Leadership Skills
- Culturally aware of individual & organizational values, beliefs, assumptions
- Excellent mentor by habit and nature
- Biased toward recognizing & developing others’ capacities & leadership
- Inspires by communicating shared vision, and exemplifying values & hard work
- Personal character that is ever-improving, curious, and dedicated to core values
- Insures that corporate character is growing over time, motivating success
Work Experience
Co-founder & CEO / Jigabot — 2012 – Present
Since its founding in 2012, Jigabot has focused on developing technology for the Education market (and others). Its flagship product, called the Jigabot EX, enables (1) teachers to stream instruction for remote education or hybrid classrooms; and (2) administrators to use for teacher development. The Jigabot EX has been discovered, and highly valued, by Educators due in part to educational constraints associated with COVID-19. Learn more here.
Founder, Writer, Director, Producer / Acuity Productions — 2002 – 2012
Produced seven television documentaries, obtained big screenings (Heritage Foundation Think Tank in Washington DC; two film festivals), received recognitions (featured on the Glenn Beck show, we won a film festival award, and 4 Telly Awards). Stream “James Christensen” Documentary here.
- Performed extensive research, uncovered hidden stories, met deadlines
- Closed deals with broadcasters, Amazon Prime, Netflix
Co-founder & VP Software Development / Archware, Inc. — 2001 – 2002
Conceptualized a “watch-dog” for ERP systems, produced innovative software prototype
Co-founder & CEO / e-Automate — 1996 – 2001
Developed ERP software which became and remains a market leader today. Learn more here.
- Recruited, focused creativity, organized teams to optimize talent
- Performed customer segmentation, identified niches/tradeshows/associations, made prospect calls & gathered data, presented break-even analyses, closed deals
Founder, Business Consultant / Implementation Dynamics — 1991 – 1996
Worked with multiple businesses; identified operational problems; implemented solutions, such as freeing up $400K in cash and increasing sales by 300%
- Modeled M&A decisions, created projections for loans, managed cash
- Reimagined products, services & prices; implemented business development; pitched and closed multi-year deals;
Sr. Product Manager / Keytronic — 1991 – 1991
Accepted a job as a product manager for a new Laptop Computer division at Keytronic. Shortly after arriving, I put together a cost analysis that showed Keytronic’s Bill of Materials costs were too high to compete in the laptop computer industry. The entire division was cut, and I was given a generous severance package.
General Manager, Aerotron / EBM — 1986 – 1988
As a sophomore at BYU, I was hired as the General Manager of Aerotron/EBM, which we grew through innovative business development activities.
Education
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah — MBA, 1991
- Strategy, Leadership & Culture, Organizational Change
- Dean’s List, Scholarship, Textbook Editor, Curriculum Redesign Committee
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah — BA, International Relations, 1989
- Diplomacy, history, and ethnographic research and writing
- High score on written final exam in Don Norton’s infamous English Usage Class
Other Relevant Experiences
Bishop, YSA Ward, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — 2019 – Present
Serve 400+ (cumulative) young single adults as spiritual leader and mentor. Know & love individuals, and help them make some of their biggest life-decisions.
Missionary, Hong Kong, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — 1980 – 1982
Taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Cantonese language, and led others’ efforts.