Researcher. Technologist. Designer.
I'm one of those people who hesitates a bit when asked what I do because I have so many professional roles and interests: I have clients. I perform research. I teach students. I make stuff. Sometimes I even teach students how to perform research and make stuff for clients—but how do I characterize all of the other things that I do?
My background is in physics and engineering, which means I spent the first part of my career making physical things related to science and technology. My time in graduate school was particularly important for this because I worked in a shop that created one-of-a-kind prototypes, and I really liked the challenge of designing and making parts from scratch. I learned early on that the process rewards simple, elegant solutions.
After graduation, I moved into a more formal design role where I spent four years designing telescopes for space satellites. During this time, I relied heavily on my prior experience actually building things, because I knew what would be easy to build and which specs were going to prompt an anxious phone call from the machinists.
In 2008, I started working as a researcher at the RAND Corporation. RAND taught me the value of objective, rigorous research, and I also learned to harness the power of bringing interdisciplinary views from the physical and social sciences together with art and design to solve complicated problems.
The work at RAND turned out to be a great fit for me. I moved from designing physical artifacts to designing and managing research projects to help decisionmakers make informed choices. While there I created everything from metrics that assess performance within our national labs to new education systems that can train the problem solvers of the future. And, just as I did back in the machine shop, I still strove for simplicity and elegance.
In 2018, I left RAND full time to start my own consultancy. Today, I lead Spark & Compass. My work focuses on leaders who find themselves stuck between a big idea and the reality of making it happen. I bring an engineer's mindset to their most tangled challenges, diagnosing what's truly blocking progress rather than focusing on the presenting symptoms. From there, I design custom, practical plans that help their teams get aligned and move forward with clarity and purpose.
At the intersection of technology, art, and the human experience.
After nearly two decades in the workforce, I've noticed a pattern: my work always gravitates toward the intersection of technology, art, and the human experience. I learned early on that solutions only work if the designer understands the context for how they will be used, and this understanding comes from research about human behavior and needs. Art is often the connective tissue that bridges the gap between the technology and the humans.
This brings me to my work today. I partner with leaders to help them make sense of the complex choices they face. My background in science and technology gives me a deep context for the forces shaping our collective future, and I use that perspective to design smart, intuitive strategies and tools people can actually use to navigate what's ahead. In a world that pushes for ever-increasing specialization, my focus is on working at the intersections, seeing the patterns in the mess, and translating between worlds to help clear the path forward.
I am always looking for new collaborations. Please connect with me through LinkedIn if you have an idea on how we might work together.