My childhood was spent exploring the outdoors and designing cassette covers out of old magazines and left-over rub-on letters my dad would bring home from work. From an early age, design was all I wanted to do. After completing my design degree, I spent the next ten years in the agency world doing branding and marketing. In college, I set a career goal of being Creative Director by the time I was 28. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. Or maybe I’m just ambitious. I earned that title a year early at the age of 27, but through the process, I completely burned myself out.

Not sure if I wanted to design anymore, I moved overseas to teach design to high schoolers in Bangladesh. It wound up being one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. It also made me realize that I loved design. One of my proudest career accomplishments is that a handful of my students have gone on to have careers in design.

When I returned to the States, I opened my own design studio which I ran successfully for seven years. I started a couple of non-profits too and used some profits of my studio to travel and support them with photography and promo materials. Eventually, I joined agency leadership at a local firm as the owners transitioned to retirement. After a couple of years it became obvious they weren’t going to retire (they still haven’t fifteen years later). It was time for me to find something new.

Intrigued by the challenge of continuous learning and enhancement, I pivoted my career to focus on product design. In a sense, this is my second act, though I continue to find that my experience leading design in the agency world is a tremendous asset. Wanting to learn the craft of product design led me to launch my own startup (The Farmbell) and then slowly move my way through the ranks of design contribution at Optum and ACS Technologies to finally begin to lead and influence design at the highest levels most recently at Northwestern Mutual.

My newest passion is studying artificial intelligence and pondering the impact it is going to have on the world of product design. I’m currently looking for interesting opportunities to design personalized experiences powered by advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

When I’m not designing, I spend my time living in the lovely foothills of South Carolina with my wife Tiffany, our son Joseph (10), daughter Ruth (8), and our old dog Bella and this young cat that just showed up. For fun I enjoy house projects, cooking, exercising, reading, writing, listening to music, and following my favorite sports teams.