Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.As a senior business development manager for the Microsoft Azure Data Platform, I serve as a key partner and strategic advisor to our engineering, product, and industry teams to bring together data and AI to meet that mission. By delivering innovation through strategic partnerships and M&A, I’m helping organizations unlock the power of the cloud and their data. My work today draws on my management experience with the U.S. Coast Guard, where I served as an officer and rescue helicopter pilot. I leveraged strategic planning, people leadership, human-centered design thinking—and even an unmanned drone or two—to help teams up and down the east and west coast solve problems and make better, more agile decisions.The problem-solving and decision-making skills required for the cockpit are equally relevant in the conference room, whether building trusted relationships that harness the diversity of thought, creating clarity to develop a path forward, translating technical concepts, or using data as a storytelling tool.Outside the office, I can usually be found indulging my obsession with all things food, whether experimenting with new recipes at home or trying local restaurants and tasting events.As a 2021 alum of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, I've also been privileged to share my military-to-business transition with others through tech-first platforms like Veterati.com