technologist | teacher | mentor | speaker | helper

Experience

Principal Developer Advocate

Pluralsight (acquired A Cloud Guru June 2021)
Draper, Utah (Remotely based in Indianapolis, Indiana)

Writer, producer, speaker and creator of community-focused events, content and engagement.

2021 - Present

Senior Community Training Architect

A Cloud Guru, LTD.
Melbourne, Austrailia (Remotely based in Indianapolis, Indiana)

Create technical training videos and online content for A Cloud Guru's B2B and B2C subscribers. Engage with subscribers and prospective students in person and on discussion forums providing advise, coaching and helping answer technical and career questions.

2018 - 2021

Director, Products and Innovation

Applexus Technologies
Seattle, Washington

Launched AWS Practice specializing in SAP on AWS. Additionally, serving as a member of the leadership team responsible for Strategy and Innovation, both internally as well as leading customer-facing initiatives in these areas. Launched Applexus Labs, a division within Applexus Technologies run as a small start-up to (1) create structure around innovation initiatives and (2) establish a customer-facing brand for our "Innovation As A Service" concept.

2016 - 2018

Enterprise Architect and Omni-Channel Lead

Discount Tire Corp.
Scottsdale, Arizona

Chief Architect of omni-channel application roadmap, approach and integrations with SAP ECC, SAP Customer Activity Repository, HANA, Hybris and OneView Commerce all deployed on Amazon Web Services. Future roadmap elements include Call Center Integration, Warehouse Management modernization and Supply Chain Optimization.

2012 - 2016

SAP Technical Director

Columbia Sportswear
Beaverton, Oregon

Peered with SAP Functional Director and SAP Program Manager on senior project leadership team for Columbia’s global SAP implementation; responsible for strategy, planning, execution and executive report-out to Operating Committee and Executive Steering Committee. Championed Agile and Lean development practices within the SAP ASAP 7.2 framework. Iteration planning, sprint planning, backlog management, time-boxing, burn-down charts, daily stand-ups, visual management and rapid prototyping were used with measurable success to create transparency into SAP Development activities

2010 - 2012

Manager, Application Development

Coldwater Creek
Sandpoint, Idaho

Through coaching, leading by example, MBWA and one-on-one mentoring, built SAP development competencies from scratch within the 10 person Applications Development team.

2007 - 2010

Manager of IT Operations

Bosch Automotive
Charleston, South Carolina

Accountable for all IT operations and service delivery to fourteen Tier 1 automotive parts manufacturing and administrative facilities, $4B annual revenue, in US and Mexico serving approximately 7,000 associates. Responsible for hiring, performance reviews, salary and headcount planning, personal development plans, succession planning for multinational distributed staff of 30. IT Infrastructure project manager for Automotive business mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

2000 - 2007

i2 Technical Analyst

Nike
Beaverson, Oregon

2000

Project Lead, Data Warehousing

Bosch Automotive
South Bend, Indiana

1997 - 2000

Consultant, Business Systems Development

Mid-South Data Industries
Birmingham, Alabama

1992 - 1997

Education

Purdue University

Doctor of Technology (D.Tech)
In Progress

The Citadel

Masters, Business Administration
2003 - 2005

University of Alabama in Birmingham

BS, Management Information Systems
1992 - 1996

Certifications

AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty

Validation Number T8BDTJN1BJQQ119G
Apr 2019 - Apr 2025

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional

Validation Number PWRJS2R1CB41Q1W8
Sep 2015 - Oct 2024

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

Validation Number QXQ1DMV2KFEE1MGN
Sep 2015 - Oct 2024

Google Cloud Certified Professional - Cloud Architect

Certification Number 1121600
Feb 2018 - Feb 2020

PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®

Certification Number 1864378
Oct 2015 - Oct 2021

Project Management Professional (PMI-PMP)®

Certification Number 441608
Dec 2006 - Dec 2022

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)®

Certification Number 84966
Dec 2005 - Dec 2008

Content & Publications

Webinar: Growing Up - Taking Steps Towards Cloud Maturity

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform
Apr 2021

ACG Fundamentals: What is Amazon Web Services?

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Apr 2021

ACG Projects: Multi-Cloud Madness! Build an image recognition service using AWS, Azure and GCP

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Feb 2021

Cautionary Tales from the Dark Side Series

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Jan 2021

ACG Live: AWS Exam Question Walkthrough (AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate)

Dec 2020

ACG Live: AWS Exam Question Walkthrough (AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional)

Nov 2020

Cloud Adoption Essentials

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Nov 2020

Better Together Series

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Jul 2020

Introduction to Machine Learning

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform
Mar 2020

AWS DeepRacer: A Gamification Path to Close the Machine Learning Knowledge Gap

Talk given at the AWS Machine Learning Community Influencer Summit, Seattle
Aug 2019

Angry Ferret Detector: Consuming and Publishing SageMaker Models with AWS Marketplace

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
Aug 2019

DeepRacer 101: Lessons from Victory Lane

DEV Lounge Talk given at AWS Summits in Atlanta and New York
May 2019, Jul 2019

AWS DeepRacer: The Fast and the Curious Series

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform & YouTube
May 2019

AWS Certified Machine Learning Specialty Course

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform
Apr 2019

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional Course

A Cloud Guru Learning Platform
Nov 2018

Awards & Causes

  • 1st Place | AWS DeepRacer Self-Driving Car Competition | 2019 | Chicago Summit
  • Volunteer | Indiana VEX Robotics State Championship | 2018,2020
  • Innovator Award | 2020 | A Cloud Guru Content Department
  • AWS re:Invent Hackathon Winning Team | 2016 | Las Vegas
  • Implement Better Award | 2013 | Awarded to Discount Tire by SAP
  • Best Retail Implementation | 2009 | Awarded to Coldwater Creek by SAP
  • Most Valuable Player | 2009 | Awarded by Coldwater Creek SAP Project Team
  • Eagle Scout | 1989 | Boy Scouts of America | #11676