Christopher Burkholder:
CLASS OF 1985
Lincoln Southeast High SchoolClass of 1985
Lincoln, NE
Northeast Missouri State UniversityClass of 1989
Kirksville, MO
Irving Middle SchoolClass of 1982
Lincoln, NE
Ruth Hill Elementary SchoolClass of 1979
Lincoln, NE
Rousseau Elementary SchoolClass of 1979
Lincoln, NE
Christopher's Story
Life
I'm living and working in St. Louis. I met the woman of my dreams in 2001, and we were married in 2003. We are not from the same neighborhood, town, state, country, continent or hemisphere. We are not the same color. We are from the same planet, however.
Isabelle and I were married in her home country, which is arguably the furthest country on Earth from the United States. It is the island nation of Mauritius, where I was making visits to support a team of missionaries from my church who were starting a work there. Mauritius is the former home of the dodo bird.
My marriage coincided with the elimination of my department at the company where I had worked since I graduated from Truman State (formerly Northeast Missouri State) in 1989. So, I got 32 weeks of severance which covered our time there to get married and await processing in Kenya for Isabelle's immigration to be approved. It even left time for us to make a trip to visit Isabelle's relatives in Quebec last July and friends of mine in the Northeast US in August.
Isabelle landed a job at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Clayton in October, and I managed to land a contract position with RGA Reinsurance in Chesterfield that lasted from December, 2003 until June, 2004. We're unsure what job is next for me, but thankfully, we have discovered that the market is much better now than it has been.
We hope to go overseas to live in the not too distant future, to attend an internship in Marseille, France, and then to spend some time in Mauritius. Lord willing, our children will spend their early years near their cousins in Mauritius.
Our sincerest hope is to reflect the glory of our Lord by our lives and by the story we have to tell. He has set the times and the places where we live so that we will one day reach out for Him and find Him.
College
Kirksville, Missouri was the best place for me to go. Somehow I went from looking like a man to actually beginning to think like a man.
Academically, I thrived with great professors and great friends in my math and programming courses. It is a great school.
Spiritually, I was born again. I went from the most ignorant of atheists to a devout believer and finally a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The campus ministry that took me in gave me all the information I would need to find my way to St. Louis after graduation. Thanks to all my brothers and sisters who became my family and are still my family today.
Workplace
12/2003-06/2004 Reinsurance Group of America Chesterfield, MO
Consultant
Actuarial Programming: Valuation
Maintained EVE evaluation engine, with huge numbers of relational database records. Helped design and implement Alternative Aggregations processing to enable users to aggregate information as they wish thereby improving their efficiency. Converted primary dep...Expand for more
artmental intranet ASP pages to ASP.NET and C#, with four-tier architecture and making use of Oracle classes, remoting, async processing and client-side validation and availability controls. Introduced smart interface that remembers inputs from one session to the next, and one button case management, again to improve user efficiency.
Environment: ASP.NET, C#, Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Oracle, Source Safe, Windows 2000, Microsoft IIS, COM Services, .NET Remoting
01/2000-01/2003 Metropolitan Life Insurance Company New York, NY
Information Systems Specialist
05/1992-01/2000 General American Life Insurance Company St. Louis, MO
Senior/Lead Programmer Analyst
Product Implementation
Extensive experience with re-architecting illustration calculation engines using componentized designs and with integrating components such that overall system efficiency and maintenance are optimized. In General American Life, and later in GenAmerica Financial, and for the MetLife Enterprise including New England Financial, I was responsible for mission critical product implementations during several generations in life insurance illustrations technology. In 2002, these included VUL 2002, the first variable product introduced throughout the MetLife enterprise, Universal Life (SG), the first MetLife enterprise-level Universal Life product, with a secondary guarantee rider. (1993-2003)
Environment: Delphi, C++, Windows, Access
Infrastructure Development
I maintained and periodically re-architected the calculation engine for UL and VUL illustrations in GenAmerica Financial Solutions software versions since the 1990s, including process improvement projects that accelerate development and enhance education on system architecture, bringing product implementation time from months down to weeks. (1997-2003)
Environment: Delphi, C++, Windows, Access
Project: Rate Server and Rate Editor
I created and brought into full implementation the Rate Server and Rate Editor for illustrations and mainframe administration systems, which have received enterprise-wide acclaim within MetLife IB-IT for consolidating work by multiple teams for multiple systems down to a single project. (1998-2003)
Environment: Delphi, Java, Windows, IBM Mainframe, DB2
Project: 7702 Common Module
I was a member of the core team for the Section 7702 Common Module project, which was one of the first multi-platform projects in the industry, and which assures IRS compliance across systems and eliminates costly liability. (1994-2003)
Environment: C++, Windows, O/S2
Communication Skills
Equally capable as implementor and as task manager for a team, proficient with the latest editing and debugging tools, and experienced and effective in demonstration and teaching situations. (1998-2003)
Environment: Powerpoint
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