Tom Olenick is the president of Olenick & Associates where he is responsible for daily operations and strategic direction. He founded the firm in 1998 to apply lessons learned in many critical IT infrastructure projects and has led it to fourteen years of uninterrupted growth.
Tom's career in information technology spans forty years. He started as a computer programmer at the Chicago Transit Authority in 1973. His passion for data management led him to the role of Database Administrator, establishing processes, tools, and team structures for data management and database systems.
He began a fourteen-year stint at Harris Bank after working in manufacturing, health care, and banking. Tom moved from data administration to lead the design, development, and implementation of a central transaction distribution system that formatted, balanced, and posted all of the bank's daily transactions.
During the two years just prior to forming Olenick & Associates, Tom managed software development services for factory automation solutions at RDI (later to become Geneer).
Three roles have shaped his vision of what an IT services firm should be: twenty-five years as an IT technician and manager, as a client of many IT service firms, and as the leader of consulting services at Geneer. Never forgetting that it is the client's success that keeps his firm in business, Tom mentors his management team and has infused Olenick & Associates with the values, focus, and actions that make real-world software projects successful. Olenick & Associates began with and continues to use a flat management structure operating as a practice to assure client satisfaction and ongoing learning and innovation for members of the technical staff.
Rick Lesley is the Vice President of the Testing Practice at Olenick. Rick has 15 years of experience in IT consulting and has worked on software projects within the Financial Services, Utilities, and Factory Automation markets. As the Testing Practice Lead, Rick is responsible for the delivery of software testing consulting services.
His specific responsibilities include engagement management, implementation support, consultant management, and continual improvement of Olenick's software testing service offerings. Rick also leads the Practice Delivery Group at Olenick to ensure client satisfaction across all of Olenick's service concentrations.
Before joining Olenick, Rick was a Quality Manager at Geneer where he managed the testing and quality efforts for numerous custom software development projects in the Factory Automation market.
Rick has designed and built automated test frameworks for large-scale functional and performance tests using commercial and open source tools and is currently leading Olenick's effort to apply automation methods to SOA implementations.
Rick earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Kevin Flynn is the Vice President of the Business Development practice at Olenick. Kevin is responsible for business development and the supporting delivery of software testing consulting services. His responsibilities include software testing sales, pre-production and production operations, engagement management, project and product implementation support, and consultant management.
Kevin was a Director at the Chicago based Whittman-Hart, (acquired by) marchFIRST, and (acquired by) Divine professional services firm, specializing in software testing sales, engagement management, and software testing project delivery. Kevin was also the marchFIRST National Practice Leader with testing resources distributed at all of the firm locations in the United States.
Kevin began his career as a consultant at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, supporting the Chicago Technology Integration Services (TIS) business unit in the telecommunications vertical. Kevin completed several large development and testing projects for telecommunications companies in the Chicago area.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, Kevin served as a United States Army Officer specializing in Air Defense Artillery and Advanced Maintenance and Logistics Operations and Reporting for a divisional army group.
Scott Swanigan is a Vice President at Olenick. He is responsible for operations management, engagement management, and integration of new service offerings. Scott has more than fifteen years experience in IT with much of that managing large projects across all aspects of project delivery.
Scott started his career as an engineer with a specialization in valves and nuclear regulatory work. He transitioned to IT in 1996, worked for AllState as part of their IT support team, then as a Project Manager at Geneer. Scott joined Olenick in 2001.
He graduated Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and has an MBA.
Jim Wildman is a Vice President at Olenick. He has over 20 years of IT consulting experience and has worked in the Utilities, Financial Services, Telecommunications and Factory Automation verticals. Jim's background includes software development, quality assurance, quality management and a keen interest in quality metrics and how they pertain to all phases of the software development life cycle.
Jim is responsible for client management, service delivery and implementation support. As a senior manager he is responsible for crafting Test Strategies, creating and managing System Integration plans and leading teams from project kick-off through delivery.
Jim started his career as a quality analyst working for Fox Software in Toledo Ohio and then as a software developer for Geneer. He joined Olenick in 2002.
Jim graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer & Information Science Engineering.
Ernie Van Stedum is an Associate at Olenick and the Practice Director of O-Solutions. In his role, Ernie is responsible for recruitment strategies, account service delivery, requisition fulfillment, contractor facilitation, and business development. O-Solutions is a practice within Olenick that focuses solely on augmenting the staff of Fortune 1000 IT departments with IT professional in all disciplines of IT by facilitating contract, contract-to-hire, and permanent placements.
Before joining Olenick, Ernie was a key Account Manager for Insight Promotions where he was responsible for business development and client satisfaction at The Kellogg Company, Land O'Lakes, and General Mills. Prior to Joining Insight Promotions, Ernie was a Client Manager at Geneer Corporation responsible for consulting engagements with GE Fanuc, Mitsubishi, and Siemens to name a few. Additionally, Ernie has held various roles in Information Technology such as MIS Manager, Systems Engineer, and Senior Developer.
Ernie earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Tom Van Duerm is the Director of Finance & Business Administration for Olenick. He is responsible for managing the accounting and finance functions of the firm as well as the internal administration of O&A's corporate offices.
Tom has over 17 years of experience working domestically and internationally in financial administration, operations and sales/marketing. Tom has worked for both large and small organizations in industries ranging from OEM, wireless, to real estate. Tom has been able to successfully apply his wide range of experience to his position at O&A.
Prior to joining Olenick, Tom was the VP of Operations for Peoples Auto Parking, a parking and real estate acquisition firm here in Chicago. While there, Tom successfully managed several key strategic initiatives to include a financial system conversion and the automation of the firm's revenue collection process.
Tom earned his Bachelor of Science from De Paul University in Management with a minor in Accounting.
