Trusted advisor to the world’s most respected companies and institutions.
My path here wasn't a straight line. I didn't graduate college, and I never took a business class. What I had was relentless drive and an instinct for understanding what moves people.
I started as an unpaid intern doing the work nobody else wanted, fetching coffee, making copies, and emptying trash. Mostly, I paid attention. Within four years, I was presenting to Ford's global leadership team, directing creative and strategy alongside work for Audi, Volkswagen, and Celebrity Cruises.
When I left to build my own firm, I lost my first client almost immediately. But I stayed with it. Over the next three decades, I worked with Nike, Intel, Adobe, Sony, Shake Shack, and the United States Navy. I’ve launched products, built teams, and produced work that reached millions. I’ve also made mistakes and watched good ideas fall apart. The right answer is rarely as obvious as it looks from the outside.
I’ve always been drawn to hard things. At eighteen, I walked onto the University of Arizona football team having never played defensive back, and I made the team. I’ve completed a marathon, a few halves (I know those don’t count), and endured the 102-mile El Tour de Tucson. I've raised five kids and been married for nearly thirty years.
Does that matter? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t belong on a traditional bio, but it proves one thing: I finish what I start.
Today, I advise CEOs and leadership teams, primarily at growth-stage companies. When a CEO brings me in, they don’t just get an advisor. They get my judgment, three decades of hard-won pattern recognition, and someone willing to say plainly what isn't working. I don't need to be the smartest person in the room. I need to be useful. That's the work I've done for most of my career, and it's the work I still love most.
Trusted advisor to the world’s most respected companies and institutions.
My path here wasn't a straight line. I didn't graduate college, and I never took a business class. What I had was relentless drive and an instinct for understanding what moves people.
I started as an unpaid intern doing the work nobody else wanted, fetching coffee, making copies, and emptying trash. Mostly, I paid attention. Within four years, I was presenting to Ford's global leadership team, directing creative and strategy alongside work for Audi, Volkswagen, and Celebrity Cruises.
When I left to build my own firm, I lost my first client almost immediately. But I stayed with it. Over the next three decades, I worked with Nike, Intel, Adobe, Sony, Shake Shack, and the United States Navy. I’ve launched products, built teams, and produced work that reached millions. I’ve also made mistakes and watched good ideas fall apart. The right answer is rarely as obvious as it looks from the outside.
I’ve always been drawn to hard things. At eighteen, I walked onto the University of Arizona football team having never played defensive back, and I made the team. I’ve completed a marathon, a few halves (I know those don’t count), and endured the 102-mile El Tour de Tucson. I've raised five kids and been married for nearly thirty years.
Does that matter? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t belong on a traditional bio, but it proves one thing: I finish what I start.
Today, I advise CEOs and leadership teams, primarily at growth-stage companies. When a CEO brings me in, they don’t just get an advisor. They get my judgment, three decades of hard-won pattern recognition, and someone willing to say plainly what isn't working. I don't need to be the smartest person in the room. I need to be useful. That's the work I've done for most of my career, and it's the work I still love most.
Trusted advisor to the world’s most respected companies and institutions.
My path here wasn't a straight line. I didn't graduate college, and I never took a business class. What I had was relentless drive and an instinct for understanding what moves people.
I started as an unpaid intern doing the work nobody else wanted, fetching coffee, making copies, and emptying trash. Mostly, I paid attention. Within four years, I was presenting to Ford's global leadership team, directing creative and strategy alongside work for Audi, Volkswagen, and Celebrity Cruises.
When I left to build my own firm, I lost my first client almost immediately. But I stayed with it. Over the next three decades, I worked with Nike, Intel, Adobe, Sony, Shake Shack, and the United States Navy. I’ve launched products, built teams, and produced work that reached millions. I’ve also made mistakes and watched good ideas fall apart. The right answer is rarely as obvious as it looks from the outside.
I’ve always been drawn to hard things. At eighteen, I walked onto the University of Arizona football team having never played defensive back, and I made the team. I’ve completed a marathon, a few halves (I know those don’t count), and endured the 102-mile El Tour de Tucson. I've raised five kids and been married for nearly thirty years.
Does that matter? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t belong on a traditional bio, but it proves one thing: I finish what I start.
Today, I advise CEOs and leadership teams, primarily at growth-stage companies. When a CEO brings me in, they don’t just get an advisor. They get my judgment, three decades of hard-won pattern recognition, and someone willing to say plainly what isn't working. I don't need to be the smartest person in the room. I need to be useful. That's the work I've done for most of my career, and it's the work I still love most.
