I’m a maker and a builder who has embraced continuous learning since childhood. My passion for learning, exploring and making, while contrasting emerging technologies and methodologies against old, has served me well in a rapidly evolving technology market. A technology market that is currently experiencing an unprecedented amount of growth and diversification, with no end in sight.

More importantly, I’ve been very successful in creating organizational cultures and environments that embrace my same passion for learning. These cultures result in more competitive technology portfolio, improved speed to market, and overall better product performance.

Also, a culture of learning provides a haven from the drastically constrained and competitive talent landscape. Building the infrastructure to support learning “at scale” not only attracts premier senior talent but also attracts top emerging talent to become top contributors who then rapidly grow into senior leaders within the company.

My passion for learning provides me a unique advantage towards building great teams, that build amazing products.

Below is a detailed history of my work over the last seventeen years. You can additionally find more on my LinkedIn Profile.


Chief Executive Officer, YachtClub, October 2019 - Present

A groundbreaking software platform making marina management, and the boating experience absolutely delightful.

  • Launching to our first customers in March :)

Executive Board Member, Wilmette Yacht Club, February 2020 - Present

Chicago’s premier yacht club located within Chicago’s North Shore.

Founder, abc & company, February 2019 - Present

Founder and lead executive for a CTO/CPO executive consultancy. Clients include

  • Hyatt Hotels
  • The Ounce of PRevention
  • SpotHero
  • GigSmart
  • Sponge Ideas

Chief Product Officer, SpotHero, December 2015 - February 2019

Member of the executive team, responsible for Product, Design, and Data Science.

  • Established company vision & 3 year product roadmap transitioning SpotHero to automobile & autonomous vehicle vertical, delivered early and under budget

  • Transitioned SpotHero to a technology led company by growing the Product, Engineering, & Designs organizations from of 6 to 70+; recruited nationally recognized senior talent balanced with exceptional junior talent

  • Led and grew strategic partnerships with Apple & Google resulting in multiple strategic initiatives adding millions in incremental revenue & positioning SpotHero as category leader prime for acquisition

  • Started Data Science practice resulting in multiple products contributing millions in incremental revenue & cost savings per year

  • Partnered with Google to launch first of it’s kind Google Assistant Product, debuted at CES expanding SpotHero to hundreds of millions handhelds, households, and cars worldwide

  • Capitalized on underserved Business Travelers segment, brought new product to market adding millions in incremental revenue per year on time and under budget

  • Improved conversion across all platforms through design and product enhancements. Android up to 22% from 2%, iOS up to 29% from 9%, web up to 19% from 6%

  • Products launched received multiple industry awards for excellence from industry partners, segment partners, Google, Apple, & more

  • Launched HeroConnect product (developer API) that distributed SpotHero into top brands including Hertz, Apple, Google, & top automobile brands

  • Led complete iOS and Android app redesign, resulted in increased conversion, decreased call center volume, and consideration for design awards from Apple & Google

  • Partnered with Apple & Google to release cutting edge product enhancements debuting on stage at Apple WWDC & Google I/O events with hundreds of follow on promotional events resulting in hundreds of thousands of incremental app downloads

  • Delivered several segment focused product launches in for Airport, Monthly, & Event parking users. Project was delivered early, under budget, and exceeded plan for incremental revenue contribution ahead of schedule

Chief Technology Officer, Fooda; December 2013 - December 2015

Responsible for all Product, User Experience/Design, and Technology strategy, execution, and teams.

  • Grew the technology organization from of 3 to 32 in less than 12 months. Included nationally recognized senior talent balanced with exceptional junior talent.

  • Expanded off-shore capacity from 2 to 15 engineers across three companies (web & mobile) in less than 9 months.

  • Created a holistic agile Product Development operation (product, design, engineering) resulting in a continuos delivery operations with 5+ releases a week.

  • Increased websites consumer sales funnel conversion up to 75% from 12% via a series of rapid redesigns and product enhancements.

  • Improved email click-through rates up to 12% from 2% and open rates up to 26% from 10% through a series of redesigns.

  • Redesigned and moved mobile experience to a native solution (iOS and Android) resulting in 1000% growth in Monthly Active Users (MAU’s) and 700% growth in order volume.

  • Increased registration funnel conversion up to 50% from 10% via improved technology and a user experience facelift.

  • Re-platformed all web technologies and products to Ruby on Rails in under 14 months. Infrastructure / hosting costs reduced by 50%.

  • Visually rebranded Product lines with a new design language including visual design, typography, and art direction. Modernized products look and feel.


Chief Product Officer, GiveForward; October 2012 - December 2013

Responsible for all Product, User Experience/Design, Marketing, Customer Support, Growth , and Technology strategy, execution, and teams.

  • Grew technology organization from 2 to 27 in 12 months. Included UX, Engineering, Product Management, Product Marketing, Customer Support, and Dev Operations.

  • Expanded contracted engineering capacity up to 7 engineers with two firms in less than 6 months.

  • Created a holistic agile Product Development operation (product, design, engineering) resulting in a continuos delivery operations with 5+ releases a week.

  • Hired outside firm to design and launch initial mobile offering. Launched in less than 4 months resulting in channel becoming for greatest consumer engagement and retention.

  • Improved registration conversions by 110% by simplifying the flow, page user experience, streamlining required information, and visual design.

  • Increased average checkout price by 100% through instating a growth organization and operations resulting in 2-3 experiments a week.

  • Re-platformed core offerings as API in Ruby on Rails in under 4 months resulting in accelerated re-platform capabilities for remaining products.

  • Increased customer retention by shifting customer support organization strategy to revenue generation and fundraiser performance in addition to ticket throughput and quality.


Chief Executive Officer, StartupBus; San Francisco, 2012

Responsible for all aspects of the business. Took company from concept to revenue generating Startup operating on multiple continents.  

  • Responsible for company strategy uniquely positioning StartupBus as the premier hackathon attracting worlds top engineers and customers.

  • Led sales/business development, and partnerships resulting in premier customers such as Microsoft, AT&T, Box, and Rackspace.

  • Increased revenue by 27% with the launch of consumer focused merchandising.

  • Accelerated European expansion via partnership and ultimately merger of two companies resulting in market leadership and secured revenue streams.

  • Grew and managed the business development team. Acquired key customers with Microsoft, AT&T, Twilio, Facebook, Twitter, Atlasssian, Xero, and more.


Chief Technology Officer, Within3; 2006 - 2012

Responsible for all Product, User Experience/Design, and Technology strategy, execution, and teams.

  • Grew the technology organization from of 1 to 37 in less than 18 months. Recruited premier local talent in addition to recognized talent from top national design and engineering firms in NYC and San Francisco.

  • Led design and build of initial product offering resulting in the acquisition of 3 top-ten pharmaceuticals clients each with multi-million dollar contracts.

  • Grew product portfolio from initial offering to seven distinct products resulting in $10+ million dollars a year in sales.

  • Led the creation of 6 novel technologies receiving patents from the USPO. Personally defended all patents in person in Washington DC resulting in all patents approval.

  • Built regulatory and compliant mobile offerings for all products including BlackBerry, Windows, Apple, Android, and HTML5 platforms resulting in uniquely position product offering.

  • Dramatically accelerated innovation by introducing continuos development, hackathons, and automated testing resulting in a high degree of quality and speed to market.


Enterprise Product Architect, Progressive; Cleveland 2001 - 2006

Responsible for technology strategy and execution. Managed 12 technology platforms servicing 80 million uniques a month.

  • Built and led multiple teams of engineers. Responsible for rolling out the newest technology platforms and products across the direct line of business.

  • Pioneered companies first Enterprise mobile applications framework. Technology allowed for rapid application development for mobile browsers. Rolled out across the enterprise.

  • Designed and lead the build-out of an enterprise paperless technology saving the company 20 million a quarter. Technology went on to receive a patent and licensed out for additional revenue.

  • Built an enterprise web-applications architecture that allowed “build once” deploy everywhere across enterprise systems. Technology reduced costs and time-to-market saving tens of millions a year.


Awards
Most influential leader under the age of 35, Crain’s Business 2011

Education
BS in Computer Science, Technology and Society. Bowling Green State University

Board appointments