Design Commission

In 2004, I co-founded Design Commission, a small studio that served the start-up community for thirteen years Over that time, the studio provided clients with a unique approach to design and development that helped a number of clients grow their businesses to very successful outcomes

Additionally, while at Design Commission, I helped conceive and launch UI Stencils, a product company focused on tools for interface designers This provided a first-hand experience with building a consumer-facing product company – knowledge that was applied directly to the studio’s client consulting work

In 2017, feeling ready for a change, I closed Design Commission and joined the Cloud and Enterprise Data team at Microsoft Working primarily on Azure Data Factory, a data orchestration tool, I helped direct design thinking about the product and manage a small team of designers to support the product and engineering teams

I grew in my position becoming a co-director for the Microsoft Data Cloud studio, a seventy-person design organization charged with creating experiences that enable customers to achieve more with their data In this position, I oversaw design teams working on operational databases, data governance products, and data analytics products, as well as visual designers and design engineers who maintain our common control library

I value education and have taught at both The School of Visual Concepts and The University of Washington I also invest back into the community through a number of mentoring and advisory roles as well as serving as the founding organizer and host of CreativeMornings in Seattle from 2011 to 2019

When not in front of a screen, I enjoy spending time with my wife, two kids, and two insane, but loveable, dogs Otherwise, you can find me standing in the middle of a river with a fly rod in my hand

I founded the Seattle chapter of CreativeMornings back in 2011 after my friend and CM Founder, Tina Roth Eisenberg asked me to put together a chapter Over the years, I continued to be the lead organizer and event host until my “retirement” in 2019 With responsibilities like curating speaker selections, volunteer recruiting, and operational oversight, the experience was as educational as it was rewarding Being a part of the Seattle creative community and watching it grow and flourish was an amazing experience You can read more about my CreativeMornings experience in my interview with Microsoft Design, Croissants, Coffee, and Creativity Croissants, Coffee, and Creativity An interview on Microsoft Design’s Medium channel Interview on Input Doc Podcast A short interview on the Input Doc podcast