The common thread through my diverse sector experience in business strategy, technology, and experience design is a deep passion for innovation and creativity supported by an analytical mindset, bias towards strategic thinking, and strong technical foundations.
I'm a lifelong learner with an incessant curiosity that is focused on the opportunities where technology, strategy, and culture converge.
▹ Seasoned business + technology leader with deep passions for innovation + creativity supported by an analytical mindset, bias towards strategic thinking, and strong technical foundation.
▹ Lifelong learner with an incessant curiosity; focused on the opportunities where technology, strategy, and culture converge.
▹ 20 years of experience working in, with, and for executive leadership across diverse sectors, including start-ups, Fortune 500s, financial services, government, higher education, consumer brands, and healthcare.
▹ Highly creative, open mindset balanced with strong execution capabilities and attention to detail.
▹ Entrepreneurial change agent able to visualize and chart course recommendations for business and technology strategies that enable an organization to act on opportunities opened by cultural, organizational, market, and technological change.
▹ Extensive technical background with broad, t-shaped skillset; regularly sought out by peers as a mentor + innovation advisor.
▹ Consistent, rapid advancement into roles with increased responsibility, leadership, and strategic management focus.
▹ ▹Published author, trainer, and speaker, including for EDUCAUSE’s Enterprise IT CIO Summit, B&H Photo, and Adobe.
Areas of Expertise
▹ Pragmatic innovation / Creativity
▹ Strategic planning / Strategy development
▹ Business architecture
▹ Design thinking
▹ Emerging technologies + market opportunities
▹ Agile frameworks / SDLC project management
▹ Visual communication / Graphic design
▹ Change management + behavior-change models
▹ Training development + delivery / instructional design
General Skills: Breaking Stuff
Specialties: Breaking stuff real good
Expertise: Fixing broken stuff better than before
Photographer & Designer, Encapsulate Design + Fat Frog Photography
Jan, 2009 - Jan, 202516 years
Photographer. Author. Blogger. Educator.
Using photography as a medium to open a dialogue with my viewers, sharing a vision of how I see the extraordinary beauty in the world around us.
Senior Delivery Principal, Slalom
Apr, 2018 - Sep, 20235 years 5 months
Solutions include digital transformation strategies for business and IT with business case development; cloud-first operating + organizational models; modern data + analytics solution for HR; and analytic capability transformations. Drive success by building cross-functional alignment and connecting with a deep understanding of business strategy to map paths from current and future state.
Managing Director, Criscara
Jun, 2014 - Aug, 20195 years 2 months
As Managing Director / co-founder of fashion jewelry brand Criscara, my role can best be described as (d) All of the Above.
Led fast-growing ecommerce fashion start-up. Oversaw business strategy + operations, B2C + B2B marketing + sales, customer acquisition, IT operations, and financials. Built operating model to support highly efficient operations + growth.
Developed lean manufacturing processes utilizing Kanban framework + agile development; evolved from integrated to modular manufacturing processes to adapt to anticipated marketplace shifts and enable a novel B2B sales strategy.
Identified operational value streams + continuously defined business strategies utilizing business model canvas.
Built brand by executing multi-channel PR + marketing strategy across print + digital, influencer marketing, social media; leveraged marketing automation + CRM tools to support scalable sales + relationship management.
And making coffee.
Chief Innovation & Technology Officer, Silver Fern Healthcare
Nov, 2013 - Dec, 20141 year 1 month
Strategic platform and marketing responsibility for healthcare technology start-up. Developed product roadmap blending successful research on psychosocial behavior change models with business, technology, and healthcare market needs.
Translated complex solution into accessible concepts, language, and content for funding presentations + B2B marketing.
Pitched for pre-revenue funding to venture capital, Fortune 100 strategic partners, and angel investors.
Built connections across innovation, business, and research ecosystems, including direct outreach + conferences.
Developed business models + business capabilities; modeled target customers’ revenue + value streams.
Developed functional prototypes, e.g. UX/UI and patient-success videos for product alpha + investor presentations.
Director of Information & Communications Technology, School of Business, University of Connecticut
Oct, 2010 - Feb, 20143 years 4 months
Led ICT department at School of Business. Translated vision of UConn and School of Business into direction, strategy, and long-term planning; restructured department to align to mission. Executed initiatives to achieve tactical + strategic goals. Led joint strategic initiatives to benefit the University of Connecticut and the School of Business.
Created enterprise operating model and guiding principles that facilitated strategic goals of School of Business.
Implemented Run/Grow/Transform framework for asset + budgetary responsibility of $7M+ with eight direct reports.
Established lean project management practices; managed projects with budgets up to $1.4M.
Championed physical + virtual spaces that fostered a culture of innovation, e.g. distance education, common + team collaboration rooms, and mobile VOIP + video conferencing.
Launched + led UConn Skybox project, which provided virtual desktops for 30k students’ lab, remote, and in-class usage, resulting in improved accessibility + support, reduced costs, physical space-savings, and online + distance ed.
Championed innovative collaboration tools + capabilities supporting shared strategic goals across siloed business units, e.g. funded GitHub Enterprise, negotiated Microsoft and Adobe Campus Agreements, ran distance education pilots.
Led implementation of university-wide graduate student application tool, Hobson's ApplyYourself!. Facilitated creation of shared process, goals, and strategy across eight departments; developed shared data catalog.
Led steering committee + authored UConn IT Help Desk initiative; UConn Board of Trustees ratified as strategic goal.
Server & Security Manager / Client Services Manager, University of Connecticut
Jun, 2004 - Oct, 20106 years 4 months
Responsible for 24/7 operations of IT services and security, L3 support + training. Four direct reports + 15 student techs.
Built Digital Media Center classrooms + render farm infrastructure for Storrs + Stamford campuses.
Designed + implemented geo-clustered infrastructure across UConn locations + AWS, MSSQL 2008, Exchange 2010, FC + iSCSI SANs, VMWare 3.5+ 4.x, PRTG, DPM 2010, 10Gbit networking, AD 2008 R2, and multi-site DR.
Implemented ITIL-based change management protocols + documentation standards. Implemented new help desk.
Responsible for systems deployment, level-3 support, and customer training.
Developed + deployed user-training and technical support structure for student Mobile Computer Program, which enabled a consistent compute platform against which faculty could reliable develop coursework.
Technical Delivery Lead / Site Coordinator , Computer Sciences Corporation
Dec, 2000 - Jan, 20043 years 1 month
Represented CSC at Carrier’s headquarters. Coordinated desktop, network, and server support operations; managed six staff. Accountable for relationship management with 200+ executives + engineers. Managed projects + maintained high customer satisfaction; personal on + offsite IT support for CEO + C-level executive leadership.
System and Network Administrator, Macy's
Dec, 1997 - Dec, 19981 year
Designed & deployed network, clients, and servers for 40-user in-house graphic & packaging design department.
Speaker + Presenter
Jan, 2010 - Jan, 202313 years
Speaker at various industry and corporate conferences and events
EDUCAUSE Conference
EDUCAUSE Enterprise IT CIO Summit
NERCOMP
Dell World
VMWare CT VMug
Unidesk Webinars & User’s Group
B&H Photo
Miro Annual
Instructor / Trainer for Adobe
Jan, 2010 - Jan, 20144 years
Developed and presented custom training content for key Adobe partners, including B&H Photo
Fortune 500
Financial Services
Consumer Brands
Government
Healthcare
Retail
Higher Education
Management Information Systems (MIS), Bachelor's of Science, The University of Connecticut
Sep, 1996 - May, 2000
User Experience Design, Mini-Masters Certificate, Rutgers University
Jun, 2018 - Jun, 2018
CIO Leadership Development Program, Certificate, EDUCAUSE Institute
Jan, 2014 - Jan, 2014
Management Development Program, Certificate, EDUCAUSE Institute
May, 2012 - May, 2012
Management Development Program, Certificate, EDUCAUSE Institute
May, 2012 - May, 2012
sUAS (Drone) Pilot Rating, Federal Aviation Administration
Issued on:
Project Management MBA, Project Management Institute
Issued on:
Professional Scrum Master I (PSMI), Scrum.org
Issued on:
Volunteer, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans
Jan, 2011 - Jan, 2013
Volunteered as 'embedded' photographer one week a year for disabled veterans’ entrepreneurship program.
Volunteer, FIRST Robotics Competition
Jan, 2010 - Jan, 2012
Volunteer photography for regional competitions.
Photographing New York City Digital Field Guide , Wiley Publishing
Published on: May 17, 2010
http://amzn.to/dfgnyc | ISBN:978-0470586853
Take memorable photos of the most popular attractions in the Big Apple!
Whether using a point-and-shoot or a high-end dSLR, this companion guide provides you with detailed information for taking amazing shots of one of one of the world's most photographed cities. Whether you aim to capture the regal Empire State Building, vibrant Times Square, historic Grand Central Station, massive Central Park, or one of New York City's many other landmarks, this portable resource goes where you go and walks you through valuable tips and techniques for taking the best shot possible.
You'll discover suggested locations for taking photos, recommended equipment, what camera settings to use, best times of day to photograph specific attractions, how to handle weather challenges, and more. In addition, beautiful images of New York City's most breathtaking attractions and recognizable landmarks serve to both inspire and assist you as you embark on an amazing photographic adventure!
Leading Change from the Edge , EDUCAUSE Enterprise IT CIO Summit 2013
Published on: Jul 31, 2013
Higher Education is changing rapidly, and as technologists we need to be willing to change with it and lead when appropriate. There is an opportunity to lead rapid change and innovation pursuing distributed, collaborative, transformative projects.
The UConn vPC: A Collaborative Story about Desktop Virtualization , EDUCAUSE Institute
Published on: Mar 14, 2012
The UConn vPC is a collaborative IT project among the UConn School of Business, the School of Engineering, and the University Libraries. The project delivered virtual desktops to UConn students beginning the fall semester of 2011. Students now have access to UConn-licensed applications from their PCs, Macs, and mobile devices from anywhere in the world where they have Internet access. This session discusses both the technology behind the service and the collaboration between the academic units that built a scalable, centralized service. An overview of the service can be found at http://vpc.uconn.edu.
Light, Color & Gesture in Photography , Tolland Academy of the Arts
Published on: Apr 30, 2013
Photography is the art of light. At its most basic, a photograph is capturing light and recording it on a two dimensional plane. As one proceeds down your photographic journey, you begin to recognize hugely varying qualities of light, and how light, and the absence of light, can define a scene and am image. As my friend Rick Sammon often says, “Light illuminates, Shadows define.”
Color and light are as intricately linked as, well, electricity and magnetism. My geek readers will appreciate the analogy… or lack of analogy. The range and strength of color can draw your attention, bring memories to the forefront, or drive your attention to vacillate between two complementary colors in a scene. Even the lack of color in a black and white image is important, as our expectations and experiences will let us fill in what we expect to see in our mind’s eye.
Light and Color are the two aspects for which most photographers and viewers are most familiar, even if they have not thought of them as explicitly defined in this way. The final component, however, is just as important but less commonly thought of as a direct function of an image.
What is Gesture? Gesture is movement, an expression, an essence. Gesture is most easily explained in the context of an image of a person but is not constrained there. In fact, what I personally found the most moving, and challenging, is the extension of Gesture to inanimate objects.
Photography
History
Voracious Reader
