Team

Forestay operates with a core team of hands-on technology leaders and an active network of several hundred SOA, BPEL, and BPM experts. We can quickly and cost-effectively assemble the most appropriate resources to meet your needs.

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Leaders
– Founder and Chief Architect
– Principal Architect
– Senior Architect
– Architect
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Steve Hoffman, Founder and Chief Architect – shoffman@forestay.com
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bpmsoa

A subject matter expert in BPEL (business process execution language), Steve drives clients' service-oriented architecture (SOA) strategies and implementations. He also serves as a strong advocate for the practical application of key emerging technologies within and across clients' lines of business. Leveraging broad knowledge of the Web services, SOA, and BPEL technology, vendor, and product space and deep knowledge of BPEL practices and patterns, Steve provides insightful analysis that filters and translates vendors’ marketecture and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). By providing innovative solutions, he demonstrates how to use BPEL to solve complex real-world problems.

Most recently, Steve was director of technical solutions for Active Endpoints, where he drove customers' successes with the company's industry-leading BPEL tooling and servers. Steve was a key contributor to Active Endpoints efforts for customer demos and proofs-of-concept, training and certification content creation and delivery, product management, and marketing support.

Previously, Steve was director of application development for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, where he led the creation, integration, and operation of CRM systems empowering hotels to maximize their guests' experiences. Prior to Starwood, Steve provided technical strategies and implementations for organizations such as Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Pitney Bowes and Dictaphone as an independent consultant. His other experience includes leading the design and delivery of neural network-based pattern recognition systems for Nestor and developing microcode to control imaging subsystems for Xerox's high-volume publishing systems.

Steve attended Carnegie Mellon University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree with University Honors in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Economics. He is an ActiveBPEL Certified BPEL Engineer and a Sun Certified Java Architect and Programmer. Steve is active with the Southern New England chapter of the Association of Business Process Management Professionals (ABPMP), serving as their vice president of information technology.
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Ameer Ahmed, Principal Architect – aahmed@forestay.com

Ameer is expert at conceiving and delivering innovative solutions to tricky business problems using Java/J2EE and XML technologies. He wields excellent communication skills to identify business needs and constraints and quickly designs and prototypes elegant solutions using the latest advanced technologies. Ameer has vast experience architecting and developing custom systems for content management and licensing, workflow/BPM and marketing automation for such organizations as JPMorganChase, Starwood Hotels, ARTstor (a non-profit initiative founded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching and learning in the arts and associated fields) and The Harry Fox Agency.

Ameer has published several articles including a three-part series on jBPM, the JBoss open source BPM system (on the Raible Designs wiki):

  1. "Integrate jBPM Support (via Spring-Modules) into AppFuse";
  2. "Integrating jBPM into AppFuse Part Deux - Setup AppFuse/jBPM in Eclipse, model definitions using the jBPM Process Designer"; and
  3. "Integrating jBPM into AppFuse Part Trois - Enhance definitions to support tasks, users, schedule and injecting spring beans into actions."

Ameer graduated Summa cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Marketing from American College for Applied Arts and he also attended the Cambridge Medical Training Program in the UK.
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Bernard Ash, Principal Architect – bash@forestay.com

With over nine years of experience in full-lifecycle application design, development, and implementation, Bernard is an expert in Hyperion Planning, Analytic Services (Essbase), Web programming, Java, Visual Basic, System 9 BI+, Hyperion Security Platform (CSS), Data Integration, etc.

Bernard wields excellent communication and presentation skills to facilitate sessions, define user requirements, develop and deploy varied solutions, develop and deliver end-user training, create and manage project schedules, budgets and resource plans, manage customer escalations and enhancement requests, and prepare and present executive project briefings. His industry experience includes Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Banking, Financial Services, Healthcare, High Technology/Electronics, Higher Education, Insurance, Retail, Semi–conductor, Services Industries, Telecommunications, Transportation and Utilities.

Bernard earned a BA in Biology from Goucher College.
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Ernie Megginson, Architect – emegginson@forestay.com

Ernie is an expert with .Net and BPEL technologies, especially in the telecommunications and medical information systems industries. In fact, he was the first beta tester and most extensive early user of the ActiveVOS products. He also has experience with the Oracle and IBM BPEL products. A more detailed biography will be posted soon.