ABOUT
I grew up in Minnesota and went to school at the University of Oregon. My career didn't start in an agency. It started with two simple observations.
The first was while eating breakfast at a cafe in Eugene, I noticed that they threw away an enormous amount of food; I thought ‘there must be a better way’. I helped co-found and grow Ecoscraps, a company that turned discarded fruit and vegetable waste into nutrient-rich compost for growers, including the fast-growing hydroponics market.
Emerging technology pilots inside Fortune 500 companies at Pilot44
The second was that Eugene, Oregon hadn't seen a new bar or restaurant open on campus in more than 30 years. So I opened The Growler Pub, a campus bar that also became the first location in Oregon, other than a brewery, where people could buy and fill beer growlers .
Both businesses eventually ran their course, but they shaped how I work to this day. As a founder, there's no one to hand the hard parts to. You notice the problem nobody owns, and you build something to fix it with the resources you have available. Nothing works unless the people around you believe in it as much as you do. I also found I was most energized by the operations side of things: using technology, social and marketing to make a small business run better and grow. Helping other companies do the same felt like the natural next step.
That founder instinct has followed me through every role since. At each stop I've thrown myself into whatever I didn't know until I was confident I could lead it. Such as mobile banking products and mobile apps:
Digital platforms, apps, and brand programs for global companies at Spring Studio
AI companion robot designed to support cognitive and social grow in children
(~2019)
Proof of concept for Basecamp (~2015)
Mobile app for fitness mirror: FORME (~2019)
And, on something of a whim, industrial design at Fuseproject. There I led programs that brought Red Dot-winning consumer products to market and built the studio's operating model from the ground up.
Most recently, I served as Senior Director of Creative Operations and Program Management at AKQA, running operations for a $30MM+ portfolio across North America, EMEA, and APAC. I directed the end-to-end delivery process from briefing and intake prioritization to resourcing, and operating standards, all while leading fifteen managers and supporting cross-disciplinary teams of up to seventy.
In recent years, my focus turned to AI application, once again quickly immersing myself and learning until I was confident. Rather than delegating, I built an AI-native PMO suite powered by Anthropic’s Claude API, unifying capacity planning, project governance, and financial reporting across North America. I built the agent workflows directly and drew a sharp line between where automation assists and where human expertise decides, and led the change management required to move enterprise teams from skepticism to daily, active adoption.
It's the same thing I was doing at 22. I identify the problem nobody owns, build what's needed, and make sure everyone else are better off for it.