What I'm About
- I design brands. I build systems. I connect the two.
- I create identities - and the infrastructure that sustains them.
- I write for people and engineer for machines.
- I test ideas in the real world, not in theory.
- I value craft, discipline, and measurable impact.
- I fail forward and iterate fast.
- I build with others and learn out loud.
- Foundry81 is where it all comes together.
- Welcome.
Latest Posts
For more than 25 years, I’ve built things at the intersection of technology, media, marketing, education, and community.
The technology came first. I started my career building and managing infrastructure, from networks and systems in demanding environments to software development and hosting platforms where reliability, performance, and compliance weren’t optional. I learned early that technology is rarely captivating because of the technology itself. The good stuff is what it makes possible.
Over time, that work expanded into media, design, marketing, and education. I’ve built digital media operations, helped create educational platforms, led website and brand projects, produced technical content, and developed products, training materials, and learning experiences for the IT community. Some of that work has picked up awards and millions of page views along the way. More importantly, it taught me how technical systems, creative work, and business objectives can reinforce each other when they’re treated as parts of the same problem.
I’m not an educator in the traditional sense; I’m more interested in what happens between knowing something and being able to use it.
A large part of my work today involves taking complicated technology, operational practices, and business problems, and turning them into things people can understand and act on: workbooks, enablement programs, technical media, documentation, community sessions, sales tools, and hands-on learning experiences. Whether I’m helping an IT company explain a product, helping an MSP build a new service, delivering news and defensive advice on a new CVE, or documenting something I figured out in my own infrastructure, the goal is the same: make useful knowledge transferable. That combination has shaped most of what I do today.
I work with IT management and cybersecurity companies on positioning, product development, technical content, MSP channel strategy, enablement, and community programs. I spend a lot of time translating between worlds: technology and marketing, vendors and practitioners, business objectives and the people who actually have to implement the resulting technology. I still build things myself, too.
That might mean standing up infrastructure in my Homelab, writing a Hugo template, building an automation workflow, experimenting with a new tool, figuring out why something broke at two in the morning, or documenting what I learned afterward. I’ve never been particularly interested in being a specialist. I’m much more comfortable being the person who can move between disciplines, understand enough of each to see how they connect, and figure out where the interesting problems actually are.
More recently, a lot of that experimentation has moved into applied AI. I work with local models, automation, agents, structured workflows, and the emerging collection of tools around them. AI isn’t going to magically solve everything, but I’m interested in what happens when you treat these systems as another layer of infrastructure. It’s changing how people think, create, research, operate, and build.
That same philosophy carries into my work with the IT community. I’m interested in practical knowledge: the things that work in production, the things that fail spectacularly, the lessons that usually get learned the hard way, and the systems that make those lessons easier to share.
I’ve spent a career moving between infrastructure, media, marketing, design, education, and community. At first glance, those might look like unrelated disciplines. They aren’t; they’re all forms of building systems that help people do something better.
I don’t separate technology from storytelling, infrastructure from identity, or knowledge from the systems used to share it. The best work happens when all of those things are built together.
Technology Marketing & Communications
My first encounter with a Managed Service Provider was in 2005, when I had to defend my IT Manager role against one. I won.
The experience stuck with me - not because I had defeated an MSP, but because it made me curious about the model. How do these companies operate? What makes one successful while another struggles? I’ve been circling those questions ever since.
I’ve hired MSPs, replaced MSPs, worked inside MSPs, collaborated with vendors, and worked alongside organizations across the ecosystem. My work has focused on infrastructure, marketing, operations, and community. These days, it’s not unusual for me to move between several of them in the same project.
I’m just as comfortable in a HubSpot dashboard as I am in a bash shell. That range is useful because most problems don’t stay neatly inside one department.
A technical decision can become a marketing problem. A positioning problem can turn out to be a product problem and an operational bottleneck can affect customer experience. A security incident can change the way a company talks about itself. I like working in that space between disciplines - figuring out what is actually happening, understanding what it means, and then helping turn that understanding into something useful.
That might mean building an enablement program, shaping product positioning, designing a service, writing technical content, improving an operational workflow, or helping a team figure out how to explain what they actually do. The work is always a bit different, but the underlying issue usually isn't.
How do we build something that works better? That question has been around for most of my life.
I sat on a technology curriculum advisory board before I was old enough to drink and assisted in computer science classes before I could drive. I was taking apart hardware before I was old enough to understand what the little warranty void if removed sticker was threatening me with.
Technology was never something I discovered as a career and then adopted. It was always the medium through which I learned, built, experimented, and connected with other people.
That extends beyond the technology itself. I care about the culture that develops around it - the communities, relationships, programs, content, and occasionally the ridiculous merchandise that gives people something to identify with. Those things aren't separate from the work. They're part of how people experience an industry.
I’m interested in building better systems, but I'm equally interested in what those systems make possible: better businesses, better practitioners, better communities, and better ways for people to share what they know.
The line between work and personal interest has always been a little blurry for me. I’m okay with that; there’s still plenty to build.
Who I've Worked With
What I Provide
Digital Marketing
Creative Direction
Branding & Identity
Web Development
Content Production
Product & Experiential Design
Innovation & AI Integration
Inbound programs that drive real growth.
I turn content and campaigns into measurable results.
- Define targets and prioritize channels to generate leads
- Blend 20+ years of IT experience as client and team member of IT organizations for actionable insights
- Deliver programs that create competitive advantages and lasting impact
Creativity that drives results.
I turn goals and client insights into strategies that make your organization stand out.
- Align messaging with operations for maximum impact
- Find unique approaches that match your brand and audience
- Craft GTM campaigns that capture attention and spark engagement
Your brand, your story, your experience.
I build identities that resonate and endure.
- Develop brands that reflect intent and attract ideal clients
- Provide guidelines to maintain consistency across all touchpoints
- Shape experiences that set you apart in the market
Websites that perform.
From high-traffic platforms to IT-focused sites, I combine tech, strategy, and marketing.
- Generate leads and improve conversions with smart UX
- Differentiate your organization through design and storytelling
- Optimize infrastructure, indexing, and engagement for top performance
Connect before the first conversation.
I create assets that educate, build trust, and showcase expertise.
- Blog posts, guides, reports, and case studies for marketing and sales
- Video production - live or recorded - for richer client engagement
- Assets designed to spark growth and establish credibility
Stand out where it counts.
Branded goods and experiences extend your identity into the real world.
- Create merchandise and assets unmistakably yours
- Produce items competitors can’t replicate
- Enhance visibility and leave lasting impressions
Work smarter. Deliver more.
I help IT organizations use emerging tools to elevate results.
- Apply automation and workflow optimization to streamline operations
- Leverage large language models for content, strategy, analysis, and processes
- Extend marketing, content, and operational impact without disruption
Mentions
NinjaOne
IT Horror Fest: Session 1Barracuda MSP
Coffee Chat Live for MSPsTechTarget
Top MSP marketing tools to generate leadsLifecycle Insights
LCI Weekly Workshop: Branding your MSPCopy Reboot Delete
Episode 001: It's hip to be squareDNSFilter
35: The Homelab Episode
Blood, Sweat, and Ink
Screen printing has been my playground for over 15 years. Growing up in 80s Marvel tees - thanks to my mother’s licensed production work - and later inspired by brands like Freshjive, I learned that what you wear can be as impactful as the work you do - or as necessary as the ideas you need to get off your chest.
Taking a concept to a wearable garment demands patience, skill, and more emulsion than most would believe. In 2008, I co-launched ledouche* clothing - a planned misstep that raised eyebrows, earned awards in the form of cease-and-desist letters, and even caught Korean media attention.
Today, I focus on personal projects, limited runs, and summer beginner classes with a six-color, two-station press, a 36’’ exposure unit, heat press, and drying oven.
Tees and other items for the IT services and MSP industries have led to creating tees celebrating MSPGeek’s 10-year anniversary, visualizing Ethernet in ways IT pros wear with pride, and turning playful brand parodies into IT culture nods.
Screen printing isn’t just shirts - it’s a laboratory for patience, layering, and translating abstract ideas into tangible results. The lessons here bubble into every project I touch, from branding to product design.
Looking to produce a limited run of shirts for a special event? Drop me a line.
Living That Sn40/PB60 Life
I’ve been fascinated by electronics since childhood. Early experiments - some with forks, thankfully without lasting damage - led me to Radio Shack and a lifelong passion for building, improving, and understanding how things work.
Keyboards are my specialty. I design custom boards to help with repetitive stress injuries, fatigue, and other typing challenges. Each board blends ergonomics, technical precision, and personal flair, transforming a tool into something people enjoy using every day.
Beyond keyboards, I work with microcontrollers - building environmental sensors, integrating components into home automation, and experimenting on whatever problem sparks my curiosity. Raspberry Pis, ESP32s, and other boards litter my workspace—even a Dutch Butter Cookie tin full of them - and every project is a chance to learn, iterate, and solve problems hands-on.
Small electronics is more than tinkering; it’s patience, iteration, and translating abstract ideas into tangible solutions. It’s meditative, practical, and deeply connected to the way I approach every project - technical or creative, simple or complex.
Sharing this process is part of the fun. Teaching, collaborating on IoT projects, and helping others build their own solutions means the best ideas emerge when curiosity is shared.
H2O, Light, Oxygen, and Patience
I won a feeder goldfish at a carnival in 1988 that lived for over six years. A decade later, I started a 55gal freshwater aquarium and it's still running a quarter century later.
Creating closed environments that allow organisms to thrive is a rewarding experience. It’s an exercise in patience, demonstration that keen observation and minor adjustment can lead to great results, and is just beautiful to look at.
Oh, and there’s the Shrimp Gang over at the SHRIMPHAUS. You should check them out when you're done here.
I also spend time working on deep water culture hydroponics projects and even ran a hydroponics cabinet at Valiant Technology that led to a big staff lunch including a salad that was grown under my desk. Did I invent the Desk Salad?! Probably not, but it was fun.
Homelab + Innovation
My homelab is where theory meets voltage.
What started as a curiosity about servers and networking evolved into a controlled environment for testing, breaking, rebuilding, and understanding systems at a deeper level. Virtualization stacks, segmented networks, backup strategies, identity services, monitoring, automation - if I recommend it, there’s a good chance I’ve run it myself.
This isn’t a rack for aesthetics. It’s a proving ground.
I also document what I build. Notes, diagrams, written walkthroughs, and video - capturing both the wins and the lessons learned. Sharing the process reinforces clarity, sharpens thinking, and gives others a practical look at how systems actually come together.
It also keeps me honest.
Running services at home reinforces the realities of uptime, redundancy, documentation, and failure. Hardware fails. Configurations drift. Updates break things. The difference between theory and practice lives here - and that perspective carries directly into the work I do with IT organizations.
Like screen printing, electronics, and aquatics, the homelab is iterative. Small changes. Careful observation. Continuous improvement.
Just with more VLANs.
