I design AI systems and build the prototypes that prove they work.

Strategy that stays in a deck is just a pitch. I design the framework, build the working prototype, and create the operating model — the version that proves the idea before engineering scales it.

  • 19 prototypes in year one. 3 advanced to MVP.
  • 480× faster innovation cycles — 9 months compressed to 1 hour.
  • $933M in validated opportunity from 950 minutes of expert time.
  • Built to keep running after I leave the room.
Abstract scribble illustration

Every system starts as a scribble.

I help organizations move AI from experiment to infrastructure.

Most AI efforts stall at the pilot stage. Not because the technology fails — because nobody built the system around it. I build that system: the intake process, the validation loop, the feedback mechanism that makes innovation repeatable instead of one-off.

The goal isn't AI for novelty. It's designing the conditions where data, decisions, and execution move together — consistently, not just when the stars align.

Most leaders are being asked to deliver exponential outcomes on infrastructure built for incremental progress.

Artificial intelligence is rewriting how organizations think, work, and grow — not by replacing human judgment, but by changing what it's possible to do with it. The challenge isn't simply adopting new technology. It's guiding transformation inside systems designed for a different pace of change.

Bridging that gap requires more than strategy documents or isolated pilots. It requires a new kind of operating model — one that connects creativity and intelligence, intuition and data, exploration and execution.

The organizations that figure this out don't just adapt to disruption. They build the advantage before anyone else sees it coming.

The problem isn't ideas. It's translation.

Most organizations know they need to embrace AI, but few know how to make it operational. Innovation efforts get treated as experiments rather than systems — isolated proofs of concept with no mechanism for scale.

The real gap isn't talent or technology. It's translation — between ambition and execution, vision and capability. AI initiatives stall not because leaders lack ideas, but because their organizations aren't designed to turn learning into the next move.

The missing piece is connective structure: governance, feedback loops, and shared language that make innovation continuous instead of episodic — so each project compounds on the last.

Translation Between — 3D grid showing Vision, Ambition, and Execution axes

Here's what becomes possible when the systems actually connect.

When creativity and intelligence operate inside structured feedback loops, innovation stops being episodic and starts compounding. Each sprint builds on the last. Each validated prototype reduces the cost of the next one.

Frameworks that translate strategy into prototypes — not in quarters, in sprints.

AI embedded into real workflows, producing measurable outcomes — not potential ones.

Adaptive systems where teams, data, and technology evolve together instead of waiting on each other.

Here's what it looks like when this actually works.

These aren't case studies about potential. They're about what happened when AI met real organizational constraints — and what got built anyway.

Enterprise AI Lab
19
Prototypes in year one. 3 advanced to MVP. Built from zero structure.
Innovation Pipeline
480×
Time acceleration. 9 months of discovery compressed to 1 hour per sprint.
Agentic Workflow
$933M
Innovation opportunity identified from 950 minutes of SME engagement.
Creative Director AI
60%
Reduction in review time. Teams making better calls without waiting for approval.
Intelligence → Alignment → Innovation → Measurable Business Value

The best measure of impact isn't the promise of innovation — it's what happens when ideas meet execution.

Twelve projects. Each one a different version of the same bet: that the right system, built with care, can change what an organization is capable of.

Consulting
From Experiment to Engine: Building an Enterprise AI Lab
Built the framework — intake systems, validation processes, and cross-functional workflows — to turn AI ideas into validated prototypes at scale.
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Consulting
Narrative at Scale: AI-Driven GTM for a Tax Data Platform
Developed a narrative-driven, AI-assisted GTM framework combining storytelling psychology with synthetic video production.
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Agency
Test Before You Spend: Synthetic AI Research for Creative Confidence
Created a synthetic research model using AI personas and JTBD mapping for rapid creative testing without real-world spend.
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Consulting
The $273M Pipeline: Reimagining Innovation with AI Agents
Built a multi-agent workflow to interview SMEs, map JTBD frameworks, and generate a $273M pipeline of validated innovation opportunities.
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Agency
Intelligence in the Room: An AI-Powered Creative Director
Designed a GPT-based assistant to co-create concepts, review designs, and assess final assets for persuasive impact.
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Consulting / AI Product
Research That Responds: A Behavioral Simulation Platform for Global Markets
Transformed static qualitative research across 10 markets into an interactive behavioral simulation platform grounded in 598 validated Q&A pairs.
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Consulting
Thought Leadership as Discovery: AI-Augmented Industry Workshops
Designed a Value Lab workshop format that turns a 3.5-hour session into five parallel AI-synthesized deliverables within 48 hours.
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Consulting / Strategy
The Architecture of Assurance: A Framework for Enterprise AI Strategy
Built the layer-cake framework — Execution, Assurance, Engagement — adopted by firm leadership as the coordinate system for platform investment decisions.
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Consulting
Growth on Repeat: A Nine-Step AI-Powered Strategy Pipeline
A nine-step, citation-disciplined pipeline from company research to ranked strategic recommendations, with a synthetic customer panel at step 8.
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Consulting / Methodology
Making Innovation Repeatable: ODI as Operational Infrastructure
Codified Tony Ulwick's ODI framework into 11 executable skills, 9 commands, and 6 templates — replacing intuition-based prioritization with quantitative scoring.
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Research / AI
Synthetic Voices, Real Decisions: A Standalone Customer Panel Simulator
A standalone simulator running five-round Mom Test-disciplined panel discussions with synthetic personas — structured qualitative feedback in hours, not weeks.
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Operations / AI
The Executive Multiplier: An AI Operating System for Portfolio-Scale Leadership
Designed an AI-powered operating system that manages 18 concurrent projects, captures performance evidence continuously, and cuts weekly synthesis time by 70%.
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About

I've always taught myself the next thing before it was obvious. Design before clients knew they needed design-first thinking. Sales when I had no business building an agency. AI strategy before most organizations knew they needed to care. Each time: dive in, read everything, run experiments, build something useful.

I've built two agencies from scratch, served as Chief Strategy Officer through an $8M acquisition, and spent the last year inside an enterprise AI lab — architecting the pipelines, building the prototypes, and running the sprints. 19 prototypes. 480× faster cycles. $933M in validated opportunity identified. I don't consult from a distance. I build the thing, then make sure it runs without me.

I'm at my best when the problem is ambiguous and the path isn't clear. That's been true from magazines to agencies to AI labs. It'll be true in whatever comes next.

Experience

2024 – Present
Innovation Experience Designer
Crowe — Grand Rapids, MI
2024 – Present
Principal
Create78 — Grand Rapids, MI
2020 – 2024
Chief Strategy Officer
LaFleurOne — Grand Rapids, MI
2018 – 2020
Associate Creative Director
Highland Group — Grand Rapids, MI
2013 – 2020
Principal
W & Company — New York, NY / Grand Rapids, MI
2009 – 2013
Partner / Design Director
Kern+Lead — New York, NY

Education & Certifications

2024
Artificial Creativity Certificate & AI Specialization
Parsons School of Design — New York, NY
2024
Strategic Artificial Intelligence Program & AI Advisor
Cornerstone University — Grand Rapids, MI
2023
Business Strategy Specialization
UVA Darden School of Business
2022
JTBD-ODI Fundamentals
Strategyn
2020
Design Strategy / UX-UI / Systems Design Thinking
University of Sydney · CalArts · Cornell University
2004
B.S. Marketing
Virginia Commonwealth University — Richmond, VA