Curriculum Vitae

Deer Park, WA, USA

 aristidesalvarez@gmail.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aristides-alvarez/

Skills

  • I can work effectively with international teams with a mix of in-person and remote management/coordination.
  • I have mixed technology and business background 
  • Experience with designing and manufacturing educational kits on microcontrollers and autonomous robotics kits as well as coordinating curriculum development for such kits.
  • Communication facilitator. In multi-department meetings, I am able to serve as a sort of intermediary, where I can translate accounting information or design limitations into something other departments can understand. This transforms previously frustrating multi-department meetings into collaborative exercises where each department walks away with doable goals for completing the project. 
  • Self-learner. I can learn from peers, courses, books, or whatever resources are available.
  • Able to work with a diverse mix of customers, staff, and suppliers. Including across continents and in other languages or with different cultural backgrounds.
  • Efficient business traveler (domestic and international).
  • Problem solver. Once a problem is found, I like to figure out the solution and set up and train a team to take care of it. Then on to the next problem.
  • Multitasker. I was able to manage a department in CA, run a company in WA, a company in Hong Kong, and a company in China, with several projects in parallel, all at the same time.
  • Able manager. I can find and hire my own staff and reduce staff when needed, working with HR to document everything to avoid legal challenges. Also able to work with volunteers and volunteer programs (as with volunteer translators, for example).
  • I have worked with the following microcontrollers: BASIC Stamp, Arduino, Propeller, micro:bit, and Raspberry Pi Pico.

Experience

Vice President

Parallax Inc – Remote, USA February 2022 to Present

  • Currently managing all internal operations.
  • In charge of signing conference contracts and representing Parallax at events (IgniteND, CEDF, NICEK12, etc.).
  • Setting up and facilitating free educator’s courses (based on different platforms, such as micro:bit, Arduino, and Parallax microcontrollers).
  • Developing and maintaining partnerships with other corporations or non-profits that align with Parallax interests (Micro:bit Educational Foundation, Raspberry Pi, Cyber.org, Project Lead the Way, etc.).
  • Helping define new products and coordinate design, production, and documentation development until product release.

President

SimplyTronics (Parallax branch)– Deer Park, WA, USA February 2012 to 2022

  • Created a new branch for all Parallax business conducted out of California, and registered it as a new company named SimplyTronics.
  • Increased market presence with more designs from China and manufacturing services for multiple customers.
  • Managed contract manufacturing for turnkey products like the S3 robot or the Cat Eyes Halloween toy (the only 2 products I have permission to mention free of NDA restrictions), including any lab testing and certification.
  • Set up new ERP, CRM, and manufacturing systems. The inventory system keeps track of multiple warehouses (in the US, Hong Kong, and Mainland China) tracking all movements between them.
  • Set up an online store and worldwide presence.
  • Continued working from our US office while managing operations in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Owner

Tarascon Argentinian Empanadas, Spokane, WA, USA 2019 to 2020

  • Started a popular restaurant in Spokane City.
  • Obtained a business license and worked with the Health Department to approve and operate the restaurant.
  • Created a website and developed an online ordering system.
  • Established the checkout system.
  • Set up a Payroll system and accounting system for a food service business.
  • The restaurant closed due to COVID-19 restrictions (it was operating in a shared location).

Owner

BeeManiacs LLC – Deer Park, WA, USA January 2012 to Present

  • Opened a family company to offer local beekeepers more equipment and tool options due to the lack of options in our area.
  • Set up new ERP and CRM systems.
  • Set up brick-and-mortar and online stores.
  • Developed online educational material to support new beekeepers.
  • Presented in conferences and taught courses in local non-profits.

President

Parallax Hong Kong Limited – Hong Kong February 2007 to 2014

  • Relocated to Asia for a couple of years to set up a company to resolve logistic (sourcing) and manufacturing quality problems in China.
  • Hired and trained Chinese staff to improve manufacturing quality control programs and trained Engineers in designing new products.
  • After initial setup, this position required my presence in China for about 30% of my time, and the rest was managed remotely from our US office.

Chief Representative

Parallax HK Shenzhen Office – Shenzhen, China November 2009 to 2014

  • Expanded operations in Mainland China.
  • Expanded hiring capabilities in Mainland China.

Education Manager

Parallax, Inc. – Rocklin, CA April 2004 to 2012

  • I was assigned the duty of creating a new department for our educational services (as an extension of the Marketing Department).
    • Defined job positions
    • Hired new employees (from within the organization as well as new hires)
    • Set up processes and systems to establish how the department would interact with other departments (requesting manufacturing of new products, coordinating ad campaigns with marketing, attending events representing the company, etc.)
  • As department manager
    • Coordinated department staff, resources, and planning.
    • Set up participation in events and conferences.
    • Taught Educator’s Courses in English throughout the United States, and in English and Spanish internationally (Spain, Switzerland, UK, China, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina).
    • From 2007 to 2008, I managed this department from China.
    • From 2009 to 2012, I managed this department from WA State.

Technical Support Manager

Parallax, Inc. – Rocklin, CA November 2004 to January 2007

  • Coordinated Tech Support Department resources and planning to accommodate both domestic and international customers.
  • Coordinated new product development and existing product improvements/revisions based on customer feedback.

International Education Program Developer

Parallax, Inc. – Rocklin, CA December 2002 to April 2004

  • Responsible for defining, developing, and deploying Educator’s Courses (Parallax technical training courses).
  • Contributed to the development and update of the educational program curriculum.
  • Developed Spanish-speaking support for the company.
  • Coordinated the volunteer translator program that translated Parallax documentation into 12 languages.

Independent Consultant

Parallax, Inc. – Rocklin, CA February 2001 to December 2002

  • Worked for the California company remotely from Argentina.
  • Exclusive Parallax representative for education and distribution purposes in Spanish-speaking countries.
  • Translated all Educational program materials, including the website and the curriculum from English to Spanish (about 9 books).  
  • Provided technical and educational support for Spanish-speaking customers (online).
  • Processed direct sales from Spanish-speaking countries.
  • Responsible for identifying distributors in Spanish-speaking countries. 
  • Instructed Educator’s Courses and seminars in Spanish

Vocational Education Teacher

Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina September 1989 to December 2002

  • VoTech Vocational Education Teacher for 13 years. 
  • Developed the course materials and curriculum for instruction in robotics, microelectronics, technical English, and computer science.

Community Outreach/Involvement

Over the same period of time, I was also engaged in other activities. In some cases, I decided to fill a need in the community or get involved to help honeybees. 

Below are some activities that help showcase how I took action or got involved in leadership roles:

  • Facilitated registration of multiple non-profits in Washington State. Local non-profits had problems keeping their legal tax-exempt status, so I took a class from WA State Charities Department and the IRS. Then I helped 3 associations recover their legal non-profit status and processed 501c3 tax-exempt status applications with the IRS. I am still on the board and filing yearly reports for the following non-profits:
    • Backyard Beekeepers Association
    • Wild Rose Prairie Association
  • Volunteer Firefighter. Completed Fire School in Spokane, WA and volunteered for a year in Stevens County in 2011 (until I relocated out of the district).
  • Beekeeper:
    • Certified Journeyman beekeeper by the WA State Master Beekeeper Association
    • Served on multiple beekeeping non-profits boards
    • Taught beekeeping classes in non-profits in Eastern WA since 2011.
  • Served as a Committee member on school districts. President of the DELAC (District English Learner Advisory Committee) in the Center Unified School District in Sacramento, CA, from 2004-2007.

Education

My highest university education level is an advanced student of Electronics Engineering at the Facultad Nacional de Ingeniería, Argentina (61% completed of the EE degree with a GPA equivalent of 3.45). I suspended my studies in February 1999 without finishing the degree, and instead have expanded my knowledge through the years by studying on my own.

Every time I started a new project or was tasked with taking over an existing project, I expanded my knowledge on different subjects, to gather the skills needed to resolve specific issues.

What kind of studies did I conquer on my own? This is a partial list:

  • Business accounting systems. From how to use Purchase and Sales Order modules, with different inventory tracking systems to setting up whole companies in the following systems:
    • Syspro (used for 10 years)
    • Netsuite (setup a whole company with multiple warehouses and run the system for one year)
    • Quickbooks Enterprise (set up two companies and run the system for 8 years, to the limit of Quickbooks Enterprise capabilities, including multiple location warehouses, manufacturing with Bill of Material and job creation, etc.)
  • Setting up companies in Hong Kong (from registration to running the company)
  • Setting up legal entities in Mainland China (registration to operation).
  • I defined processes to control the quality of products manufactured in China, from design to production, to sustaining quality levels. 
  • Setting up companies in WA State (from registration to running the company, including all tax reporting). 
  • Setting up and operating payroll of several companies in different countries. Including health benefits, cafeteria plan, and retirement plan.
  • International taxes reporting.
  • Website and online store setups. Took classes and operated several websites with WordPress and Woocommerce store (as well as Bigcommerce)
  • Book publishing (mostly printed but I also studied e-book publishing).
  • I learned how to install and run different online education deployment systems.
  • Developed negotiating skills for dealing with suppliers in the US and foreign countries.
  • I had some training on different platforms to work with different teams (Copper CRM, Slack, Jira, Atlassian, Crowdin, Wrike, Google Workspace, Zoom, etc.)

Languages

  • Mother tongue: Spanish
  • English
  • Basic knowledge of the following languages and cultures: Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, and French.