User:Billybobma/Allen Marshall

Allen R. Marshall (born 1955) is a noted transportation and information technology consultant, fly fisherman, and home improvement expert living in Bedford, Massachusetts.



Early Life
Marshall grew up in Bedford and attended Bedford High School from 1969 to 1973. After high school he studied geography and Scottish history at the University of Glasgow. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1979, majoring in Anthropology and Geography. Subsequently, Marshall performed postgraduate studies at Pennsylvania State University in geography and at Northeastern University in industrial engineering. In his early life he developed an appreciation for popular music, history, and living outdoors.

Consulting Career
Marshall has spent much of his consulting career at the transportation consulting firm Cambridge Systematics, Inc. located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There he started as the firm’s computer systems manager 1986, and served as a consultant on information technology and transportation projects. In 2010 he retired from his role as a principal of the firm, forming a new independent firm.

At Cambridge Systematics, Mr. Marshall played a number of roles in IT and consulting. He was responsible for the firm’s first purchase of a personal computer. Overcoming early skepticism concerning the potential for such technology in a consulting environment, Marshall eventually oversaw the purchase, installation and support of over a hundred of the devices. Though he made the transition to a full-time consulting role in 1994, Marshall continued to make his presence felt with subsequent Cambridge Systematics IT staff. He exhibited an interest in subjects such as bug tracking software and logging, and was an active participant in open source forums such as the Info-CVS Digest. Also, he maintained a library of out-of-print IT resources, providing guidance on scintillating topics such as how to program in FORTRAN, write DOS batch commands, and load punch cards into the mainframe avoiding any folding, spindling or mutilating.

Over his career Marshall also worked on over 600 consulting projects. Many of his projects were related to development and implementation of the Pontis Bridge Management System, a system used by public agencies to inventory and inspect highway bridges, and model the performance of their bridges over time. Marshall was involved in the early development of the system beginning in 1989, and then managed or supervised Cambridge Systematics’ work on the system for the American Association of State Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and served as the firm’s contact for the system. For the Pontis effort and other related work Marshall traveled to over 30 U.S. states and 4 continents. He also published a number of papers on the system, and came to be known for his entertaining and often successful demonstrations of the product at annual user meetings. In addition to deepening his expertise in bridge engineering, Marshall’s travels gave him in-depth knowledge of state capitols around the country, and provided him a number of opportunities to pose to himself key questions about life (e.g., “How did I get here?” and “What is the point of this?”) in locales such as Tijuana, Mexico, Miami Beach, Florida and a highway somewhere between Calgary, Alberta and Whitefish, Montana.

Other Interests
Marshall is an experienced fly fisherman, with expertise in catching cold and warm-water species, as well as in fly tying and purchasing fly fishing equipment. Over the years he provided evidence of his interest in the sport to his coworkers through occasional photos, and the through the constant, unmistakable presence of a clock that makes fish-produced sounds every hour. He is rumored to be the inventor of Marshall’s Snare Fishing Knot, though he maintains it was actually a different Marshall that did this.

Besides his consulting work and fishing, Marshall also has built considerable expertise and experience in home improvement, demonstrated through a series of ambitious renovation and improvement projects on his colonial house in Bedford. Once Marshall brought his abode to its current state of perfection, he then found a new outlet for his home improvement skills through purchasing a summer home in Eaglesmere, Pennsylvania.

Personal Life
Marshall is married to Anne Bickford, who is known to have the patience of a saint, and has three children: Molly, Evan and Nick. Following Allen’s long tenure at Cambridge Systematics, he, Anne and their children lived happily ever after.