OMAR A.

KARIM
2 Andrew’s Way • Arlington, MA 02474
omar.karim@alumni.brown.edu

An experienced professional with strengths in the comprehension of complex business issues and the
ability to define, develop and deploy solutions. The solutions address the user needs in an intuitive way
while keeping the user insulated from unnecessary complexities related to the technology and mathematics.
Result-oriented, with excellent oral and written communication skills. Experienced in working with teams
of various sizes, in different time zones and geographies and at various stages of a product life cycle.
Knowledge of and experience with technology, computing and mathematics, including a variety of
operating systems and languages. Proven ability to converge the key aspects of teamwork, technology,
business needs and science to deliver solutions understood and valued by the end user. Core competencies
include:

 User Involvement, Training and Buy-in  Efficiency Gain by Process Improvement

 Geographically Dispersed Work Execution  Technology Transfer Management
 Communication, Processes and Teamwork  Computing and Simulation Methods
 Software Development and QA  Statistical Models
 Forecasting  Mathematics, Algorithms, Data Analysis

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
IDeaS – A SAS Company, Minneapolis, MN 1993 to Present

R&D - Senior Scientist 2009-Present

Explore, develop and adapt intellectual property to pricing and revenue optimization for emerging domains
of application, working with Clients. New areas of application in hospitality and other domains such as
optimization of non-room revenue, promotions, stimulated demand and optimization of total customer
spend. Analyze impacts of pricing strategies and economic uncertainty working with the large installed
base of thousands of successfully deployed revenue optimization systems.

R&D - Vice President 2004-2009

Create and develop new intellectual property with applications to the SaaS V5 Revenue Optimization
Hospitality product. Anticipate and bring in emerging Market needs and features. Work with the global
Company and Client organizations to promote understanding, improvement and the maximum impact of
the intellectual property delivered in the SaaS Product. Leverage intellectual property for solutions in
other areas of application such as car rental and transportation.
 Partnered extensively with Sales, Marketing and Service organizations and with Clients
 Ensured continuous communication of knowledge to all Clients, internal and external.
 Enabled successful configuration and adoption of the Product, its usability and Value Proposition
at all levels of the Client organizations
 Drove enhancements and improvements to increase Client satisfaction and the roll-out of the
Product within the estate for each Hotel group
 Continuously improved the Product through incorporation of field experience and newly
developed intellectual property
 Worked with Clients to understand evolving needs and bring improvements to the Product
 Assessed, created and delivered cross-functional solutions for complex special Projects for Clients
with special market-leading business needs in hospitality and other domains
 Assured a high retention of the client base during global and regional economic uncertainty
climates

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Develop, execute and support all aspects of research, software development, quality assurance and data
center services for IDeaS Revenue Optimization products and services. Accountable for the intellectual
property development and technical execution strategy with a budget of $2 million and a staff of more than
50 research and software professionals located in the US, UK and India. Product development and
technology transfer to the India Development Center at appropriate points in the product life cycle.
Efficiency initiatives, team alignment and process improvement for the geographically and culturally
diverse work teams. Research and support for work related to Consulting and new business opportunities.
 Development and support for the IDeaS V5i Software-as-a-Service product and justification for
the transition from the legacy (V5e) product.
 Supported multiple product releases per year, adding new features and functionality to the
products and worked closely with internal and external clients
 Reduced development costs by 20% over two years and simultaneously serviced a three-fold
increase ($3M to $9M) in Sales, through efficiency initiatives and technology transfer to India
offices
 Research and technical support for several new business opportunities and pilots in the hospitality,
car-parking and car rental revenue optimization domains
 Transitioned a legacy product (V5e) into a low-cost/high-value maintenance mode
 Managed time-zone, teamwork and turn-over challenges faced in various geographical locations
 Promoted a Client centric and a “one-team” approach in the technical organization as well as
cross-functional teams
 Created and deployed processes supported by tools (e.g. Release Process/Plone)

Director - Forecasting, Decision Technology & Research (2000 to 2004)

Responsible for all aspects of the intellectual property IDeaS products, with a team of five PhD staff and
supporting analysts, located in the USA and India Analysis of the quality of forecasting/ decision
/intellectual-property outcomes from IDeaS systems for client satisfaction and retention. Development of
forecasting and decision algorithms, models and methods, including the software development. Navigated
the 2001 downturn in travel businesses and the impact on IDeaS clients. Development of the next-
generation product later named V5i, and deployed on the ASP/SaaS model.
 Developed and executed low-cost and understandable methodology to quantify return on
investment (ROI), both before and after deployment of the IDeaS systems.
 Demonstrated ROI was used for the retention of all major Clients through the 9/11 and SARS
crisis and increased Sales to new users
 Assess impact of 9/11 on demand patterns and the rapid recalibration of Client systems
 Review of the legacy product and leadership in the team to conceive the next-generation product,
later known as V5i and now deployed widely
 Development and validation of all algorithms for enhancements to the new V5i product, including
new stochastic auto-calibration
 Training of India office staff to support the legacy product and focus of resources on the new
emerging new product, technology transfer
 New product (V5i) selling and pilot support for 6 key clients; demonstration of new intellectual
property and make the case for switching from the legacy product

Director – Quality Assurance and Process Development (1998 - 2000)

Responsible for Product and Software quality including test design, execution, etc for the Hotel Product
Yield Management System while having a broad expertise with the systems. The QA team has consisted
of six members, including the QA Manager. This was about half the size of the corresponding Software
Development team. Developed processes for the Hotel Product systems customization, deployment and
maintenance. The Process Development team consisted of three members, reporting to the Director level.
 Certified Products and Databases and cutover to the Y2K era with no issues faced by Clients
 Introduced processes, traceability, audits and test automation for technical work
 Created repeatable processes for Software testing and quality assurance, automated testing, growth
of departmental collective effectiveness and teamwork
 Certified product on various platforms, including Unix (AIX) and Windows
 Created, maintained and audited processes used in systems deployment

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Manager – Quality Assurance (1996 - 1998)
Managed a team of three and addressed all aspects of software and systems quality assurance.
 Black and white box testing, test design and validation, configuration management of software,
and release management. Resolved issues related to all aspects of the product including software,
installation, deployment, performance and trouble-shooting.

Manager – Forecasting Technology (1995 - 1996)

Forecasting Technology development for IDeaS, Inc, with particular application to the Hotel Product Yield
Management system
 Hands-on management of the forecasting functional area. Manage work effort of one team
member, including all aspects of software and algorithm development, design and testing.

Senior Research Associate (1993 - 1995)

Developed the core Forecasting Technology for the Company’s first Product, the Hotel Product Yield
Management system later known as V5e. Data analysis, mathematical algorithm development, code (C)
design, implementation and testing of forecasting software; training and induction of new hires into
productivity.
 The Hotel Product was the first product and the success of the forecasting system was key in
gaining product acceptance in the marketplace. Responsible for major development of proprietary
forecasting technology and methods under sharp time-lines and for Client training.

COMPUTING
Principal programming languages: C and FORTRAN
Software Configuration Management
Software Quality Assurance
Operating Systems: WINDOWS, UNIX/UNICOS, OS/2, VAX/VMS, CMS
Software Platforms: C, FORTRAN, C-shell, K-shell, Microsoft Office, SAS, JMP
Hardware Platforms: CRAY, IBM PC, RS/6000, HP/9000, SUN, DEC

Excellent knowledge of computing and numerical methods

Experience with code vectorization
Experience with CRAY, IBM, VAX, SUN, HP mainframes and workstations

Software development in C on AIX/RS6000, OS/2/IBM-PC and HPUX/HP9000 platforms. Systems used X-Windows, OS/2,
Microsoft Windows, networked through TCP/IP and Novell Netware. Mathematical algorithm development. Designing and writing
more that 30K lines of C code involving major components of the product. Maintenance of existing C programs. Debugging using
DBX, XDB and WATCOM debugging tools. Trouble-shooting at the product level. Writing shell and awk command procedures.
Maintenance of development software release on OS/2 and Unix systems. Statistical data analysis with xmgr (graphics tool) and
Microsoft Excel. Documentation with Microsoft Word. Deployed PLONE for international teams and processes.

Academic/University Experience (1983 - 1993)

Taught classes, received national and state grants, published over twenty papers in refereed journals and presented at various events.
 University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC (1988-1993)
 University of California, Berkeley, CA (1986-1988)
 University of Houston, Houston, TX (1983-1986)

EDUCATION
PhD in Theoretical Physics Brown University (Providence, RI, USA) 1983
MS in Physics Brown University (Providence, RI, USA) 1980
BSc in Physics St. Stephen's College (Delhi, India) 1976

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