Bruce Brandon Werner (born June 11th, 1979) is a published writer and technology entrepreneur in Cincinnati, OH. His grandfather. Joseph Werner, was CEO of W&E Corp, a large company in Cincinnati that heavily influenced Brandon's love of business. During the time Europe unified it's currency, he developed the first international monetary transfer company in 2001 with France Telecom living in Paris, France that competed with PayPal. In Cincinnati, he started The Planning Studio Inc. in 2002 and Third & Philadelpa Inc., a business incubator, in 2005. He is a critic of Cincinnati revitalization efforts. He also co-hosted the JavaCast radio show with Dick Wall which interviewed many technology luminaries such as Bruce Tate and Sun Microsystem's COO Jonathan Schwartz.

Biography

Brandon Werner was born Bruce Brandon Werner in Covington, KY on June 11th, 1979. His parents were Connie Werner and Bruce Raymond Werner (industrial engineer). He attended Covington Catholic High School until his Junior year when he dropped out of high school, but received his GED in 1996, the same year he dropped out. Although he was described as a good student, his interest where primarily in Literature and Theology and ignored most other subjects. In one of his essays, he recalled, "I checked out Emerson from the high school library and coveted it as if I were the sole possessor of it's wisdom."

Business

In 2001, with the European Union switching to one currency called the Euro, Brandon partnered with France Telecom, living in Paris, France, to develop the first international money transfer service, Minutepay.fr, before PayPal could enter the marketplace. It was joined with a 20% stake by BNP-Paribas of France. Since the Euro currency meant that money could travel from country to country with reduced bank regulations for European Union members, it was believed that this technology could displace American rivals before they arrived. It also was the first service to allow transfer of funds through mobile devices. It forecasted a million users by the end 2002 and the opening of services in the United Kingdom, in Germany, in Italy and Spain. It gathered a large amount of press at the time it launched in 2001, but in the end disappeared mysteriously with no explanation in February of 2002. France Telecom states the project was simply folded, while Brandon Werner contends it was sold to Yahoo! who at the time also had a payment service as well. According to the newspaper Le Monde, both are in part right although it would appear it was France Telecom who closed the operation. Interestingly, eBay also partnered with Minutepay.fr before it disappeared.

In 2002, returning to Cincinnati, OH, Brandon started The Planning Studio Inc., a startup focused on developing java-based networked collaboration technologies for urban planning and community development corporations. It starred Sean Bender from University of Cincinnati, Susan Winterberg from Harvard University and Brandon Werner as President/CEO. During this time, Brandon worked at the board level with Mr. Joseph Pichler, Chairman of Kroger Co and John Boorn, founder of Madison Marquette on the 3CDC board for Over The Rhine, which was involved in the riots 2001_Cincinnati_Riots in downtown Cincinnati in 2001. 3CDC was created by the City of Cincinnati to hand off economic development in downtown Cincinnati to businesses instead of the public, assuming they would bring money and influence to the various city efforts.

Economic Revitalization and Criticism

It was during that time that Brandon became a critic of 3CDC, especially after the comments from Joseph Pichler that he would not allow parking for college students on the weekend in his new parking garage he gained by pressuring Cincinnati City Council that he would move the company elsewhere. In the end, Cincinnati gave Kroger $12 million dollars to build the facility at a cost to taxpayers.

According to reports, the other concern was the treatment of the historical residents of Over The Rhine. Brandon stated in a 2004 interview, "While I was in the board meeting when the City of Cincinnati and Kroger was discussing what to do with the old property of Over The Rhine, a woman who was a life long activist and resident of Over The Rhine asked, "What about giving the current residents money to fix their property?" to which the City of Cincinnati official remarked, "We have grants they can apply for." She replied in a very stern tone, "Yes, but they already have building code violations and that prevents them from getting grants to fix their property to comply with building codes." The official dismissed her with a quick, "We'll look in to it." At that, she got up, very dignified, from the table of CEOs and walked out of the building. It was then I knew I was in the wrong place to help this city. I knew I should have walked out with her, and I regret that to this day. It's situations like that you learn how much you've grown. I still have a while to go yet."

It was with this that he became a vocal critic of 3CDC and the "back office business deals" that was occurring at the detriment of Cincinnati itself. He countered that initiative by starting Third & Philadelphia Inc. in 2005, a company that sought to create businesses in the city that would attract young people and prevent them from leaving the city. "It is the only sustainable future we can build in this city. You can't build apartments downtown without young professionals to fill them."

Brandon's concerns were realized when the Cincinnati Business Courier reported in July of 2005 that a 3CDC holding company was quietly buying up properties near Washington Park, forcing residents to move.

In March of 2005 3CDC broke its contract with Brandon Werner's company.

Writing & Literature

Through-out the 1996 - 2000 period he drifted from job to job while he published numerous essays regarding the effect technology has on the human soul. This included works published in the Missouri Review in 1998 including "It Is The Deep" and "Friendship Lost". He was also published in an international anthology "Walk Through Paradise" (ISBN: 1561672858) in 1995 but was considered a disappointment do to his departure from his more lyrical poetry to more of an essay format, influenced heavily by his admiration for the work of the elegies of Rainer Rilke.

In 1999 he returned with published work in both The New Yorker magazine and Missouri Review that returned to his more short & lyrical format. In 2000 he quit writing to focus exclusively on business.

External links

Brandon Werner's Web Log

Brandon Werner's Biography

References

Ciao.fr (November 2001). " Testé dans tous les sens, vraiment tous". Accessed on January 12th, 2005.

LeMonde (February 2002). 2001/09/e-commerce___minutep/ LeMonde article on Brandon Werner & MinutePay.fr: Actualite informatique, actualite des entreprises, information. Accessed on August 25, 2005.

Cincinnati Enquirer (September 2003) Kroger garage deal in doubt. Accessed on October 30th, 2005.

Cincinnati Business Courier (July 2005) Assembling the pieces: 3CDC holding company quietly buying up properties near Washington Park. Accessed on October 30th, 2005.