About
My name is Collin Condray. I graduated with honors in physics and mathematics in 1995 at the University of Arkansas. Afterwards, I moved to Champaign, Illinois. There I worked as a C++ programmer for the Computational Modeling Lab at the University of Illinois on a Tragedy of the Commons simulation.
After living in Illinois for a year, I moved with my wife to Vienna, Austria. For a year, I taught English, computer science and engineering at a local technical high school. After a year in Vienna, I returned to Champaign and was employed as an web developer with Wolfram Research, a maker of mathematical software.
In 1999, I moved back to Fayetteville, Arkansas. I found a job as a webmaster with a local web hosting company. As webmaster, I was in charge of all the technical aspects of our company. I performed the custom programming and system administration for all of our computers.
In 2004, I completed my MBA at the University of Arkansas. I wanted to expand upon my technical background with the addition of an education in business knowledge. The program had a partnering project with IRI to provide marketing information for Welch’s and Kellogg’s which I enjoyed.
During the summer, I participated in the Japan study abroad program. To prepare, I attended a class about the Japanese economic system and learned elementary Japanese. While we were in Japan, we have to keep a daily journal. I decided to keep my journal entries in my weblog.
I also took a technology entrepreneurship course, which was a team taught class with the university’s microelectronics-photonics department. I chose this course because it allowed me to learn about and participate in the entire business process.
After the MBA program, I was hired as a business analyst with 3M. My responsibilities included analysis of POS and syndicated data, maintaining high instocks, and driving sales on a daily basis. Since the retail business relies heavily on computers, my IT background was quite helpful in my job. I have constructed databases and written programs that assist me in finding opportunites for our products.
My current position is as a category manager at Tyson on the Albertsons account. The work consists of constructing comprehensive category reviews to help our customers grow their business. I am learning a lot about the business an syndicated data in this job.
Recently, my wife and I adopted a little girl, Sophia, from Korea. She is a beautiful and active girl who has brought much joy to our lives.
Some of my hobbies are computers and computer gaming. I enjoy tinkering with computers and computer networks outside of my job. I also enjoy playing online games of various types.
Another of hobbies is the martial arts. I am a student of Ed Parker’s Kenpo Karate at the Arkansas College Of Martial Arts in Lowell. The first dojo that I trained in was a traditional dojo where a significant portion of the class was taught in Japanese. Eventually, I was awarded a black belt in Kenpo Karate. I have also studied other Japanese martial arts such as iaido, kendo, and aikido to a lesser degree.
I am also active in my local church, Township Baptist Church. I am the music director there and I also work extensively with the youth program as well.
