I grew up in a town of about 600 people and 300 cows in rural Massachusetts where I learned how to be bored in innovative ways. I explored the woods as much as I played D&D with my creative, nerdy friends.
I practiced art through college and earned my BFA in Printmaking before moving out west with my girlfriend (now wife). Unable to lug around a printing press to various cheap apartments, I focused on building websites for artists, photographers, and other small business owners while working part time at an Italian deli to pay the bills.
I landed my first job in tech in Portland, Ore. as a web developer for a small financial services firm. I job-hopped for a bit and after a few more contract jobs and a short stint at a shop that sold handmade tools for printmaking, I landed at CollegeNET and worked my way up to a senior dev role. At that point they were just at the start of building out their UX team, and I was given the opportunity to lead that effort. That was my transition into user experience design. I loved the problems we were solving, the research, and the community in Portland.
Since then I’ve helped teams design and build many complex tools, work better together, and generally make digital tools easier to use for a lot of people. These days I’m working in Civic Tech at Ad Hoc, where I’m a Design Lead. I help multiple teams deliver health care management tools on a contract for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
I still live in Portland, Oregon with my wife and often a random dog or cat (we love pet-sitting for our friends).
🧰 Check out some of my more recent/relevant projects.
📧 Ready to talk about your complex digital problem? Let’s connect!