became a beta tester of Wildcat BBS for Mustang
Software Inc.
- Completed the
Cisco Networking Academy for my CCNA but have not tested for the
certification.
- I'm not a
hardcore geek, but I know my way around and don't get lost very often. It
runs in the blood as my dad was a mainframe technician for UNIVAC when
computers took up 1500 sq ft and were housed in temperature and humidity
controlled rooms. My first computer was a Timex/Sinclair back around 1981-82
and I have been online since 1989 beginning with CompuServe and then later
with Prodigy. I have been on the "net" since 1993 and have owned
my own domain name since 1996.
Community Service
I believe that people should "give back" to
the community in which they live to help make it a better place for everyone. In
that vein I have volunteered my time with several organizations throughout the
years. Due to my work schedule I have reduced my role to three efforts, but in
addition to the work with the Alumni Association I also volunteer at the
Sheriff's Office when time allows. As part of this volunteer work I have
completed 40 TCLEOSE hours in
Crime Prevention and will be certified as soon as I submit my paperwork.
Shattered Lives - a program to deter high schoolers from
drinking and driving 2004 -
Montgomery
County Sheriff Citizen’s Academy Alumni Association 2000 -
Military
Academy Selection Committee for U.S. Representative Kevin Brady 1997 -
4th
of July Planning Committee, The Woodlands Town Center 1998 – 1999
Home
For The Holidays Planning Committee, The Woodlands Town Center 1997
Visioning
Committee, South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce 1997-1998
Affinity
Committee, South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce 1996- 1997
Board
of Directors, South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce 1996-1997
Nominating
Committee, South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber of Commerce 1996
Steering
Committee, Education for Tomorrow Alliance 1996-1997
Board
of Directors, South Montgomery County Woodlands Library Guild 1995-1996
Judge,
Compaq SCI://TECH 2000 1995-2000
Marketing
Committee, The Woodlands Town Center/Pinecroft Center 1994-1997
Member,
ETA School-Business Partnership with Collins Intermediate School 1994-1998
References
Business and personal references are available if you
like what you see and I like what you have to offer
- Book
Collecting
- I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember,
and I have been collecting books for almost as long. As a
former bookseller I have quite a large number of advance
reading copies, modern autographed firsts, and many other
first editions. Even so, my treasures are my older books,
those that range in publication from the 1800's to the
1940's. Some of my all time favorites are Fun For Boys, a
1940's paperback that includes instructions on how to
spot enemy (German/Japanese) airplanes, and a geography
book from 1864 that belonged to my
great-great-grandfather. This book includes the census
numbers from 1860 that includes population counts of
Whites, Slaves, and Free Colored. For those who are
interested, the numbers for Texas were 421,411, 180,682,
and 339. The book I treasure the most is probably my copy
of the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper,
containing The Deerslayer, The Pathfinder, The Last Of
The Mohicans, The Pioneers, and The Prairie. This book
has no reference to a publication date and does not even
state who the publisher is, but a best-guess estimate is
that it was printed around 1905. I come from a long line
of readers, and my grandmother lived in the same house
for almost her entire life, so many books were to be
found in the attic on my infrequent trips back to New
Jersey.
-
- Street rods/Hot rods/Motorcycles/NASCAR
- I became interested in cars when I was about fourteen or
fifteen. My first car was a 1965 Ford Fairlane, but it
wasn't much of a hot rod; 289, automatic, and four doors
did not quite cut it for me. One day while I working at
the gas station, one of the regular customers came
through and said he was interested in selling his car; a 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon
Sprint. 260 ci, BW T-10 4-speed, bucket seats, padded
dash, chrome wheels, and more. I was hooked. For the
ungodly sum of $250 I became its third proud owner at the
age of 17, and I still own it today. I raced it, hot
rodded it, and just
plain drove the heck out of it. From there I moved to a
52 Ford pickup, and then a 37 Ford pickup, a sand rail,
and then marriage hit me and the toys went away. One of
these days I will get back into it, but for now I just
have to dream.
-
- My first
motorcycle was a 1978 Kawasaki KZ650 and my current ride is a 2001
Kawasaki Concours.
I've had an interest
in NASCAR for many years but it really didn't come to a boil until my trip to
the Brickyard in 1998.
Electronic mail address brian
_ AT _ thorn.org
Copyright Brian E Thorn 1996-2005
Last revised: February 16, 2005.