Fish Out of Water
Kimball Hill's former CIO feels more at home returning to consulting.
Frank Scaramuzza got his first computer, a TSR-80, when he was 12, and founded his first company, Orion Consulting Services, when he was 27. This combination of technology enthusiast and entrepreneur has served him well over the years, and he's lent his expertise to numerous businesses, including Kraft Foods, Motorola, two pizza chains, and a waste management company. But his greatest challenge, and frustration, may have been his 5 1/2 years with Kimball Hill Homes, where he was director of information technology (IT) and then CIO until his resignation in September 2006.
Scaramuzza had his share of successes at Kimball Hill, where he hired better-qualified associates for his department, saving the builder over $1 million in costs related to using outside consultants. That department revamped Kimball Hill's phone system, automated its sales department (which helped the company double its size during his tenure), and introduced an in-field construction scheduling system. But his departure is evidence that he and Kimball Hill saw the builder's level of investment in technology differently. Scaramuzza, in fact, observes a "lack of urgency" about technology throughout the housing industry, which "spends only about one-half of 1 percent on technology and doesn't seem to realize the opportunities missed" by not using it as a strategic tool, he says. For example, he believes that if more builders used technology to track buyer demand, they would have spotted the influx of investors sooner and might have adjusted their operations to cushion the impact of the downturn they're mired in now.
After leaving Kimball Hill, Scaramuzza says he gave some thought to exiting the IT field entirely, which he says can be "brutal, because it's still maturing." He looked into restaurants and food service, but ultimately decided they weren't for him. With spare time on his hands, he built a home theater in his basement, with a 92-inch screen and high-definition projection system, surrounded by walls lined with Acoustiblok, a sound insulation product he came across at one of the builder trade shows.
The 41-year-old Scaramuzza isn't opposed to working with a home builder again, but he's not marketing himself in that direction. Since leaving Kimball Hill, Scaramuzza formed a consulting firm called Gold Apex and initially found work with churches and faith-based organizations. But the job market has changed considerably since the last time he was out on his own. "Businesses have gone through Y2K and ERP [enterprise, resource, and planning] implementations, and there's a lot of H-1B talent [a visa program allowing U.S. employees to bring in highly skilled people from other countries] in companies, so there's less need for project management."
His marketability is also limited somewhat by his desire to remain in Chicago. Scaramuzza signed up with Barrington Career Center, a suburban nonprofit that helps out-of-work professionals re-enter the workforce, and wound up getting his picture in a story about the Center that the Chicago Tribune published July 1 on the front page of its business section. This summer Scaramuzza was weighing several job offers, including vice president of technology for a large educational institution, director of applications for a technology distributor, and advisor to a CIO whose company provided services to Kimball Hill.
In late July, he accepted a consulting job on a software integration project with a local Internet- and catalog-based sales company (whose name he declined to identify). His hope is that this will lead to a long-term assignment.