Leading up to the birth of our son, my wife and I set out a plan with the purpose of giving our son the best start possible in life while simultaneously building our ideal family. Put simply our goals were to:1. Ensure that we both could spend as much time as possible with our son in his first two years of life.2. Become outstanding parents through study and preparationIn order to accomplish these goals we made considerable financial and career sacrifices. By design, I became a stay-at-home dad and my wife took a new job where she was able to use the transitional period to spend some additional time at home.

While a stay-at-home dad, I attempted to develop a child walking aid after a crude tool that I used to help my son walk. My tool was well received by observers and talked about amongst local parenting groups and library programs. This led me to research the tools market viability. Current solutions available for sale fail to allow for and encourages controlled falls and natural play that is at the core of how infants learn to walk naturally. Rather, the products currently serving the market have been found to be dangerous and inhibit children from learning to walk. While I believe there is something here, I stopped iterating and testing because I couldn't ultimately get consumer buy-in and consistent results amongst traditional parents. While traditional parents aren't the only customer for a product like this, they are the key to mass production and 10x'ing the investment. I'm putting this out publicly in hopes that someone might be able to solve these problems. There is a need for this product among parents that have back problems, disabilities, a child with special needs, or developmentally delayed children and as a tool for Physical Therapists.

I'm very interested in how it all works and constantly ask "Why?". The question "How does venture capital work?" and "Are there alternatives to traditional VC?" triggered my in depth research into the world of startups. When my research gives way to understanding, I write about it.

I augmented Implementation Projects by:- Launching change initiatives as part of a matrixed project team- Training software, business process, and compliance- Resolving post-training gaps- Refining the business process - Negotiating between end users and project managers- Technical writing and editingI worked with:- Sales- Operations- Post Closing- Learning and Development- Business Process- Design Teams- Implementation Teams- Senior Leaders

As part of a realignment my title was changed from Sales Development Consultant to Business Training Consultant. Please see the Business Training Consultant section above for a description of my job responsibilities.

Leadership is a journey. While pursuing a management path, I maintained my own personal production and accomplished the following:- Achieved $490K in annual profit- Grew local Realtor and Builder market share- Brokered Builder and Realtor Marketing Agreements- Maintained 12 Bank Store relationships- Managed 11 sales, 4 processing, and 1 support Team Members- Grew my team from 2 to 16 by recruiting externally and acquiring internal candidates- Up-skilled direct reports in mortgage fundamentals- Facilitated High Performance Sales classes- Cultivated a compliance centered environment- Mentored new managers and top sales producers- Lead the nation in early adoption of Origination Platform changes- Influenced the development of nationally utilized sales tools and our own origination platform- Solved for a major source of lost revenue (GFE refunds) throughout the Northeast Division

I was part of the inception of this Joint Venture between Wells Fargo and S&A Homes. In my time here I: - Worked with the Joint Venture Operating Committee- Developed relationships throughout S&A Homes and their preferred Title Company- Originated turn-key, draw, and modification new construction loans - Supplemented Joint Venture revenue with outside sales- Pioneered a Home Financing blog on ActiveRain- Authored a Home Financing column for the Patriot News- Oversaw marketing

As an originator of self sourced home mortgage loans, I was recognized internally and amongst local realtors and builders as a subject matter expert in:- First Time Homebuyers- Low Income Mortgage Options- State Bond Loans- Down Payment Assistance Loans- FHA Financing- VA Financing- Conventional Conforming Loans- Conventional Non-Conforming Loans- Adjustable Rate Mortgages- New Construction Loans- Home Equity Loans- Condo Financing- Temporary Buy-downs- Permanent Buy-downs- Deal Structuring- Real Estate Taxes

While learning the mortgage business I served as an assistant to the Vice President and a Top Producing Loan Officer. At that time I: - Designed and ordered marketing materials- Organized marketing events- Mediated Human Resources issues- Assisted with the administration of the office- Consulted on technology investments- Acted as in-house tech support

I started out my banking career in the Management Training Program at Commerce Bank (later called Metro Bank). The Management Training Program entrenched me in the roles that I would later manage. I spent a month as a Teller and another month as Customer Service Representative before completing the program. As a manager I:- Managed six Tellers, a Head Teller, and three Customer Service Representatives- Oversaw compliance logs- Maintained $57M in deposits- Grew our portfolio of loans by $200K/month- Encouraged cross sales by cross training the staff- Improved Teller efficiency by designing procedural guides- Elevated customer service scores by setting the bar in the WOW Secret Shopper Program