Who said American Ingenuity was dead? Barak Obama should hire these fellows!

by joeylowe | December 1, 2008 at 05:24 pm

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Who said that American ingenuity was dead? One thing is for sure, when faced with adversity you can bet that somewhere, an American is fast at work trying to solve a problem. Take Rick Westmoreland for instance. I recently had the opportunity to interview Rick and I have to admit that I have never met a more positive, energetic adult in my life. Granted, I know several five year olds that could probably give him a run for his money, but I have met very few adults who could match Rick's perserverence and dedication.

Take this past year for instance. In spite of health problems, which included several stays in the hospital, Rick managed to launch the greatest rebuilding effort in the history of the United States. What? You say you've never heard of this guy? Well, I invite you to read the article below to learn exactly what this silent hero has been up to. Unlike most people who are standing around with their hats in their hands saying things like, "Well, it's been a good ride we had", Rick is out there doing something about it. But Rick's story is what being an American is all about.

Rick Westmoreland is a Kansas City area home builder who built an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for his business to manage his building projects. With his years of experience, he was able to build a system that could handle all aspects of the building process, including cost estimating, material and contractor bidding, purchase and work orders, scheduling and labor management, and more.

After he watched the destructive force of storms like Katrina and Ike leave a wake of destruction along the southern coast, he saw an opportunity to help. He felt that the software he built for his own business could also help organizations looking to rebuild these cities after the storms.

According to Rick, “We decided it would be best to let local not for profits use the software because they had the case management systems in place and were more qualified to deal with the victims.” They also partnered with TradeCubate to develop a trade contractor incubator in order to devlop local trade contractors into better business people.

According to the website, “In addition to the construction-management system, Rebuilding Management offers a pool of top-performing, local trade contractors and high-quality material suppliers for you and your homeowners to choose from. Homeowners can even select building materials (such as flooring, paint, and lighting fixtures) without ever leaving home. Rebuilding Management’s online catalogs make the selection process easy.”