About Jean-Paul

Personal History

The story of how

The son of a successful Computer Programmer and a Psychologist, I spent my growing years along the West Coast of California with a brief stint in England. Living and traveling abroad engrained a 'global view' way of thinking, which I continue to appreciate.

The constant exposure to evolving technology developed an appreciation for the capabilities and potential of this rapidly expanding field. The Atari, Commodore 64, Macintosh, Macintosh Plus, SE and various Apples and PCs all made their way into our study. I even was able to visit my father at work and see the CRAY super computer back in the 80′s when there were only a handful of them in the world. Although I excelled in a 7th grade computer animation class, it wasn't until my final years of college that I began to tinker further into development just as the world wide web was reaching full stride.

I built my first website in 1997 to showcase my new found photography skills, quickly learning early HTML code to perfect site design beyond templates. From there it grew steadily, adapting to new technology and including new web languages; Javascript, CSS, Coldfusion, PHP and Ajax. I adapted from static page coding to using My Sql databases and generating dynamic webpages.

In this time through multiple site designs and minor changes, I began to notice traffic patterns changing, many in unexpected ways. I began to take a closer look at how my changes affected the visitors behavior with what little tools I had back then. I started to realize that my true passion for these websites was in their growth, and began analyzing why people behaved how they did on my pages. What made them click this link over another? What makes this page more interesting than another? I began to alter layouts and navigation, noting any changes in traffic and user behavior – the beginning of analysis and optimization.

Professional Experience

Sharpening of skills

While I developed and maintained several personal websites throughout the years, I began optimizing for online marketing in a professional capacity in 2001, beginning with a joint governmental invasive species awareness campaign. I was in charge of developing and marketing an informative web campaign for the San Diego division of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board highlighting the invasive 'killer algae' Caulerpa taxifolia, which had just been discovered off the coast of San Diego. The campaign was very successful, gaining the attention of National Public Radio and leading to more discoveries reported by fisherman in Orange County and similar efforts in Europe.

I maintained optimizing websites for governmental, non-profit and environmental organizations such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Natural Resource Consultants until starting at WorldClassStrategy, a small educational startup.

Hired as a user interface developer, I created and modified landing pages with the intention of converting visitors to leads. As the company grew, I became part of an optimization team focused on finding new and innovative methods for increasing conversion rates. The company was soon acquired and became Education Dynamics, the leader in online education with properties like Earn My Degree, eLearners and Education Connection. My title was changed to represent my primary focus of analysis and optimization, and I was promoted to the lead Operations Analyst for the West Coast division.