A loving husband and father of 2 (a son and a pug), Michael is truly grateful for his wonderful family and cherishes their time together. To help combat the strain and stresses of a busy lifestyle Michael employs meditation on a daily basis in lieu of the daily drink. As an avid reader, Michael loves learning about the buying and social interaction patters of people (The Tipping Point is one of his favorite books) and enjoys a great game of Modern Warfare (any iteration) to relax.

Michael Dela Cruz
11834 Avon Way # 202 | Los Angeles, CA 90066
Cell: 310.775.3827
Email: dlc@dlcinteractive.com
Website: http://dlcinteractive.com

Objective :
To list experience and skills in order to obtain a position that will provide challenges for professional growth.

Education: 
The Art Institute of California | Interactive Media Design

Skills:

Experience: 

January 2012 – May 2012
Project Manager, mOcean

• Responsible for managing all interactive projects
• Develop project plans and properly resource projects
• Lead project kick-offs and retrospectives
• Develop SOW’s, billing requests, change orders and purchase orders
• Manage pitch production
• Manage client expectations throughout the duration of projects

July 2009 – Present
Project Manager, Almer/Blank (Interactive Agency)

• Responsible for managing all aspects of projects (some million dollar budgets)
• Client facing interaction (leading meetings, review sessions, and presentations)
• Preparation of all meeting collateral (slides, packets, displays, etc.)
• Production of sales materials and participation in sales pitches
• Responsible for creating and maintaining company standards and practices

July 2009 – Present
Interactive Designer, Almer/Blank (interactive Agency)

• Create user experience documentation for large scale web and mobile applications
• Design user interface elements
• Implement approved designs in code from engineers
• Organize and maintain design asset repositories

October 2008-July 2009
Interactive Designer, Red Interactive Agency

• Design and implement interactivity in online games, websites and ads
• Participate in planning meeting and make recommendations to clients

October 2005-October 2008
Training Manager, Rich Media Institute 

• Manage all aspects of training and student experience
• Manage website
• Manage all needs of instructors (technical, lodging, booking, etc.)

July 2004 to September 2006
Junior Varsity Soccer Coach, Notre Dame Academy

• Manage all aspects of soccer operations for junior varsity team
• Serve as a role model and mentor to student athletes

References:
Available upon request.

- Chris Sturgeon, VP, Digital Strategy, Managing Director, mOcean

“The life, attention and focus that DLC was able to bring to the job was in a league of it’s own. In the time that he was a part of my team, there were countless challenges put in front of him and he overcame them all, including changing project expectations, reduced time frames, shifting resources, extremely late nights, weekend work, etc. He was always able to maintain his cool, assess the situation, develop an approach he felt would best move the project forward (and in most cases, he was right) and communicate well with the team. Project plans were developed according to the established process, SOWs were written clearly and correctly, and the production process was always maintained. I definitely recommend DLC and look forward to the next time we can work together.”

- Ian Smith, Director, Digital Production, mOcean

“Michael is a pleasure to work with. He’s talented, versatile, and understand the “big picture” on a project, not just his one piece of it. I would strongly consider Michael again if the opportunity came up, and I recommend him without reservation.”

- Kevin Aratari, EVP Entertainment Marketing, mOcean

“Michael is one of those great project managers that both clients and team members love to work with. He has the ability to adapt to any project’s unique needs while maintaining client satisfaction and profitability. Throughout my years of working with Michael he has always exhibited a desire to learn and improve on a daily basis. Perhaps one of Michael’s greatest assets is his ability to stay calm, focused and positive under the toughest of circumstances. I recommend Michael to any company seeking a smart, self driven, talented and focused project manager who gets the big picture both from a project and business perspective.”

- R Blank, Owner, CTO, Almer/Blank

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michael as a client, a co-worker, and a collaborator – he is someone you want on your team! His skills span everything from user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), to actual design and production, to hands-on coding, and management too. Michael has the attitude and abilities to work directly with the best (or toughest) clients, and to lead multidisciplinary teams. He is an authentically good person which translates into a great attitude and work ethic. Highly recommended!”

- Blaine Graboyes, Owner and Executive Producer, Mash3, Inc.

The Toyota Dealership Network was created to give the largest group of Toyota Dealerships in the US (Gulf States Toyota) a way to provide video content to its customers and employees. Running on multiple  screens TDN was Michael’s first foray into the world of mobile devices. Not only did TDN include a front end application that ran on all devices, a full featured content management system was built to make the application fully maintainable by any member of Gulf States Toyota’s staff.

Dogtown Pieces is a mobile game created for the Adobe AIR App Challenge, Sponsored by Sony. The challenge was to create a mobile application that works on both standard tablets and the new Sony P (a foldable tablet reminiscent of a Nintendo DS). The goal of the game was to run around Venice, find spray cans and return them to your friend. Dogtown Pieces was selected as a finalist.

Dogtown Pieces is actually a port of another game Michael produced called Veniceplorer. Veniceplorer was created to demonstrate the ability for Adobe AIR to deploy across all platforms with one codebase.

Livworld is an accompanying website to the Liv line of dolls by Spinmaster inc. This project had a million dollar production budget and has consistently been updated since 2009. Production teams have ranged from 5-50 people (some teams located offisite), throughout the life of Livworld, all of which Michael has had various responsibilities managing.

In addition to Management, Michael had a hand in designing user experience and user interaction throughout the life of Livworld.

Adobe featured Michael and the Almer/Blank team for their innovative workflows with Adobe’s Flash platform. Almer/Blank created an extremely efficient workflow using Flash Catalyst, Flash Builder and Flash Professional. Michael was one of two team members interviewed about his use of Flash Catalyst.