Janet Tokerud

Welcome. I’m the founder of Tokerud Consulting Group. Come on in! I run the place and function as our top database architect and consultant.

I’ve been an application developer for a while – try 20 years! I had no idea that I would be in the midst of the industry that is changing the world so dramatically. People say it is the information age, but that may be an understatement. I love being on the cutting edge. I love being in San Francisco.

I love the deep collaborative relationships we develop with
our clients around the use of technology. FileMaker has been an incredible tool for us in helping creative services firms and work groups create information infrastructures that help them grow and achieve excellence.

The economy has been hit hard this last year, but I am extremely optimistic about technology and the internet. Luckily, the US has leadership in both areas. It looks like the internet is an unstoppable force. New creative technologies are sprouting up like weeds. Stick around and I’ll show you what I’m excited about. Hope you enjoy your visit!

Background and Education

It’s probably scattered around elsewhere, but here goes the bullet points:

Grew up in Salem, Oregon

B.S. Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.

M.A. Urban Sociology, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA.

I’ve been a database developer since I started as a trainee at Control Data in 1980.

MBA Marketing, UC Berkeley with a secondary emphasis in information systems.

Our Business History in Bullets

I’ve been specializing in FileMaker since 1986, the year I started my own business. I picked FileMaker as the database to specialize in that year. It’s risen from obscurity since then to the #1 position in desktop database software.

Kathy “Scout” Tomyris joined the firm in 1989 and we christened the company Tokerud Consulting Group. Our official size has fluctuated over the years from 2-6 people. Scout came from Smith & Hawken, where she led the computerization of the Art Department there.

After building 25+ custom FileMaker database systems for graphic design, photography, printing and other creative businesses, we launched Studio Manager in 1993 to make it available to folks outside the SF Bay Area.

In 2000, Scout and I decided to get serious about Studio Manager. I focused on the architecture, functionality and our website. Scout worked on the user interface, tech support and documentation.

By 2003, we were recognized by Creative Business as top-rated by users in their Integrated Management software category, beating out long-dominant Clients & Profits.

In 2004, we re-built Studio Manager and released Studio Manager 7 in March 2005 to take advantage of FileMaker 7′s radically improved software architecture. Sally Shannon joined the firm to contribute her administrative, sales and customer support talents.

Since then, we’ve continued to upgrade Studio Manager as FileMaker has released FileMaker 8, 9, 10 and now 11.

My Tech Ronin Blog

Tech Ronin was my first blog when I started blogging in 2003. I write about personal technology, the Net, life in the 21st century, social networking, personal branding and e-marketing. I focus on individuals – this bias is in the grand tradition of Macintosh. Each entry in some way is designed to give you (and me) understanding and mastery of our current and future circumstances so we can pursue our passions and prosper.

Web Minister (SP?)

I’m the Web Master or Minister of Tokerud Blog and Studio-Manager.com. I’m having fun bringing commentary on the coolest most important technologies to our blogs and websites.