It's time for a sabbatical. One can define that however they want, but for me it is defined as reflecting on my life and what I think its purpose is away from the routine of working life. My priorities are the people I care about, my health and travel and I plan on keeping that focus until this crazy world returns to some sense of normalcy - whatever that becomes.

Determining what new features and functionality the Amazon Alexa platform needs to provide for our development partners worldwide is critical to maintaining our phenomenal growth. To that end I am working with our in house development teams and partners to create Go-To-Market strategies and experiences that will truly raise the bar for everyone.

Amazon is continuing to expand the Alexa Voice Platform to enable developers around the world to build voice experiences. Key to making this successful is enabling key partners to create Alexa based experiences that are hyper localized and relevant to the markets they are supporting. To that end I supported the new Australia and New Zealand market helping to build our SA team, bring new partners on board and ensure everyone has the resources to succeed.

Sr. Solutions Architect - Alexa PlatformResponsible for owning key technical relationships, driving the ultimate success of partner projects, driving discussions with senior technical leaders/CxO in those organizations, and mapping the intersection of partner needs and Amazon priorities to build the Alexa platform/market.Key responsibilities include:* Providing technical consultation to strategic development partners on Voice Interface Design, Code/API integration and Smart Home Web-services.* Actively identifying opportunities to deliver experiences that demonstrate what is possible on Amazon devices and services, as well as other mobile platforms supported by the Amazon Appstore.* Developing unique, compelling and exciting presentations and demonstrations of new Amazon technologies.* Building reference architecture, frameworks and tool-kits to drive scale of adoption in the Alexa ecosystem.* Managing complex projects with significant bottom-line impact.

Solutions Architect - Amazon Developer Relations Responsible for maintaining technical developer relationships and driving the ultimate success of partner projects. Key responsibilities include:* Technical consultation to strategic developers and educating developers on Amazon devices and service offerings* Identify opportunities to deliver experiences demonstrating what is possible on Amazon devices and services.* Document best practices and create development resources that can be used by other developers.* Build reference architecture, frameworks and tool-kits to drive scale of adoption in the ecosystem.

Developer Advocate - Amazon App StoreResponsible for all aspects of 3rd party developer support services - from published support information through premium one-on-one development support and education. Work directly with developers and internal technical teams to analyze and resolve issues with application development for Kindle Fire devices, general Android devices, development frameworks such as Air and Unity, and Amazon Mobile SDKs.

University of Washington (UW) Android Certification Program. Part time position assisting students and instructors with on-line/classroom issues, projects and assignments.

Founded Superior App, LLC, an Android application development business, to develop in-house applications for the Android market and outside clients.* Analyze Android market segments and develop applications targeted to underrepresented categories.* Develop applications for individuals and companies for the market and in-house use using Eclipse, Java, SDK, various API’s, XML, JSON, SQLite, WebServices, Providers, HTML/JQuery/Phonegap and other technologies.

As founder of groupCTO, LLC, an information technology service business focused on moving small and mid-size business to cloud computing platforms, lead all aspects of developing, selling and implementing packaged IT solutions. Key accomplishments include:* Formulating training programs that allow clients to rapidly gain the skills necessary to use cutting edge technology in their business, typically resulting in increased employee efficiencies of 10 - 20%. * Setting up and configuring hosted servers in both dedicated and virtual (VMWare or Terminal Server) environments, resulting in an average saving of 30% over in-house solutions.* Moving clients from in-house server configurations (MS 2003/2008/SBS/Exchange /etc) to hosted environments using Google Apps, Salesforce.com, Intuit and others while ensuring business process continuity.

As founder of Wizard Marine Services, a marine electrical and electronics service business targeting yachts up to 120 feet, ran all aspects of the business including:* Designing and installing of distributed systems for lighting, batteries and auxiliary power that met budget and time-line quotes. * Designing, fabricating, upgrading and building of AC/DC distribution systems while ensuring compliance with all ABYC standards.* Consulting, evaluating, creating specifications and implementing GPS based navigation, AIS, entertainment, monitoring and communications systems that exceeded clients expectations.

As an independent (1099) consultant specializing in telecommunications, was responsible for upgrades and green field installations in school districts, government and midsized entities throughout the Puget Sound region, including:* Leading information gathering and business process documentation efforts resulting in highly concise and accurate RFP's (Request For Proposals). * Designing and layout of VoiP systems resulting in significant savings over legacy PBX solutions.* Evaluating RFI (Requests For Information) and RFP responses for accuracy, relavance and ability of the responders to accomplish the work specified.

Responsible for all aspects of communications infrastructure for NC Machinery, one of the larger Caterpillar (CAT) dealerships in the U.S., including:* Evaluating business needs and the impact of infrastructure changes on the various processes involved. * Managing the moving of 180 employees from a legacy 'green screen' environment to a client/server based LAN/WAN infrastructure with no customer impact.* Developing a comprehensive WAN design and migration path for 28 sites throughout Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Russia, which significantly reduced monthly recurring costs over legacy point-to-point infrastructure. * Establishing service provider relationships and support agreements resulting in substantial cost savings while enhancing disaster recovery efforts.* Developing presentations to educate company managers/directors and obtain buy-off and funding. * Implementing a Frame-Relay based network, VPN access, dedicated Internet, SNA-IP migration, PPTP/VPN employee access and Voice IP solutions that increased employee effectiveness substantially.

Responsible for pre-sales support and implementation of WorldCom products and services such as: local dial tone, long distance access, DS-1/DS-3 integration, frame relay access, point-point access and dedicated Internet access and including:* Coordinating various telecom vendors, CLEC’s and internal provisioning processes to insure accurate and timely service installations.* Defining customer needs and developed cost competitive solutions that resulted in increased sales closure rates.* Developing product solutions for major clients in the Puget Sound region such as Amazon.com, Puget Sound Blood Center, Microsoft and many others.* Developing and leading training programs for major and minor account representatives on WorldCom products and key differentiators that gave them an additional edge.

Responsible for developing a 2-way video based remote sales system for finance and insurance products for Aegis Technology, a start-up funded by New York Life Insurance Co., including:* Integrating custom video teleconferencing systems into major call centers throughout the US, Canada and UK while keeping standard call center processes and metrics in place.* Performing product research in the telecommunications arena: industry trends and new developments to ensure the company was staying at the leading edge.* Preparing and delivering business cases / white papers / focus groups in support of continuing sales efforts.* Establishing time frames and budgets for both development efforts and client implementations. * Putting together development team focused on integrating 'off the shelf' components such as video CODEC's, ISDN modems, controllers, computers and audio systems in the most cost effective manner possible.

Responsible for integrating ‘Dealer-Line’ automation system, a software system developed by General Motors to streamline dealership operations, into GM car dealers throughout the country including:* Training front-end dealership employees on the use of the EDS system/ computers and how to use the system to close sales of higher-end finance and insurance products.* Configuring Novell network and setting up system for each dealers' inventory, employee and finance source.

Responsible for repairing and calibrating automated test stations for the MinuteMan/MX Missiles, DMINS submarine and N16 aircraft navigation systems. While working full time at NAFS:* Pursued first my Associate degree in electronics, then Bachelors degree in electrical and electronics engineering.