The DEAR Group was founded in 1999 by Donald E. Rife, President and CEO, to provide Project Leadership, Quality Assurance, and Software Testing services to organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. The company has since increased its focus to include Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning. Since obtaining his degree in Business Administration from Elizabethtown College in 1976, Mr. Rife has amassed over 34 years of professional experience in the information technology industry.

The 70’s…
Mr. Rife started his career as a Technical Data Processor at McNeil Laboratories in 1976. He shortly left there to become a Systems Engineer with IBM, working in their Distributions and Utilities office in Philadelphia. While at IBM, Mr. Rife focused on data base and data communication technologies and application development.

After several years as a System engineer, Mr. Rife left IBM to seek his fame and fortune in the Atlantic City casinos. Mr. Rife spent the better part of 2 years developing software for the casino industry. Specifically, Mr. Rife developed a slot machine accounting system, which used electronic scales to weigh the coins taken from the slot machines, a telephone billing system and numerous other applications.

The 80’s…
Once the initial wave of casino construction subsided, Mr. Rife joined Systems and Computer Technology (SCT) to become the Manager of Technical Services at Villanova University. At Villanova, Mr. Rife saw the inception of the Computer Science curriculum and lead the effort to network computers throughout the campus.

At the end of his SCT contract, Mr. Rife joined Computer Task Group as a Technical Business Analyst in their Wilmington office. Mr. Rife was initially engaged at the Medical Center of Delaware to determine the requirements for an automated laboratory information system. Additionally he was asked to evaluate electronic mail packages, audit their data center, and investigate various networking options. While at CTG, Mr. Rife also designed and developed an Item Processing system for American Express and designed a chargeback system at ICI Americas.

The 90’s…
As a result of his previous engagements, Mr. Rife was hired by the Medical Center of Delaware (now Christiana Care) to be their Director of Technical Services. While in that role, Mr. Rife implemented, what was at that time, a state-of-art TCP/IP network connecting all desktops and systems in all their locations onto a common network. That network earned the Medical Center national recognition by winning the ENNE (Enterprise Network Excellence) and User Excellence awards.

During his tenure at MCD, Mr. Rife relocated their corporate data center to a new facility, managed the payroll application development staff during the implementation of a new payroll system and represented the IS department on the Total Quality Management Council and on the Human Resource Advisory Committee. Mr. Rife was also elected President of the Pennsylvania-Delaware Chapter of the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) and served 2 years in that position.

After 5 years at the Medical Center, Mr. Rife left to join Towers Perrin as the Director of Technical Services in their Flexible Benefits area. In this role, Mr. Rife was responsible for the design, development, implementation, and support for a client/server flexible benefits administration system and associated technical platforms. Mr. Rife was successful in implementing a systems development life cycle, defining and implementing a new technical platform and initiating Total Quality Management metrics and methodologies.

Mr. Rife moved from Towers Perrin to become a Senior Account Manager within the Business Solution Group at Amdahl Corporation. As a Senior Account Manager, Mr. Rife was responsible for all of the Business Solution Group’s project management activity at Amdahl’s largest client, AT&T.

Mr. Rife left Amdahl Corporation to become a Principal and Technical Architect with American Management Systems (AMS) in their Pharmaceutical Industry Practice. While at AMS, Mr. Rife initiated AMS’s Y2k practice and helped establish Y2k Project Management Offices at several of their largest clients. Additionally, Mr. Rife founded the Delaware Valley Y2k Special Interest Group which grew to several hundred members sharing Y2k best practices and experience.

When the travel took too much time from his family, Mr. Rife left AMS to become the Director of Physician Services and Managed Care at the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS). In that role, Mr. Rife was responsible for desktop and application support for over 350 physicians in 120 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and he was responsible for the Health System’s Managed Care data warehouse and associated processing.

The New Millennium…
While at UPHS, Mr. Rife was approached to get back into the Y2k arena. After much consternation, Mr. Rife left UPHS to lead the Y2k testing effort at Sovereign Bank. It was there that Mr. Rife founded The DEAR Group. Since successfully helping Sovereign Bank through Y2k, Mr. Rife has assisted Sovereign in the launching of a web bank, assimilating 285 FleetBoston branches into their organization, implementing a corporate-wide Information Security initiative, establishing a Business Resumption / Disaster Recovery Planning program and implementing a Records Management program.

In addition to leading large, enterprise-wide programs, over the last 10 years Mr. Rife has spent more than 20,000 hours managing over fifty (50) IT and business related projects. Mr. Rife obtained his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2009.

Additionally, Mr. Rife has assisted more than twenty (20) companies with their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning. Mr. Rife obtained his Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) certification in 2009.

Mr. Rife has also recently obtained his Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) V3 Foundation certification and is a certified Archer GRC consultant.

In 2000, Mr. Rife co-founded the Greater Philadelphia Business and Technology Alliance (www.phillyalliance.com). The Alliance was established to bring together a network of companies, that share common values and have proven expertise in a wide range of disciplines, to provide the highest quality business and technology solutions to their clients.

As you can see, Mr. Rife has had a storied career in Information Technology. While he has had numerous consulting engagements with many companies in the Philadelphia area, for much of his career, Mr. Rife has been the client of vendors and consultants. He understands consulting from a client’s point of view. He understands the importance of providing cost effective, value added solutions to meeting client needs.