Traveling the country in a 2021, 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter Van.Following many hard years of intense work, I’m taking a working sabbatical to travel the United States while:• Consulting startups on recruiting and mentoring CTOs.• Consulting on the application of AI in market analysis and investing optimization.• Publishing articles on RTO mandates.

Following the success of the software team transformation and in response to my advocacy for an operational product management focus, I took on the challenge to transform all of Engineering and Farm Operations to build the “Farm as a Product” (FaaP):• Communicated a clear vision of a successful, comprehensive product development organization.• Transitioned the organization from lab experiments to product development; from “not invented here” bias to a systems engineering focus leveraging available technologies from 3rd parties.• Implemented quality focused development processes and built delivery momentum.• In response to limited investment, strategically downsized the team while maintaining that momentum.With a focus on product and quality, we learned early in development that there was a fundamental flaw in the Farm that limited yield in a way that made the FaaP non-financially viable:• Modified the product roadmap to account for a corrective pivot.• Delivered the new system which demonstrated financially viable yield on-time.Key takeaways: Good leadership works across all types of organizations, a comprehensive product focus motivates quality delivery, and momentum can be achieved with hardware and operations, not just software.

Within two months of joining OnePointOne, identified and resolved several issues affecting software delivery:• Communicated a clear vision of software’s role in OnePointOne’s “Farm as a Product” (FaaP) vision and created a roadmap for the team to achieve the vision.• Adjusted team staffing, clarified team roles and coached the team to high performance.• Upgraded the development process to instill momentum and achieve delivery.Upon OnePointOne’s desire to operate their own instance of the FaaP of selling produce to retail with minimal investor funding, I spearheaded a new team from scratch to deliver consumer facing application supporting the retail sale of produce:• Directed the comprehensive product delivery vision.• Drove the initial product requirements, establishing a viable initial product to launch (aka minimum viable product).• Staffed a development, delivery, and support team based in Belgrade, Serbia.• Determined the tech stack, post-delivery support, and development processes to build momentum from scratch and launched the application on time.Key takeaways: Upgrading a team and achieving delivery momentum can be done relatively quickly, a clear product vision is critical for a team to succeed, and an effective International team requires strong leadership regardless of the size of the organization or investment.

Based on my advocacy as a consultant, I took on the challenge to build a product management organization:• Established and communicated the vision for the new product management organization and staffed the organization with several Director-level and Senior-level Product Management team members, as well as an experienced Chief Product Officer.• Directed and communicated the comprehensive, strategic product portfolio and the various product roadmaps in order to achieve the P&L goals (including acquisitions).• Engaged a coalition of key clients and internal client advocates to champion the requirements supporting the product roadmaps.Key takeaways: You can learn and grow a lot when you’re willing to hire your own boss, building an organization from scratch is just as difficult as transforming an existing team, and a mature product vision empowers comprehensive collaboration inside and outside an organization.

After the success as CTO, I wanted to focus on product management and offered to consult to prove the value of a strategic, organizational transformation:• I defined, advocated for, and built coalitions to create a comprehensive product strategy that ultimately led to my next role with ABC Fitness.Key takeaway: Successes in life and career come in taking big chances, even if they don’t work out.

Following the successful transformation of the non-technical aspects of the software organization, I next took on the challenge of leading the full organization:• Determined and communicated the complete rebuilding of the company’s product suite incorporating a product management focus. The need to modernize the entire product portfolio necessitated a comprehensive product vision.• Grew the organization from ~30 Arkansas based team members to ~200 team members spanning India, Eastern Europe and the United States, while balancing budgetary constraints. • Implemented modernized development processes that focused on quality to empower the multinational teams and build momentum to deliver.• Engaged a coalition of strategic clients, industry thought leaders, and internal stakeholders to advocate for the new product deliveries.• Used initial deliveries of the rebuilt product suite to break into new segments of the health and fitness market.Key takeaways: Delivery momentum and significant organizational growth can be achieved with strong leadership, when things aren’t working be aggressive in making a change (e.g. firing Infosys), and overcoming team inertia to achieve momentum sometimes requires drastic action.

Within a couple of months of joining, I was able to determine the issues with the non-technical aspects of the software organization and thus begin the transformation:• Implemented a multifaceted delivery enhancement process that emphasized quality assurance measured by customer service metrics (ie customer satisfaction).Key takeaways: Even technology teams need a business focus and the right leadership can quickly find the issues and improve any process helping an organization achieve quality delivery.

Lavender and Wyatt Systems, Inc. (LWSI) provides comprehensive behavioral health software. LWSI was purchased by Netsmart Technologies, Inc., in Oct 2015 (https://www.ntst.com/)Leveraging the healthcare experience with EMC and executive leadership in software development and delivery, I joined LWSI to help them accomplish Meaningful Use certification, to grow their market presence, and to position the company to sell:• Quickly resolved the development process hurdles to build the necessary momentum in order to implement Meaningful Use requirements without adding significant staff. Achieved MU 1 and 2 prior to leaving for ABC Fitness.• Strategically aligned in-house Customer Service team to greatly improve quality and then added that Operations team to my organization to continue to drive quality and customer satisfaction.• Doubled the client base during my tenure due to the consistent improvements to quality as well as delivery momentum.

EMC is an IT infrastructure company that was purchased by Dell, Inc., in Sep 2016 (https://www.dell.com/)After working on the Aciom-EMC productization project, I accepted EMC’s offer to lead strategic initiatives from the corporate CTO office. Our charter was to find ways to combine EMC solutions to enhance existing offerings and open new markets by working across business units:• Envisioning the possibility of an innovative type of healthcare solution, Storage-as-a-Service, combined several EMC product lines to support a Clinical Information Management market strategy.• Created and led a cross division team that successfully passed the IHE Connectathon 2 years in a row for XDS.b Registry and Repository profiles, earning EMC certifications for both healthcare profiles.• This solution was highlighted at the HiMSS10 and HiMSS11 IHE Interoperability Showcase leading to significant sales in Europe and North America.• Engaged in cross-functional collaboration with various business units to facilitate the successful launch of EMC's turn key data warehouse appliance. This included the acquisition of missing technology to augment the product offering.

Leveraging my recent Executive MBA from Vanderbilt, I moved to Acxiom to help their recent partnership with EMC deliver a productized version of Acxiom’s Grid Technology:• Working with EMC and a multi-discipline Acxiom team, led the design and implementation of the manufacturing plan for the launch of the “Grid”.• Created the collaboration process to define GA-release requirements and use cases.• Working with EMC in a pre-GA release cycle, led the planning and readiness assessment for Customer Service, Data Management, and Licensing.• Created the Product Data Sheet for the GA release.

Rymic pioneered Internet-enabled, data acquisition, and control systems. Rymic is now defunct.• Drove product revenue growth by over 200% from 2003 to 2005 through customer focused innovations.• Created new business and operations vision that resulted in reduced spending through contracting, a better "buy versus build" strategy, and negotiation of favorable business terms with suppliers/partners.

• Restructured the technology and company operating strategy and rebuilt the engineering team to support the strategy.• Continued the transition from proprietary software and hardware to Linux, Java, and commercially available systems improving our ability to deliver and significantly lowering cost. Delivered three new, customizable platforms in a year.

• Defined and advocated for the transition from proprietary software and hardware to standard, commercially available systems.• Proved the commercial and operational viability through demonstrated implementations.

Managing leader of Quality Assurance and Software Development.• Built, tested, and launched the back office, Internet portion of Digimarc’s MediaBridge product.• Launched Digimarc’s MediaCommerce Internet product.Positions:• Manager, QA and Development - May 2000• Manager, QA - February 2000

• Built back office, internet component of MediaBridge product and launched MediaCommerce.

MCI WorldCom, Inc., provided telecommunications and Internet services during the extraordinary industry growth years of the 1990s. WorldCom was acquired by Verizon Communications in January 2006. (https://www.verizon.com/about/sites/default/files/worldcom/index.html )• Expanded system capacity by 300% (10 million+ transactions per day) and added users and network segments from MCI (WorldCom acquired MCI in 1998)

• Improved system availability from 72% to 96%.• Planned and executed Y2K certification ahead of schedule which included a worldwide upgrade of over 8,000 workstations across five major organizations.

• Delivered an international toll free order management and service activation system.• Managed the development and delivery of toll-free business support, including customer management and network service provisioning.

Managing leader of several software development teams.• Expanded network management system to include users and network segments from MCI, increasing capacity 300% to 10 million+ transactions/day• Rescued trouble ticket system by improving uptime from 72% to 96% and completing Y2K certification involving a worldwide upgrade of 8,000+ workstations• Managed Toll-free business support, which included customer management and network service provisioning, completing five major initiatives including International Toll-Free (UIFN) service, AS/400 Legacy Upgrades, SCP Provisioning, Legacy LDDSPositions:• Manager II, Network Management - September 1999• Manager II, Trouble Management - March 1999• Manager II, Toll-free Order Management and Provisioning - September 1997• Senior Application Development Analyst - June 1995

• Developed software applications, operating systems, databases, user interfaces, and software utilities for the first successful wafer-level, cryogenic test system for infrared detectors.

• Designed, developed, and deployed the first successful wafer-level cryogenic test system for infrared detectors as a Software Engineer.