Stephen Balkum

Stephen Balkum has been leading best-of-breed teams for over a decade. He knows the difference between a technology company and a business that needs enabling technology. By using modern software development methodologies in cooperation with the business, Stephen leads teams that stay in constant communication with the business, and thus, repeatedly deliver to the needs of the business.

Most recently, Stephen was Vice President of Technology with Callaway Golf Interactive, formerly FrogTrader, Inc. Stephen joined FrogTrader while it was in startup mode and grew its technology department from the launch of Callaway Golf Pre-Owned, through the company’s purchase by Callaway Golf, and then the launch of Shop.CallawayGolf.com.

Prior to Callaway Golf Interactive, as 212 Studios’ Director of Engineering, Stephen Balkum led the development of 212′s patent-pending Storekeeper System. Storekeeper’s use of Balkum algorithms employing AI technology constituted a revolution in DB Management and Reporting Systems. Previously, Stephen led the development of the award-winning Jack Nicklaus 5 containing the most realistic 3-dimensional characters and scenery ever developed for a golf simulator.

Stephen was a member of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas focusing on infrared spectroscopy research. With data from McDonald Observatory and the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, he developed algorithms to reduce 10′s of thousands of images of the same stellar object to a single, super-high resolution image.