Our Staff

Melinda Busch has extensive experience partnering with clients in a range of industries to design, develop and implement systems aimed at improving business processes and, ultimately, data quality. Melinda has successfully managed multi-year projects that require large teams with diverse skills sets, including technical staff. On the other side of the spectrum, Melinda has a great deal of experience working with more intimate groups where accelerated development timelines are the norm. Regardless of the size of the project or the team she is partnering with, Melinda is skilled at training clients in the administration of the systems she designs. Melinda’s secret weapons are her critical listening skills and her ability to adeptly navigate the “weeds” in the service of the bigger picture.

Ian Carswell is a business consultant and seasoned executive with over 10 years of experience. Throughout his career Ian has proven his ability to design and implement systems and processes to streamline business functions and drive operational efficiency. Ian has had the pleasure of working with a variety of fast growing companies helping them to leverage cloud based tools and technologies to address business challenges, increase productivity and drive growth. Ian holds a B.Sc. in Cell Biology from the University of Glasgow.

Kristin Elmstrom has over 10 years of experience working with clients to optimize business processes and implement systems that support data analytics and better visibility into key business metrics. She enjoys delivering tools that help clients better manage their businesses and improve decision-making. She has implemented business intelligence systems for a variety of organizations in the Bay Area. Kristin leads CloudBase Services data normalization and business analytics activities.

Alison Fisher works with clients to evaluate existing systems and implement strategies to improve business processes. As a CloudBase developer and trainer, she carries projects through to completion and provides users the tools they need to be successful. Alison has over 10 years experience organizing complex data and designing charts and graphs to visualize key metrics. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis.

Ed Loss is a hands-on Business Analyst and multi-certified Salesforce.com consultant. Ed has worked for over 15 years in the fast-paced, tumultuous world of Bay Area tech start-ups. He brings his passion for process improvement to growing businesses in digital advertising, social media, entertainment, financial services, mobile apps, and email security. Ed also devotes time to community non-profits: serving as an ongoing consultant with several Bay Area non-profit organizations (Shanti Project, VACCEB & Home at Last). A Bay Area transplant from the Midwest, he holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a persistent devotion to the Chicago Cubs.

Cathy Schaefer is our Office Manager extraordinaire. Her problem-solving and customer service skills are unmatched. She enjoys streamlining the processes which help our clients achieve success in database management. She thrives on making sure our clients’ needs are exceeded on every level. Before working at CloudBase Services and Haspoa, Cathy spent almost 20 years in the electrical and chemical engineering fields. Cathy earned her degree in English Literature from California State University, East Bay. In her spare time, Cathy enjoys hiking and biking throughout the Bay Area.

Neil Schneider works with Quick Base clients to develop scripts, customized user interfaces, API calls and other custom Quick Base functionality. Over the past 20 years, he has developed computer applications for McKesson, Yale University, New York Stock Exchange, Wells Fargo Bank, and Western Union. Neil earned an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York and a graduate degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Debbie Taylor is CEO and Founder. Debbie is passionate about creating great software and offering excellent services. Under her leadership, CloudBase Services helps business leaders focus on the bottom line. Debbie has designed, used, evaluated and enhanced databases that have improved operating results in dozens of companies. Public, non-profit and for-profit companies have retained her to architect systems, develop strategic plans, train staff and lead teams. Debbie has extensive experience with technology companies (Apple and IBM), biotech (Chiron), and education organizations (Kaplan, Stanford and Sylvan). She has managed day-to-day operations for multi-million dollar companies and sold products to Fortune 100 companies. Debbie earned a B.A. from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford University.

JT Yu is a trained physicist and software engineer. He builds public-facing and private applications for small and large companies. A user interface designer, JT believes the most important part of being a good software engineer is effective communication with clients. He has worked with Thentic.com, Giant Rabbit, Academia.edu, CERN, among others and is proficient in Ruby on Rails, Javascript, HTML/CSS, ASP, and Java. JT attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and Berkeley.

Ken Loder studied psychology and special education at the University of Utah. He taught special needs children and at-risk youth before starting a career in technology as a field engineer and Sr. Manager for WordPerfect and Novell. Ken comes to CloudBase Services after 18 years as an IT Director for a national aviation services company. Ken is a long time Quick Base user, developer and was an enthusiastic client. Now he is putting his Quick Base development skills and hands on business experience to use creating tools, improving processes and delivering solutions for our customers in diverse industries. Ken enjoys spending time with family, and many outdoor activities, including football, jeeping, boating and scuba diving.