Who We Are
Leadership
The majority of the Athens Group leadership team has worked together for over fifteen years. As our practice has grown we have recruited additional leaders and consultants with decades of oil & gas and technology industry experience. This ensures we have the right people with the right skill sets to help you achieve your goals. Just a few of our leaders are profiled here.
Mike Haney, Chief Executive Officer
Don Shafer, Chief Technology Officer
Christine Lowry, Chief Marketing Officer
Tom McAfee, Vice President Solution Delivery, Practice Manager
David Wight, Senior Delivery Manager
Mike Haney, Chief Executive Officer
Mike has been CEO of Athens Group since its inception in 1998, and has over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the consulting and technology industries. Prior to co-founding Athens Group, Mike was President of Sterling Information Group, which was recognized as an Inc. 500 growth company in 1993 and successfully sold in 1997. Before entering the consulting profession in 1991, Mike was the Chief Information Officer of PC software utility pioneer Fifth Generation Systems. At Fifth Generation, Mike led the creation of the CRM, distribution and financial systems that enabled the company's explosive four-year revenue growth from $12M to $50M. Mike has also served in operations, technology, and financial management roles in the retail, oil & gas, and banking industries.
Mike’s leadership background enables him to effectively guide our business strategy and manage the evolution of our firm. When he was a CIO, Mike found great value in using a handful of "trusted advisor" consulting firms to complement his internal teams on mission-critical projects requiring specialized industry knowledge. He wants all of our customers to have that same positive experience and to view Athens Group consultants as their most trusted technology advisors. Mike assembled the founding team of Athens Group in 1998, and he continues to have a hands-on role in recruiting and retaining the highly qualified consultants and thought leaders that comprise the Athens Group team today.
Don Shafer, Chief Technology Officer
Don developed Athens Group's oil and gas practice and leads Athens Group engineers in delivering superior rig software services and oil and gas exploration as well as production and pipeline monitoring systems for clients such as BP, Noble, Transocean, Maersk, ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips and Shell. Prior to co-founding Athens Group, Don led groups developing and marketing hardware and software products for Motorola, AMD and Crystal Semiconductor. He was responsible for managing a $129 million-a-year PC product group that produced the award-winning audio components for Apple. From the development of low-level software drivers in yet-to-be-released Microsoft operating systems to the selection and monitoring of Taiwan semiconductor fabrication facilities, Don has led key product and process efforts.
Don earned a BS degree from the USAF Academy and an MBA from the University of Denver. Treasurer of the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors, Past Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Computer Society Press, IEEE Senior Member and software engineering book series author, Shafer is an adjunct professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. An avid writer, Don has contributed to three books, written over 20 articles, and is co-author of Quality Software Project Management, recently released by Prentice-Hall. He is a contributor to the 2010 edition of the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Software Engineering. His latest patents are in state-based machine control.
Christine Lowry, Chief Marketing Officer
Christine has over 20 years' technology experience in software and applications. She joined Athens Group in January of 2007. Prior to joining Athens Group Christine created the industry leading systems brand - 360Commerce. When the brand was acquired by Oracle in 2006 she led the marketing operations integration with Oracle marketing. Previously she held director and managerial roles at leading retail ISVs including STS (now NSB), JDA, and Gateway Data Sciences/Innova.
Christine has deep expertise in corporate marketing, product marketing, product management, business process consulting, project management and training. She has designed merchandising, CRM and store solutions and has managed the implementations of merchandising, allocation, planning and distribution center solutions.
Christine is a quality-oriented and customer-focused intrapreneur with a track record of creating, marketing and delivering solutions that provide competitive advantage. In addition to her role as CMO, she brings her software experience to key engagements.
Tom McAfee, Vice President Solution Delivery, Practice Manager
Tom has more than 20 years experience in application development and information technology, with emphasis on manufacturing planning and execution. He has developed and integrated solutions for materials planning, production scheduling, master production scheduling, capacity planning, inventory control, quality assurance, shop floor control, lot tracking, purchasing, and project/resource management. He has extensive domain experience in discrete manufacturing and energy services.
Mr. McAfee is an experienced project manager who understands and practices software development process and has a track record of successful team projects, including complex applications developed with multi-tier client/server and web architectures. He is also experienced in Program and Project Office management, having helped establish a centralized Project Capabilities Office at Athens Group, developing shared process, tools, and templates, establishing centralized project tracking and metrics, pioneering use of lifecycle modeling tools for estimation, coaching technical staff on effective use of process, and mentoring project managers. Before joining Athens Group in January 1999, he was a Senior Consultant at Sterling Information Group for eight years. Before that, Tom was Project Manager at ASK Computer Systems, in charge of the development team for MANMAN/MFG, the core application in their VAX MRP II product. He has a computer science degree from California State University, Hayward, and certifications from PMI (PMP), APICS (CPIM) and the University of Texas Software Quality Insititute (SWPM).
David Wight, Senior Delivery Manager
For over 25 years David has been responsible delivering solutions across a wide spectrum of domains ranging from geophysical exploration to computer design, defense systems and medical devices. His technical training and experience includes software engineering, quality assurance, electrical and mechanical engineering and process analysis. David was founder and president of a company which developed and marketed geophysical software in over 35 countries worldwide. Clients included Exxon, Mobil, BP, Amoco, Chevron, Unocal, Texaco, Agip, Pemex, Petrobras, USGS, Canadian Geological Survey, Japan Geological Survey, China National Petroleum Company and GFZ Potsdam. He eventually sold the company and it is now owned by Schlumberger. He was responsible for developing a complete set of 21 CFR 11 compliant business processes for a medical device company that defined its development, quality assurance, manufacturing and customer service activities. Other accomplishments include operating system development for HP, teaching computer architecture at Colorado State University and software development for classified military systems.
David received his BSEE and MSEE from the University of Texas and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Colorado. He has completed over 20 certificate programs including McCombs School of Business (UT), Villanova University, Software Quality Institute, and Freeman School of Business (Tulane). Certifications include PMP (Project Management Professional), CMQ/OE (Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence) and Certified ScrumMaster. He is a member of IEEE, ACM, ASQ and is active in Agile Austin and the Austin Software Process Improvement Network. He has served as an examiner and team leader for UTCPE (Baldridge).