Ed Heckman has more than twenty years of experience as a software developer in the manufacturing, distribution and professional services industries. Ed's current activities involve the development of the 4th Dimension DBMS for Dealership Software, a product that is sold to independent leasing companies. Ed has specialized in 4th Dimension development since the inception of 4D and is considered an expert in accounting systems.

Ty Hallsted has been providing real-world business software solutions since 1976 with expertise in all phases of software development. Ty's scope of expertise spans development and/or project management of small business databases, enterprise-wide data/database solutions and proprietary systems work (operating systems, device drivers, compilers etc.). Two recent projects include analysis and design of an Oracle-based corporate fleet aviation maintenance system and complete development of an ISP's billing system for photographs and other content uploaded and downloaded by major print and TV media. By asking himself "If I were using this software what would I want it to do?," Ty frequently identifies overlooked but highly valued new functionality in his projects.

Greg Loya obtained his Master's degree in Economics from the University of Virginia in 1996. Since then, he has applied his statistical analysis and programming skills across many industries, including telecommunications, education, labor, and finance. He has 15 years of experience developing with 4D for multiple environments: enterprise systems, custom desktop and web applications, and vertical market products. Greg excels in systems integration, having designed, developed, and administered Oracle and SQL databases, application servers, and desktop, web and mobile front-ends. His most recent projects utilize Java, PL/SQL, 4D, and Ruby on Rails.

Jack des Bouillons, has over 19 years of experience with the 4th Dimension™ development environment. His work has always involved large, complex, multi-user, client/server systems covering a wide range business applications. He started his career in 4D as a programmer with Honeybee Software, a Canadian company selling customizable accounting system to wholesale and retail businesses, and was a Senior Programmer & Analyst when he left the company to pursue independent consulting. In 2000, he joined Site of Care™, a medical software development firm designing clinical systems for OB/GYN departments in hospitals across the country, where he lead a team of four developers. Since 2003, he has been Director of IT for an advertising agency in Orange County, CA, where he has overseen the design and development of five independent 4D systems that connect via web services (SOAP) to manage all aspects of the creative business. Jack has been a featured speaker at several 4D Summit™ conferences, and last fall gave a presentation on using 4D v11 SQL and the 4D Ajax Framework to create a web-based reporting system for a back-end 2004 4D system. Throughout his professional career, Jack has specialized in working with existing systems to extend functionality.

Brent Raymond has considerable experience in software and relational database architecture design and programming. His 4th Dimension RDBMS experience is concentrated in the publishing industry where he analyzed existing design and workflows to develop innovative, efficient solutions to high-profile, time-sensitive business requirements. Brent is active in and responsible for troubleshooting live systems in a strict deadline-driven environment. He has also designed database maintenance methods and recovery tools and has developed an Oracle communication and archiving module for medical data management software.

George Tiller has more than thirty years of experience as a programmer, systems analyst, and manager. As a developer of custom and vertical market database applications, he has a long-standing reputation as a technical leader, and has authored articles for national professional journals. Mr. Tiller is currently involved with the development of custom database and information systems applications in the 4th Dimension DBMS for clients in government and private industry. He is also active in professional organizations related to the 4th Dimension environment, while writing articles, delivering technical presentations, and mentoring.

Bernadette McMahon, who has worked with 4th Dimension since 1990, has upgraded or developed databases for association management operations and a real estate investment trust. In her first career, as a U.S. Food and Drug Administration chemist, she analyzed details associated with methods for pesticide residues in foods. Her current efforts are concentrated on upgrading existing WIMSA databases and developing a new one to track the foundation’s growing oral history collection. Bernadette has a bachelor of science degree in chemistry.

James McKay graduated from Algonquin College of Ottawa, Ontario, in 1996. Since then Jim served as a technical consultant at several U.S. and Canadian government agencies, an import/export business, and several freelance positions. His professional strengths are data analysis, systems analysis and systems development. He has experience developing and supporting software on mainframe, client/server and distributed system platforms. He has used COBOL, Basic, PHP and Java to implement systems in standalone, web, and service-oriented architectures. His industry experience is in civil databases, retail, inventory, accounting and content management systems. He is a proponent and user of open source software.

Liz Delgado has been using 4D since 1990 when she learned it in order to organize a massive white collar crime case as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles. By 1999, Liz decided that computers were more fun than court rooms and left the DA's office to focus on software development. 4D hired her as a regional trainer and she taught 4D development courses for several years on the West Coast. She has also been a speaker many times at the annual 4D developer conference. She founded Smoking Gun Software which evolved into Lizeric, Inc, a consulting and development firm in Los Angeles. Lizeric's customers included several national companies as well as local businesses. Lizeric developed an early web content management system in 4D in the early 90s. Eventually Liz and her partners split to focus on different interests. Liz took over the web system and began focusing all her efforts on web development and integration. In 2007 she moved back to her native Pittsburgh where she continued her focus on web development. She has developed a great appreciation for open source software as well as 4D. Liz uses 4D, Drupal, MySQL, HTML, XML, Javascript, jQuery and CSS in her development and runs a Linux-based Drupal server for a non-profit in Pittsburgh. Liz received a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, a JD from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and is currently taking courses at Trinity School for Ministry. She loves to learn and embraces new technologies and ideas.

Karen Riecks has more than 25 years of varying experiences in the IT environment. As a Marine Corps officer, she received her masters in science in information systems management from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. For the next 13 years, she provided systems management for over 15 personnel systems at the Headquarters Marine Corps level, including the Marine Corps' unique integrated personnel and pay system. She managed all facets of systems development and the associated contractual documents, providing the interface between the users of the system and those developing the system. She gained significant hands-on testing experience during these years. Since her retirement from the Corps, she managed the IT operations at a college for eight years and provided data integrity services and systems testing at a non-profit for two years. She now enjoys focusing on testing for Objective Systems, LLC.

Meredith Dittmar is a communications professional and graphic designer with more than 20 years of related experience. Her specialties include logos and corporate identity systems, websites, print publications, and presentations. She is proficient in Adobe Creative Suite products such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. Other skills include photography, animation, proofreading, and illustration. With experience working in both public and private organizations, Meredith emphasizes hands-on project management and ongoing customer service. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in studio art from the University of New Hampshire.

Taylor Williams is the most creative runner of Cat 5 cable in the area. He will find a way to route the cable over ducts, through cinder block or under flooring. He has hand-built a server rack and modified server rack supports to fit a cabinet. He continually receives compliments on how pleasant he is to work with. And, he's done multiple installs of equipment, operating systems and software. He's the "go to" guy of Objective Systems.

Mary Granger is our on-call support for our Montana node. She has assisted in reprogramming the router and setting up scripts for backup. She is proficient in both Windows and Macintosh environments. When an emergency occurs, Mary is there to help us.