James W. Meng

Home/Resume/CV -- VLNLAB -- Projects -- Abuse by the US Government -- Writings

I maintain this site in lieu of a LinkedIn page. Most people are better served by standard communication channels, chiefly, by e-mail and by telephone. LinkedIn provides little of value to anyone other than corporate HR departments and Western governments, who use it primarily as a data collection and surveillance device. This site was put together in raw HTML in a few minutes' time. Say what you want about this as a stylistic choice, but it is many times faster to render and respond to input than LinkedIn on any device.

I have a wide-ranging background in highly technical, complex business development, strategic marketing, sales and account management concerns. I am well-versed in finance, economics, and law, and am enthusiastic about working through complex business development and analysis challenges in any industry. I have a consistent track record of combining analytical breakthroughs with substantial business results, and have extensive full-stack development/design and technical project/product management experience. I am also a former notary (Nassau County, New York) and an experienced Windows/Linux/BSD/IBM zOS systems administrator, full-stack web developer & data analyst in Python, R, SQL, Tableau, and Excel PowerBI, and am available for IT consulting work privately. Beyond that, I also dabble in lobbying governments. Call (leave a message and I'll return your call) or e-mail me to get in touch. Please note that if you do not announce yourself at the prompt and/or leave a message, I will NOT call you back. Additionally, numbers that leave missed calls without voice messages or leave voice messages with silence only are blocked, permanently.

Experience      
2025     Mavis Discount Tire (East Meadow, New York, USA)
      Assistant Manager
     
  • Managed a busy corporate auto service and tire sale garage, with duties including inventory management; personnel management, scheduling, and training; client account management, sales, & logistics; also assisted/instructed work on customer vehicles.
2021-2024     International Oil/Resource/Automotive Industry Concerns (Eastern Belgium)
      Logistics Support
     
  • Customs & logistics processing for major global oil, natural resources, and automotive concerns in Eastern Belgium - Toyota TPCCE in Diest, XPO Logistics & DHL in Genk, Limburg Galvination in Maasmechelen, for imports/exports between the local market and the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia, etc.
2020-2021     Nassau County Board of Elections (New York, USA)
      Poll Coordinator
     
  • Verified personal data to check voters in; set up/troubleshooted voting machines; secured premises; conducted standard polling site processes
2020     U.S. Census Bureau (Nassau County, New York, USA)
      Census Enumerator
     
  • Conducted household interviews for the 2020 U.S. Census in the greater Nassau/Suffolk County area in English, Russian, French
  • Audited vacant and partially-built residential buildings to clarify and update address information for Census databases
2019-2020     Teleperformance (Montréal, Québec, Canada)
      Operations Supervisor
     
  • Supervised the call center for the UK operations of American venture-backed peer-to-peer car rental platform TURO
  • Managed support requests from car hosts and renters, resolving their problems throughout various functional areas of the client organisation and its commercial partners using their CRM systems
  • Oversaw the activities of a team of call center agents; managed a wide array of commercial issues for the client alongside the personnel management duties associated with the team
  • I was highly proficient as a supervisor and agent; customer satisfaction metrics and team morale were consistently ranked the highest globally
2017-2019     Linguist & Translator (Moscow & Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
     
  • Client manager, teacher, translator, and writer in English on behalf of various Russian companies; also produced the first English-language translation of the Russian Federal Migration Service's Russian History & Culture material used for government residency and citizenship examinations, and assisted the Moscow State Archives and various international musicologists on a project to publish a recently-discovered manuscript for a viola and piano work by Dmitri Shostakovich. Other clients included Grand Capital, IELTSnow!, Cryptouniverse, Federal Foreign Language Center, Vostock Capital, and Enjoy Camp.
2015-2019     VLNLAB (Moscow, Russia)
      Founder
     
  • Designed & patented the first concert-quality 3D printable violin & viola
  • The design is available as freeware, can be produced for less than $50 on inexpensive Fused Deposition Modelling 3D printers and, if assembled properly, provides the sound quality of a professional concert instrument
2016-2017     miPS Labs, now part of Curi Bio (Seattle, Washington, USA)
      Marketing Director
     
  • Executed commercial strategy and digital marketing for the launch of the first personal stem cell cryopreservation and cultivation service
  • Launched out of the lab of Dr. Deok-Ho Kim at the University of Washington, miPS Labs was created to more effectively facilitate future regenerative medical therapies for serious diseases from diabetes to Alzheimer's through the preservation and cultivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
2012-2015     Sotheby's (Palm Beach, Florida, USA)
      Regional Business Development, Florida
     
  • Ran Sotheby's regional office as their sole employee in Florida
  • Procured works of art for global sales; handled business development, contract negotiation, relationship management functions for private collectors and the trade
  • Exceeded targets substantially each year; produced over $29 million in fine art sales
  • Transformed the office into the firm’s most profitable by the end of 2014
2011-2012     Media Ingenuity Ltd. (London, United Kingdom)
      Business Development Analyst, Life Insurance & Mortgages
     
  • Technological project management and troubleshooting for the Life Insurance and Mortgage sections of TotallyMoney.com, working with the development team on various projects within assigned product verticals
  • Ran regular marketing quality analyses & handled client-facing account management tasks
Education      
2011     London Business School
      M.S., Management
      Diploma (reprint) Diploma (original)
       
2010     University of Florida
      B.A., Business Administration & B.A. Russian Language & Literature, summa cum laude
Summer internship at Morgan Stanley (Operations & Compliance)
      Diploma #1 Diploma #2
       
      International Equivalencies
Professional Certifications & Continuing Education      
2022     Dartmouth College & Institut Mines-Télécom
      Professional Certificate, C Programming with Linux
       
2020     IBM Corporation
      Professional Certificate, z/OS Mainframe Practitioner
       
2015     Microsoft Corporation
      Professional Certificate, Querying with Transact-SQL
      Professional Certificate, Excel for Data Analysis & Visualization
       
2015     Duke University
      Professional Certificate, Data Visualization & Communication with Tableau