I've spent 25 years at the edge of what technology can do — as a founder, an engineer, a CTO, and a Chief of Staff. The throughline isn't the title, it's the question: who does this actually serve? That's shaped everything from co-founding The Hidden Genius Project to representing Built.io in the OpenAPI Initiative to the work I do now at Recital. I'm at my best on small teams with hard problems, where the gap between strategy and execution is something you close yourself.
Experience
Chief of Staff2024 – Present
Recital — Legal technology
Serve as strategic advisor to the CEO, responsible for translating vision into execution across product, engineering, sales, and operations
Built the company's sales process from scratch alongside the CEO
Developed the full category creation strategy — researched, wrote, and owns the company's point of view on where legal tech is going
Managed the SOC 2 certification process end-to-end
Wrote grant proposals that have generated over $200k in funding
Director of Engineering Ops2021 – 2023
Yat Labs — Digital identity, blockchain, NFT
Led a 21-person engineering org (developers, QA, PMs) building Yat's digital identity platform across blockchain, NFT, and communication products
Launched a real-time blockchain data analysis engine, driving core product innovation
Improved on-time delivery by 30% through agile process changes — kept a fast-moving team aligned through a period of significant market volatility
Chief of Staff & Head of Digital2020 – 2021
Refound — Leadership development
Served as Chief of Staff to the CEO, owning strategic planning, operations, and two direct reports
Built the company's digital group coaching platform from scratch, reducing client onboarding time by 40% — the technical foundation the company later evolved into an AI coaching product
Bridged engineering and executive strategy in a small company where those roles were the same conversation
Chief Technology Officer2018 – 2020
Partydash — E-commerce
Served as CTO of an e-commerce startup selling themed party boxes, taking the company into its first digital product expansion
Designed and launched Dash Camp, a virtual summer camp for children built on Apollo GraphQL and Vue.js — shipped during the early pandemic as the company pivoted to digital
Led code reviews and mentorship across a small engineering team, setting technical standards and culture
Director of Technology Evangelism & Partnerships2014 – 2017
Led developer partnerships and integrations, working directly with engineering teams at Cisco, Meraki, Box, MongoDB, and others to build and ship integrations
Represented Built.io in the OpenAPI Initiative, contributing to API standards that shaped the industry
Drove developer awareness through conference speaking — Cisco Live (Las Vegas and Berlin), API World (2015 & 2016), DeveloperWeek 2017
Co-Founder2012 – 2014
The Hidden Genius Project — Youth technology & leadership
Co-founded a technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership program for Black male youth — developed and taught the curriculum for the first two cohorts
Served as primary programming instructor, teaching Objective-C, Python, and other skills to over 100 students in the founding years
The organization has since grown to reach more than 11,000 young people across six cities, with 978,000+ hours of training delivered
Technology Strategist & Lead Developer2012 – 2014
Youth Radio — Nonprofit media
Taught coding and technology skills to youth at a nonprofit radio station, building curriculum around the actual tools they needed to run their station
Modernized Youth Radio's technical infrastructure — built a real-time listener metrics server and managed server architecture for the website relaunch
Designed inclusive technology education curricula, prioritizing access and practical skills over theory
Co-Founder & CEO2009 – 2012
Enole — Identity & authentication
Co-founded and led a company building a DNS-based digital identity platform using NFC — a unified sign-on approach that predated the identity infrastructure most of the industry eventually converged on
Raised $250k in seed funding and reached $40k in quarterly revenue within the first year
Led product development and strategic partnerships from zero
Skills
Yes, I can code — Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, GraphQL, Node.js, Vue.js, React, and more than fits here. AWS, DigitalOcean, Vercel. GitHub, Docker. Not that any of that is the point anymore.
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (did not complete; left junior year to start and run companies—sorry, mom)
Milton Academy
Class of 1997
Publications
The Fierce Urgency Of Now
Abernathy Magazine — November 2016
An analysis of America's deepening political divisions and the urgent need for cooperative problem-solving toward equality and justice.
Know your real-time protocols for IoT apps
InfoWorld — August 2015
An overview of XMPP, CoAP, and MQTT protocols for real-time IoT communication.
A software engineer's approach to streamlining DevOps processes
TechBeacon — August 2015
Seven practical tips for optimizing DevOps processes and improving reliability in software deployment.
Board Member, Chair of Fundraising Committee — 2024–present
Leading strategic fundraising initiatives to support equitable urban development and policy advocacy.
Milton Academy 1798 Committee
Chair — 2019–2025
Spearheaded fundraising for my high school alma mater — $25M+ raised, $5M annual expectation, supporting teacher pay, scholarships, and educational programs.