01/09/2009
William Tuman, senior project manager, joined the staff of Northampton, Massachusetts-based Gravity Switch, Inc. on November 19, 2008. Tuman had been an independent Web consultant since 1998. The founder of Art You Can Click, he coordinated "virtual teams" of new media professionals to develop Websites for creative individuals and organizations, with a special focus on the visual arts.
A writer by training, he quickly realized there were more professional opportunities to be found, not to mention fun and excitement, working in new media development. Always seeking to improve projects and systems, he admires the concept of "plussing," coined by Walt Disney, to describe the process of taking already strong ideas and making them better. He listens carefully and understands a client's goals, then employs a thoughtful entrepreneurial spirit to introduce innovative ideas and solutions. He believes that candor and integrity in all phases of a project's life create an environment of trust and chemistry that helps projects succeed.
"I'm thrilled to be working with such a smart, capable, and nice group of people," Tuman says. "The crew at Gravity Switch makes such a consistently high quality product, and even though I've only been here a short time, I've already learned so much about how all their experience and expertise fits together to make something great."
Tuman has lived in Western Massachusetts since 1978, having spent his early childhood in San Francisco. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Connecticut College and attended the graduate Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston with a concentration in fiction writing.
In 1997 he founded River Valley Tae Kwon Do-based in Northampton, with affiliated schools in Amherst, Boston, and Andover, Vermont-and remains head instructor at the Northampton location. Tuman is interested in creative pursuits in many forms, primarily reading and writing literature, but also film/video, visual art, and music. He is physically active and enjoys distance running, hiking, and weight training. He has long dreamed of running the Marathon des Sables in Morocco or the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, but so far has settled for running marathons in Chicago and New York City.
Founded in 1996, Gravity Switch is a boutique Web development and consulting firm that believes in planning, communication, and high quality standards in developing user-based Internet and new media products. Its clients are quality leaders in their market spaces, concentrating in the higher education, nonprofit, and regional business sectors. Gravity Switch-We Put Technology in Its Place.