John R. Fenton
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
 

Mr. Fenton has more than two decades of experience in Project Management and Information Communications Technology (ICT) which includes expertise in Leadership and Team Development. He has worked on a wide range of projects, for clients in both the public and private sector. Major project experience includes infrastructure development, restructuring public institutions and development of lower income people through agricultural lending and collection through the World Bank. His management experience is equally broad, having served as Team Leader, Project Manager and Advisor overseeing the work of many team projects involving local and international staff in locations as varied as Iran, China, Turkey, the Philippines and Indonesia and has been involved in Executive Coaching. He is fully versed in accounting, performance management and procurement. He has worked with such international organizations as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, USAID, Ernst & Young, KPMG-Consulting, Mobil Oil and the United Nations.

EXPERIENCE

2003 to Present: Founder & CEO, PT TAG Indonesia

The Advisory Group (TAG) was founded to take advantage of several business opportunities, notably Bio-Terrorism and Port Rehabilitation Projects. TAG Indonesia is supported by the home office of TAG, TAGUSA, owned and operated by the founders of TAG Indonesia. TAG Indonesia acts as the on the ground experts in the Bio-Terrorism field and supports TAGUSA which is the Agent for local clients. This is a new area of opportunity which has become available since 9/11 and the passage of the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Bio-Terrorism Act in 2002. TAG has successfully signed up many local client companies, mainly in the coffee and cocoa industries. In terms of Port Rehabilitation, TAG is involved in the Port Project in North Sulawesi at Bitung. TAG also recently became the sole Agent for the marble industry in West Timor, responsible for developing the industry in terms of arranging financing, providing expertise and establishing international linkages. Future business includes developing business linkages between East Timor, West Timor and the rest of Indonesia in terms of import/export.

2002 to 2003: Senior Advisor, PT Invesco Indonesia

Invesco is an Indonesian company providing a wide range of specialized services in the financial and telecommunications sectors including management consulting, debt restructuring, merger & acquisition, capital planning, fund raising, feasibility studies, business development and regulatory issues. As Senior Advisor, Mr. Fenton brings his more than two decades of experience to this mix of high level, senior Indonesian consultants.

2000 to 2002: Chief Of Party, USAID

Worked under a USAID grant to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance, assessed the current scope of work at the Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) for the Futures Exchange within the Ministry of Finance. Outputs included a revised scope of work as well as recommendations for future development. Working with several short term consultants, Mr. Fenton's duties were to assist the Jakarta Futures Exchange, working through the oversight agency, BAPPEBTI, to prepare for the a public launch, which took place successfully in December 2000, and to manage the project.

In June 2000, Mr. Fenton started an additional assignment with the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) as an ICT expert lending technical expertise to this high profile Indonesian government agency. Mr. Fenton's duties were to support and assist the ICT effort as and where required.

From November, 2000 thru June 2002, Mr. Fenton worked in the ICT area assisting the public and private sectors in improving the ICT sector in Indonesia and overcoming the digital divide. Activities included:

* Served on a multi-donor ICT team which included the World Bank, the Japanese, AUSAID, USAID and others. This group has the mandate of raising up the ICT sector by working with the private and public sectors in Indonesia. In addition, high level personnel from the Washington D. C. offices of the World Bank and USAID are called upon for advice, input and guidance.

* Put on seminars, teleconferences, pilot projects, training and the like to increase public and private sector awareness of ICT, the Tax Department and the fledging Futures Exchange.

* Worked on establishing an Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) and a Cyber law to assist the ICT sector development.

* Is familiar with ICT development in most countries in the Asian region.

* Worked on decentralization issues as they apply to ICT, specifically regarding good governance and human resources development.

* Worked with the highest levels of the public and private sectors to gain their support and compliance in developing the ICT sector.

* Assisted the Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector (IRIS) Center of the University of Maryland procure hardware and software for the University of Indonesia. This included proposal writing; reviewing the bid process, vetting the equipment, and ensuring all USAID procedures regarding procurement were met.

Mr. Fenton also served as Chief of Party for this project which oversees consultants in the Tax Department, the Ministry of Finance and the Futures Exchange.

1998 - 1999: Senior Consultant, Lyon Associates International, Inc. Xiamen, China and Manila, Philippines: Under a Technical Assistance Grant from the Asian Development Bank funding a team of specialists at the Xiamen Port for the purpose of evaluating the current situation and making recommendations for future development. As the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) expert, Mr. Fenton's duties consisted of evaluating the existing computer situation, both hardware and software and making written recommendations to include hardware and software to support the software development and implementation.

The bulk of this work was completed with Mr. Fenton's additional assignment consisted of giving leadership and guidance to a team of local computer staff in Xiamen so that a data dictionary could be initiated which led to development and implementation of a data warehouse computer system.

1993 - 1998, Project Director (MIS Development), Tree Crops Smallholder Development Project (TCSDP), Director General of Estates, Ministry of Agriculture, Jakarta Indonesia: had complete responsibility for the design, development, training and implementation of automating the Management Information needs of senior level management at the Ministry and related offices in Jakarta as well as provincial offices in twelve associated provinces. The $93 million loan from the World Bank was designed to assist smallholder farmers in the Rubber and Coconut areas and encompasses a geographical area larger than that of the United States.

Details of the MIS included the design, programming, testing and implementation of an integrated relational database system to include a farmer, a socio demographic, an inventory and credit recovery modules. Also included was long range planning for the Directorate General of Estates. Initial assignment was for two years with an additional two years follow on awarded by performance and a final six months which concluded in April 1998. The MIS developed was successfully implemented and is currently being utilized in all twelve provinces. Specific roles with respect to Project management:
* Designed and implemented the WAN for all Provinces and the Head Office
* Initiated the use of the Internet on a Project wide basis
* Established Electronic Mail and data transfer at all Provinces
* Membership on the Data Processing Development/Steering Committee
* Designed and implemented various training sessions for all Provincial personnel
* Designed and established an anti-virus methodology for the Project
* Traveled extensively throughout Project Provinces as required
* Managed 30 staff. Project size 400.

1993: Freelance Consultant, Jakarta Indonesia: with a working arrangement with the Ministry of Technology (BPPT), headed by the honorable B.J. Habibie, in the STEPI/KIST Project, Mr. Fenton was responsible for coordinating the hardware purchase effort for the Project. This included reviewing and evaluating tenders from various hardware vendors and making a recommendation to management. This procedure was followed by receipt and implementation of the hardware chosen and performing benchmark tests to ensure that the hardware met the specifications tendered. An acceptance report as well as a final report to management completed this short term assignment.

1990 - 1993: Component Leader, Institutional Development and Training Project, Ministry of Public Works, Jakarta Indonesia: As the Team Leader for Component IV of the Institutional Development and Training Project (IDTP), a multi component project funded by the World Bank, had the responsibility for coordinating Management Information Systems (MIS) development and hardware purchase under the project. The overall aim of the IDTP was the decentralization and deconcentration of the Ministry of Public Works from a highly centralized operation to the provincial level. This project was later used in planning for the current national decentralization going on in Indonesia. As the leader of the computer component of the project, Mr. Fenton coordinated the software development and hardware purchase of the other components. This included Local Area Networks, hardware and software, specialized training in computer modeling techniques and development of a training package so that counterpart staff in the Ministry's computer center would have the capacity to train personnel at the Provincial level of the government. Manage 10 staff.

1990: FREELANCE CONSULTANT, JAKARTA INDONESIA: with a working arrangement with Sujendro Management Consultants, a member firm of Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), an international accounting firm, Mr Fenton led a small team of specialists in providing consulting assistance to Putra Surya Perkasa (PSP), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dharmala Group. The consulting assignment took the form of reorganizing the PSP Group both in terms of reporting responsibilities and the creation of job descriptions for both existing positions and recommended additional positions. A new organization was created and over eighty job descriptions were written. The project then led to a similar assignment with the reorganization and creation of job descriptions of subsidiary companies of PSP including Buana Leisure and California Fried Chicken.

1989 - 1990 – PROJECT LEADER, VIDCODATA, JAKARTA INDONESIA: As Project Manager for this consulting company, which was a joint partner with an American company (VIDCO), Mr. Fenton had the complete responsibility for designing and implementing a World Bank funded project which collects provincial level I and regional level II government budget information from each of the provinces of the country and combines it with selected socio demographic, loan disbursement, and sectoral data into an automated database which provides the major rural information needs of the central government decision makers in the Department of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Central Bureau of Planning, and other interested and qualified government users of such information. This included training, site selection and development, hardware and software planning and selection, and responsibility for systems implementation. This is a Local Area Network (LAN) based system with IBM compatible File Server and Work Stations and utilizing the Novell Netware as the LAN software. The system itself was developed in DBASE IV Developer's Edition.

1988: COMPUTER MANAGEMENT ADVISOR, INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTER – UNCTAD/GATT, JAKARTA INDONESIA: On a short term assignment with the International Trade Center of the United Nations, Mr. Fenton was assigned to the Indonesian National Agency For Export Development (NAFED) to assist the Agency in institutional development. This assistance took the form of training of NAFED staff in the use of Personal Computers using various user applications such as Wordstar, LOTUS and DBASE. Several database management systems were designed, programmed and installed to improve the operation and development of the Agency. In addition, a Local Area Network was installed and made operational. The original assignment was to be for three months, but the Agency and the International Trade Center were so pleased with Mr. Fenton's work that he was asked him to stay an additional two months.

1987 - 1988: PROJECT LEADER, RESOURCES MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL, JAKARTA INDONESIA: On a Technical Assistance (TA) program from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Fenton was responsible for the improvement of monitoring of foreign aid administration at the Directorate General Cipta Karya (Human Settlements) of the Department of Public Works for the Government of Indonesia. This was an Institutional Building position in which the duties included training of local staff in areas of better working relations with external lending agencies and the overall improvement of the Subdirectorate involved. This included Microcomputer training, systems and procedures development, dealing with different cultures, etc. This position involved improving International lending practice procedures, better handling of missions from lending agencies, and involved travel within Indonesia with some of these external agencies to observe, recommend, and improve the overall success of external supporting agency missions to Indonesia. Much of this position involved coordinating, managing, and follow up regarding various types of training and programs for the improvement of the Directorate General Cipta Karya.

1986: MANAGER, CONSULTING DIVISION, ERNST & WHINNEY (YOUNG), JAKARTA INDONESIA:
As Manager of the newly formed Management Consulting Division of this international accounting firm, Mr. Fenton had complete responsibility for this division in Indonesia. Duties included serving existing clients, developing new business in both the government and private sectors and training of the local staff in the areas of Management Consultancy and Institutional Development. Clients included Oil, major shipping companies dealing with the government of Indonesia, major government projects (both Indonesian and United States), banking, insurance, and food services. On going contact was maintained with international shipping companies for the purpose of evaluating their software and recommending improvements.

1981 - 1985: Systems Development Advisor, Mobil Oil Indonesia, Medan and Jakarta: Mobil Oil Indonesia employs over 1,400 people and has a data processing staff of approximately 25 with IBM mainframe equipment supported by Intra and Internet systems. Achievements:

o Project Leader for Office Automation project to include Mobil Oil Indonesia into the world wide network of Mobil Corporate Electronic Mail, Financial Analysis packages, and Text Processing systems. Duties included leading a project team to define requirements for hardware and software for Mobil sites in Jakarta, Sumatra, and Singapore.

o Project Leader in developing an automated Accounts Payable system for Mobil, with total responsibility of systems development and implementation.

o Instrumental in beginning the development of the automation of Mobil's Profit Plan/Budget Forecast system. This included purchase of the first IBM Personal Computer used at Mobil Oil Indonesia (which now totals well over 1,000 Personal Computers), and introduction of spread sheet packages. LOTUS was utilized and proved so effective that the user felt able to carry on the development work with minimal data center guidance.

o Responsible for the introduction and implementation of Office Automation to the Relations department. Equipment used was the IBM Displaywriter using Textpack software. This was upgraded to Textpack 4 and Reportpack was introduced. Exposure to Office Automation had a dramatic effect on the secretarial staff and was accepted so well that seventeen additional Displaywriters were installed company wide. With the release of Displaywrite for personal computers, training was also accomplished for the office staff using this personal computer based text processing software.

o Project Leader with complete responsibility for developing an employee relations/human resources computer system. This included all phases of system development beginning with the feasibility study. The system was completed on time and continues to provide salary administration reports to management as well as manpower reports and personnel action forms. Future plans included on line processing as well as implementing all phases of employee relations including medical, training, etc.

1980 - 1981: Systems Development Expert, United Nations Development Program, Jakarta Indonesia: Under sub contract with the University of Hawaii (January 1980 June 1980) and direct contract with the United Nations Development Program UNDP (July 1980 January 1981). The Ministry of Finance computer center employs approximately 250 local staff utilizing a UNIVAC 1106 computer.

o Chairman of a data processing standards committee whose duties included providing data center standards and recommending improvements to the data center operations.

o Advisor for all new systems development; the systems manager was Mr Fenton's counterpart.


PRIOR TO 1980: Mr. Fenton worked in Washington D.C., Hawaii and Vietnam for various companies including Bishop Trust, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSD), Ling-Temco-Vaught (LTV) and others. Early details are available on request.

EDUCATION

BSC Business Administration; Hawaii Pacific University; Honolulu Hawaii; 1971 (minor: Computer Science); GPA 3.41

Other Courses: Basic and Advanced Morse Code
Electronics and Communications
Electronic Direction Finding
Introduction to Data Processing
Basic Skills in Autocoder & Assembly language
Systems Design and Implementation
Principles of Operating Systems
The Logic of Sort/Merge Programming

Volunteer work: At large member American Club Board of Directors, Jakarta Indonesia 1994-1999 (a million dollar operation)


CONTACTS

Business
PT TAG Indonesia
Jl. Kemang Raya No. 101
Jakarta 12730, Indonesia
jrfenton@tagusa.net
Tel: 6221-7179-0160
Fax: 6221-7179-3161

USA Residence
722 Hilltop Drive
Princeton, WV 24740
Tel: 304-425-2TAG
Fax: 304-487-1063

Indonesian Residence
Jl Batong Raya No. 2
Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia
jrfenton@usa.net
Fax: 6221-7591-0702
Tel: 6221-751-1636
HP: 0818 942 309


Colleagues

Cynthia Typaldos
Debi Jones Alex Hammer
Amy Swotinsky
Andrew Durston
Anne Stanton
Ash Nallawalla
Barry Doctor
Carey Schroeder
Cheryl Brennan
Colin Miller
David Dunlap
David Silverman
David Klitzke
Don Muchow
Elisa Camahort
Fred Diamond
Gary Thomas
Gil Heiman
Herb Osher
Ian McClure
Irina Doliov
James Sherburne
Jeffrey Gigoux
Jennifer Kuba
Joan Triano
John Fenton
John Kornitsky
Karen Howard
Keith Hoang
Kimberly Wiefling
Krishna Venkatraman
Lee Peters
Len LuPriore
Linda Henry
Linda Alepin
Lori Wolak
Mark Walker
Mary Margaret Barnes
Mazda Jamasbi
Melissa Sterrett Baron
Michele Okamoto
Michelle Carlson
Nancy Allan
Pat Sorn
Patrick O'Donnell
Paul Newell
Peter Swisher
Phil Erhart
Rajiv Sodlapur
Ravi Subbarao
Rhonda Jenkins
Richard Obbo
Rob Wald
Robert Walikis
Sachin Gangupantula
Scott McGregor
Scott Shultz
Scott Berry
Sri Palasamudram
Susan Hathaway
Teo Topcubasi
Tom O'Neill
Tony Gentile
Vikram Chachra
William Hodges

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