Understandable Intelligence

Making work products better, one engagement at a time

About Khochma Consulting

Mark started in an entry-level temporary job for the Urban Institute in the late 1980's. He ended up having a rich, diverse learning experience at just a handful of companies. Mark's voyage of discovery was made possible because of the wonderful people he worked with.

Mark moved to a new country and retired. Covid-19 happened, and he got a little bored. He has been working and volunteering for organizations large and small since then.

Some of his best ideas come to mind while walking the dog and sitting and drinking coffee in a cafe.

The name חָכמָה (Khochma) means intelligence in Hebrew. Mark sees the concept as not something he hopes he has a little bit of, but something he strives to build on and share.

Whether a paid engagement, a good volunteer opportunity, or a one-on-one learning experience, Mark is interested in what the future brings.

The Approach

Life Lessons

Decades of successful leadership, guidance, hands-on building things and learning from the experience.

That includes making mistakes and then getting it right.

Specialization

I specialize in SAS, R, data analysis, and process analysis. I can offer solutions tailored to your requirements.

In my positions, I've needed to know lots about lots and that helps me bring insights from security, regulatory, networking and technology to bear.

Distinguished Experience

Expertise from for-profit, non-profit and trying to make a profit organizations, ensuring valuable insights and effective problem-solving.

Small start-ups, large multi-national, and in between, I have been fortunate to see different management and operations structures and incorporate that knowledge into my world view.

Accessible Solutions

I provide accessible solutions to business and technology challenges.

A good metaphor is hard to find, but also hard to beat. I use papers, videos, one-on-one presentations and demonstrations to help communicate what are often complex concepts to stressed and busy people.

Innovative Approach

I sometimes scare myself with the odd things I think up. Even more often, I think it was pretty interesting.

Many years ago, Jerry Cruz, Jeff Poirior and I developed a way to quickly get a company made up of a dozen different companies on three different email systems to appear to the world as a unified company for email communication. This is back when people liked email.

Flexibililty

Little or big, slow burn or fast push, I have the flexibility to get things done how and when you need them.

I can work odd hours and that often helps span time zones and production cycles.

I also can learn things quickly. My first volunteer work was doing geospatial analysis. Never having done it before, I didn't know a thing. I was able to do a forensic analysis of existing processes, find bottlenecks and develop faster approaches, including new tools and techniques.

Learn More

Win-Win

I first met Mark Friedman when he led an information systems team that was responsible for delivering data and services for a small healthcare startup company.

His team and their systems reflected the qualities and attributes that Mark lived by.

They included quality, integrity, reliability and insightfulness. The systems were robust but did not contain any shortcuts. The well thought out solutions to business needs reflected the intelligence of Mark and his team.

The integration of his team’s systems with the other systems in our newly formed larger organization was simple and straightforward and without any surprising glitches. This was because their systems were simple, straightforward and reliable.

A few years later I was responsible for establishing a systems team to integrate existing systems of several small organizations into a startup company. I hired Mark to bring his leadership, personal integrity and insightful solutions to our team. I would do it again if I want to achieve success.

John Covin
Former Chief Information Officer at Covance

Former Chief Information Officer at Synarc

Mark examined the data extraction and analytic processes, producing a list of process and technical enhancements to shorten data analysis turn-around, formalize staff training and standardize code bases.

Victor Novack, MD PhD

Head of Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Hospital

I've worked with Mark over a number of years, across multiple companies. Mark is a brilliant (but sensible!) systems and applications consultant. He is very hard-working and is quite insightful in developing solutions to business and workflow problems. He is a teacher/mentor, a work-horse, a leader and an endless resource of tech knowledge. He is also a most pleasant fellow, and you will enjoy working with him.

Jerry Cruz
Co-Founder, IVY Clinical Inc.

I hired Mark Friedman in the past; I would do it again in a heartbeat. Mark helps you figure out what problem you are really trying to solve and then develops the solution – often a creative one. He is smart and thoughtful. The entire team enjoyed working with him.

Michael J Strauss, MD, MPH
Founder, Health Technology Associates
Founder, Covance Health Economics & Outcomes Services

Mark volunteered his time in helping us organize, streamline, and bullet-proof our analytic dataset creation process. He picked up the material quickly was flexible in thinking out of the box in identifying improvements. He also mentored our staff and medical students in how to approach data and analysis.