Soldier. Engineer. Artist.

— Now

What I'm building

Independent product development, end to end — designing, engineering, and shipping the products behind Capturing Illumination LLC. Today that's a portfolio spanning consumer iOS, tvOS, safety-critical hardware, and offline AI.

— Experience

Twenty years of shipping

From MSN Passport at company-wide scale to Kin, Windows Phone, Surface, Fire TV, and the road behind the NFL and PGA Tour deployments — a career of showing up in hard rooms and shipping.

1. 2022 – Present

   Founder & Product Lead

   Capturing Illumination LLC · Seattle, WA

   Independent product development. Designing, engineering, and shipping a portfolio of software across mobile, web, and TV — end to end.

   • SkyWatch — solar-powered drone-detection mesh built on FAA Remote ID (ASTM F3411). Node 1 field-confirmed operational in June 2026.
   • Once Upon Us (onceuponus.app) — live iOS storytelling app pairing GPT-4o-mini, ElevenLabs voice cloning, and Luma video generation for children's bedtime stories in a parent's own voice.
   • MellowMiles (mellowmiles.app) — privacy-first iOS/watchOS driving-wellness app in TestFlight beta; Android in development.
   • HomeBaseTV — Apple TV live-news dashboard.
   • ARIA — offline crisis AI on rugged hardware; Harmonia — early explorations.

2. Nov 2023 – Dec 2023

   Sr. Technical Program Manager (contract)

   T-Mobile · Bellevue, WA

   Mobile device software development across multiple Agile teams. Translated product strategy into epics and user stories, ran the Jira backlog, supported PI planning. Position eliminated in a program reduction.

3. Sep 2022 – Aug 2023

   Senior Product Manager

   CHEQ Lifestyle Technology, Inc. · Kirkland, WA

   Owned product strategy for CHEQ's social payments platform and venue ordering system. Turned customer insight into epics and user stories, aligned quarterly roadmaps with enterprise partners, and managed 3rd-party API integrations with a Bangladesh dev team.

4. Mar 2020 – Sep 2021

   Senior Technical Program Manager

   Microsoft Surface · Redmond, WA

   Owned the Surface Pro X (ARM) and Surface Go roadmaps. Partnered with Qualcomm and Windows teams to executive level. Built a live Power BI reporting system on Azure DevOps data that eliminated manual TPM reporting, and drove continuous improvement across global manufacturing sites.

5. Dec 2017 – Mar 2020

   Senior Technical Program Manager

   Amazon — Fire TV Device Control · Seattle, WA

   Led the IR Blaster program for Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Traveled to Sydney, Madrid, and Milan to acquire international devices and capture IR codes for a custom test library. Ran QA in Berlin (with quarterly on-site trips) and built a $250 proof-of-concept remote-testing rig that let Berlin control US cable boxes virtually — adopted as standard practice.

   • Managed device control for five-country international Fire TV launches (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, UK) with 90%+ device coverage.
   • Orchestrated a server-cost reduction initiative saving 10%+.

6. Sep 2014 – Nov 2017

   Program Manager — Surface Field Investigation & Events

   Microsoft · Redmond, WA

   Boots-on-the-ground for the highest-profile Surface deployments in the world. NFL, PGA Tour, and international enterprise field investigations.

   • Super Bowl 50 (Levi's Stadium) and Super Bowl 51 (NRG Stadium); Pro Bowl testing/validation in Hawaii; 15+ regular-season NFL games.
   • Performed the teardown and root-cause analysis on the Bill Belichick tablet after the October 2016 nationally televised incident.
   • PGA Tour: The Players Championship, RBC Heritage, Quicken Loans National, Travelers Championship — integrated Surface with ShotLink for on-course green shot capture.
   • Identified Wi-Fi chip firmware as the primary failure mode for both the NFL and PGA deployments; coordinated directly with Marvell on firmware updates and Cisco on enterprise network configuration.
   • International enterprise field investigations at Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Heineken (Germany), plus schools on Australia's Gold Coast.
   • US enterprise resolutions at Children's Hospital (Wi-Fi — earned a formal award, permanently eliminated a CVP-level escalation chain), Bank of America, and Kaiser Permanente (MiraCast wireless streaming).

7. Oct 2007 – Nov 2011

   Program Manager — Microsoft Kin (Project Pink) & Windows Phone

   Microsoft · Redmond, WA

   Core PM on Microsoft Kin — a $1 billion mobile platform built inside the Premium Mobile Experiences division on top of the $500M Danger Inc. acquisition (T-Mobile Sidekick). Wrote feature specifications and coordinated code deliveries across Windows CE, Zune, and Kin Studio (cloud). On Windows Phone: feature specs, code delivery, schedule management, integration across teams.

8. Dec 2000 – Oct 2007

   Program Manager — MSN, Passport & Windows Live ID

   Microsoft · Redmond, WA

   Company-wide identity platform work at scale — Passport / Windows Live ID served every Microsoft property. Also PM on MSN Companion (Compaq, eMachines, Vestel, RCA, Acer, Inventec hardware partners) and MSN 8 / 8.5 / 9 dial-up software.

   • US Patent No. 7,287,076 — "Performing threshold based connection status response" (assignee: Microsoft Corp.).

— Service

Twenty-four years in the Guard

Washington Army National Guard, 1994 – 2018. Honorably retired at the rank of Major. Infantry officer turned Information Operations chief; combat deployment to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; multiple international joint and coalition exercises; catastrophic-event planning at the state level.

1. Nov 2008 – Sep 2018

   IO Chief & Senior Trainer — 56th Theater Information Operations Group

   Washington Army National Guard · Camp Murray, WA · Rank: Major, FA 30

   Plank holder — founding member of the 56th TIOG. Led the IO planning cell across eight major joint and multinational exercises: Balikatan (US / Philippines, 4×), Terminal Fury (PACOM command-post exercise, 2×), Exercise Keris Strike (US / Malaysia / Australia), and Exercise Tiger Balm (US / Singapore).

   • Chaired IO working groups, briefed flag officers and coalition commanders.
   • Developed IO and Strategic Communications training for US and foreign military personnel across Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico, and Canada.
   • Partnered with Geographic Combatant Commands on IO training and doctrine.

2. 2015 – 2018

   Senior Staff Planner — State Emergency Management

   WA State Army National Guard Headquarters · Camp Murray, WA

   Multi-agency planning for catastrophic events. Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake response (9.0+ scenario affecting seven million people across Washington, Oregon, and California). Coordinated with Washington State Emergency Management Division on mass casualty, infrastructure collapse, and federal/state integration.

3. Jun 2002 – Feb 2006

   IO Cell Team Lead — Combat Deployment, Operation Iraqi Freedom

   1st Information Operations Group · Baghdad, Iraq · Rank: Captain, Infantry

   Commanded an IO Forward Support Detachment attached to the 1st Cavalry Division G3-IO Cell, HHC, Baghdad — one of the first two IO FSDs ever assigned to a Division HQ in combat. Coordinated 2005 Iraqi election preparation with local officials and ran Key Leader Engagements using BATNA negotiation methodology.

   • Worked at US Embassy Baghdad coordinating and deconflicting information operations with Strategic Communications Command for the entire State Department.
   • Awarded the Bronze Star Medal for OIF contributions, 2005.

4. Aug 1994 – May 2002

   Infantry Officer — Alpha Co., 1/161st Infantry Battalion

   81st Infantry Brigade · Camp Murray / Fort Lewis, WA · Rank: Captain, Infantry

   Developed and trained an infantry company of 150 soldiers over a two-year company command; platoon leader assignments prior. International exercises in Canada.

— Craft

A life in photography

Alongside the software, a documentary practice: quiet spaces, light and shadow, and the character of Washington State. Ongoing collections include Exploring Washington (landscapes, people, place) and the four-book Feel series on decay and abandonment — Northern State Hospital, Aloha, Old Forts, and Remembrances (in development).

— Toolbox

The stack

• Product strategy
• Technical program management
• iOS / watchOS / tvOS
• React Native
• Next.js
• TypeScript
• Supabase / Postgres
• AI product design
• Voice AI (ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS)
• Multi-model AI orchestration
• LoRa / mesh networking
• Raspberry Pi / ESP32 embedded
• MapLibre / geospatial
• Sentry / Vercel / Railway
• Cross-cultural leadership
• Enterprise field engineering

— Credentials

Education & qualifications