ZAG has acquired software development consulting firm LightPath Solutions and named LightPath Solutions founder, Michael Vickers, as ZAG’s new chief technology officer.
With Major League Baseball’s trade deadline today, this stands as one of the most dramatic transactions and energizes a group that already was well-positioned for a World Series run.
Michael has more than 20 years of software development experience working with some of the world’s largest companies in the pharmaceutical, hospitality, retail, and telecommunications industries.
“Michael is a tremendous addition to our team,” said President and CEO Larry Miclette. “His development work speaks for itself and he is among the most dedicated and talented people I know. I am thrilled to have him join the ZAG family. This will be good for our push to the pennant.”
Michael brings to ZAG his client base from LightPath Solutions, which includes world-renowned clothier Brooks Brothers.
Michael developed, updates and maintains the Brooks Information Gateway, which serves Brooks’ corporate employees and associates in more than 200 stores throughout the world. Built on SharePoint, this program is what customers see on the screens of point-of-sale machines in Brooks Brothers stores.
With LightPath, he also developed on SharePoint the corporate intranet for HEI Hotels & Resorts, a leading hotel investment group. The intranet serves HEI’s corporate users as well as their associates in more than 40 hotels throughout the United States.
ZAG and Michael partnered on a per-project basis in recent years. He was a developer for important ZAG projects such as the Arizona Department of Transportation, Frontier Communications, Weizmann-USA (through marketing firm POKE) and the DNAweb™ comprehensive online banking product for Open Solutions, which is now part of Fiserv.
“In the past three years, I’ve had a unique perspective on the inner-workings of ZAG,” Michael said. “There is an infectious enthusiasm for the work at hand and a deep caring for each other that extends beyond the confines of the office.”
He added, “This starts at the top with Larry, who has assembled a talented and energetic group of individuals. I’m gaining a great place to work, but even more so, I’m gaining a great family.”
Prior to launching LightPath Solutions, Michael spent 10 years directing the IT department at Pharmedica Communications, a medical marketing/education company in Killingworth, Conn. He was responsible for leading top and bottom line tech departments and managing the infrastructure for a company that at one time employed 200 people in five offices across four states. Michael catered to clients that included Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and many other leading pharmaceutical companies. He spec’d, created and supported educational and consumer websites for Pharmedica while managing teams that did the same. He also managed a multimedia team that specialized in Flash/Shockwave/Director projects.
Michael’s additional expertise is in the field of software quality assurance. Prior to joining Pharmedica, he worked in the QA departments at three different software/hardware companies.
“Software quality assurance is extremely important to me and part of the business I hope to grow at ZAG,” he said.
Michael enjoys a variety of pursuits outside of work, including traveling, cycling, theology and all things related to technology and gadgets.
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