I’m a web engineer and consultant based in Connecticut, though I’ve called California, Maui, Seattle, and the open ocean home at various points. I’ve had an unusual path to tech — through sailboat racing, photography, and a lot of figuring things out on the fly — and I think that shows in how I work.
Early Years
I grew up in Marin County, California — mostly on a mountain bike or out on the Bay in a sailboat. My grandfather had a vineyard in Healdsburg where my cousins and I spent summers learning that hard work and good wine aren’t mutually exclusive. My first real job was building sailboat masts and rigging in Sausalito, which is where I learned that measuring twice before cutting once applies to most things in life.
First Job
My first job as a junior in high school was building sailboat masts and rigging in Sausalito, CA. At Bay Riggers I learned a lot about measuring twice and cutting once. I had a great boss who was not afraid to kick me in the pants when I needed it. It was at Bay Riggers where I met Bill E who helped get me a job on Sayonara many years later.
College
I attended classes at Maui Community College for two years. Maui dished out a lot of life lessons during that time. My roommates and I windsurfed the outer reefs and washed rental cars. I left Maui and school to work on boats.
Sailing Boats
In November of 1997 I was accepted a job on Sayonara as crew. The 80 foot boats raced in a circuit that included ports like Antigua, Jamaica, Bermuda, Cowes, Mallorca, Sardinia, Newport and Chicago. After a couple of seasons on Sayonara and meeting a nice girl name Lara, I moved to another Maxi, Boomerang.
Photography
Taking photos has always been a passion of mine. On the water I began taking a lot of photos of the sailing races that I was lucky enough to travel to. After leaving Boomerang I got a job/internship at Sailing World Magazine in Newport, Rhode Island. I pulled images for the magazine and soaked up as much information as I could from the editors. During that time I also took a black and white printing classes at the Rhode Island School of Design. My nights were spent in the darkroom developing film and learning the zone system.
I took a gamble and started a photography business in Maui. During the day I photographed water sports for magazines and advertisements. At night I photographed weddings on Maui’s south shore. It took a hustle to make ends meet during those years.
Web Development
I’ve been designing and building for the web for over 20 years. I started in Maui, building PHP tools to manage my photography portfolio, and one thing led to another — commercial real estate sites, freelance CMS work, and eventually engineering roles at some larger companies.
Most recently I led engineering for New Relic’s web properties as part of their growth team. Before that I was a one-person engineering team at Docker and led a global web development group at SAP Concur. My work spans the full stack but centers on CMS platforms (WordPress, Drupal, AEM), analytics and tag management, and engineering leadership.
Now I work independently — helping teams build things right, move faster, or untangle whatever they’ve gotten into.
Having Fun
My wife Lara and I moved from the Seattle area to the Connecticut shoreline a couple of years ago. We miss the Pacific Northwest trails, but being closer to the water — and a short train ride from New York — has been a good trade. Amber, our mini dachshund, has strong opinions about paddleboarding.
This Website
Is built using WordPress and is hosted on the Linode cloud.