John H Gross
Founder
This is a SUMMARY of my Resume. See the detailed version below it.
I completed a 4 year BS degree in Industrial Management at the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa.
With active duty as a Commissioned Officer in the US Navy-Supply Corps my work was in a submarine squadron.
Working as a rotating shift Manager I was at a tire company manufacturing both conventional bias and radial tires.
I planned, built and managed a 24-hour a day computer facility that served banking networks in central and south Florida.
In a manufacturing environment facility I spent 15 years managing 135 people a citrus processing and packaging facility.
While self-employed I sold, installed and trained employees with PC-based software while traveling the southeast.
As the Technical Director I was one of six directors who implemented an industry specific computer Internet Portal.
I designed and implemented numerous Internet, business specific company web sites and computer applications.
I have had a Florida real estate license for fifteen years. I converted it to “inactive” to enable my current work.
I work as a Business Consultant for manufacturing and supply chain needs primarily in the Florida Ridge area. This involves streamlining startup procedures for facilities…finding related jobs for individuals and companies that are, local, out of our Florida area or out of state…facilitating collaboration with various local organizations…and much more.
Below is a list of companies I created:
1976 – Caribbean Engineering Corp. – Inc President
1980 – GMN Nursery, Inc. – Inc President
1992 – Decision Pro, Inc. – Inc President
1996 – Senior Skills, Inc. – Inc Director
1999 – Waresoft, Inc. – Inc Director
2004 – Midland Economic Development Council, Inc. – 2004 Inc Director
2007 – Covered Bridge Farms LLC – LLC Managing Member
2013 – Site Select LLC – LLC Manager
2019 – Florida Ridge Manufacturing LLC – LLC Manager (Created Sept, 2019)
Below are: Details of my COMPLETE Resume
BS in-Industrial Management at USF Tampa: (junior and senior years
included a Work Study Program at Martin Marietta’s defense plant in Orlando
FL as a computer operator in the “main frame computer” facility.)
Commissioned Officer-US Navy-Supply Corps.
Shipboard on a submarine tender servicing 12 submarines.
After active duty in the US Navy: I began working as a Rotating Shift Manager-General Tire Co-tire
manufacturing-North Carolina
Designed, supervised building of and managed a 24-hour “main frame computer”-based data processing center in Sebring FL. This computer center serviced independent banks from Lake Wales
to West Palm to Arcadia via land courier, airplane and bank clearings by helicopter to Tampa. Migrated data storage from tape to real-time disks (connected to T-1 lines of the telephone company).
This enabled, within our bank network, some of the first on-line teller machines in Florida.
Fifteen years in a citrus processing/packaging facility. Responsible for managing a 135-person staff which processed, packed and shipped up to 3,000 tractor trailer truck load equivalents per year.
Self employed: Sold, installed and trained employees with PC-based software for companies
in trucking (dispatching including tracking, safety logs, maintenance records, maintenance shop/inventory), warehousing (with refrigerated tracking), manufacturing, commercial green houses (retail with POS) as well as row-crop produce and processing. Used multiple software companies’ products. These products were either stand-alone or networked. While installing and training, designed all coding systems. Software covered all business functions, totally integrated, including daily control of operations and financial. Software reported both financial and management accounting (cost centers and analysis). Performed sales, installation and training both on site by telephone and Internet. Before the Internet became sufficient for my needs my Clients base was strictly serviced by telephone: voice interaction for both installing and employee training: USA coast to coast, with a few jobs international to the Western Pacific.
Technical Director: One of six directors that implemented an industry specific (Citrus) Internet portal, in Central Florida. The portal was organized to serve all members of the Florida citrus community. It included growers, processors, fresh fruit packers, wholesale buyers and all suppliers of products and services. Functionally it included government mandated “grove to store” tracking, vehicle tracking, international commodity status and activity, real time user information. It had many types of product-selling available, such as fixed-price catalog, auction and reverse auction.
While engaged in a partnership we designed and implemented Internet, business specific, web sites and applications. An example was designing and building of an on-line real estate system. It accommodated multiple properties with multiple assets being integrated for centralized managing and marketing.
I have had a Florida real estate license for fifteen years – recently I put it in an Inactive status.
I have significant, personal, hands-on Florida agriculture and management experiences. I used our 100 acres of undeveloped land. It was close to town and my home/office. I improved it for both citrus and cattle. For our cattle I built a cow pen to handle the cows and did all my own fence building and repair. For citrus I partnered with a citrus nursery “tree budding” professional. She did her specialty and I did the sales, tractor driving and other manual work. (as a side note) During the hard winter freezes I stayed up all night, several times, running water sprinklers to ice down the young nursery trees to keep them at 32 degrees (water freezes). This was to avoid them experiencing the mid to lower 20s which would kill, not only the 2 foot tall field grown nursery trees, but also full grown production orange trees in the nearby groves. With the help of my father and brother we designed, built and installed a “remote nursery monitoring and control system”. Communication was by leased telephone company copper phone lines running from the nursery to my home office. We used an early, pre PC, desk top computer. The system operated for two years. Lightning ground surges resulted in high maintenance. Wireless versions of this type of system were soon developed in Israel. Because of the cost we returned to manual management and waited for big company volume drive down prices. Over the years high tech agriculture systems have continued to improve. Production of this type of systems would be a good target for manufacturing on the Florida Ridge.
(The timing of my agriculture story occurred during the middle of the above resume.)
Comments from Florida Ridge Manufacturing (FRM).
Our Mission is to enable the creation of more jobs in Highlands and Eastern Polk County: Our mission’s Strategy is to ensure a more even balance between the Services sectors and Manufacturing sectors. This will increase the diversity of “job descriptions” and the amount of “people-skills” within each of our communities: be they towns, or unincorporated areas in the county. The reliance of Highlands and Eastern Polk Counties and their towns, for local taxes, the personal income of working employees or retirement benefits can be supplemented. Solutions include training local residents, or recruiting outside the area, for people who want to work in the “small business” manufacturing industry, 10 to 50 employees, with larger size if appropriate.