I’ve forged my career at the intersection of technology & business.
I've gained my architecture expertise working on leading web platforms for innovative startups and global organizations.
Early in my career, I founded a startup that built the world's leading smart communities and was also a tech/M&A lawyer at the world's largest law firm. I also created a technology consulting company to pay my way through school, and before that grew up helping build my family's businesses.
- My Bio
- Platform Architect ( - Present)
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- Smart Homes ( - )
- Tech Law ( - )
- Ed Tech ( - )
- Family Biz ( - )
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Technical & Platform ArchitectPlatforms Coto PresentOver the last 10 to 15 years, I've narrowed my focus to architecting & building enterprise open source websites, apps, products, and platforms.TechnologyApart from hands-on development, I’ve built a particular expertise in application & platform scoping and architecture. I also have a passion for strategy, performance, and UX/design.BusinessI’ve worked with clients on scaling from concept through to product market fit and beyond. I’ve built strong experience around product execution, team building, and project management -- particularly on challenging, turnaround projects (i.e., I'm 'the guy' who gets 'the call' for rescue missions).AccomplishmentsIn addition to working on some of the world’s largest web projects, I’ve also contributed back to open source -- including by helping lead the largest open source conference in the world (at the time, 7,000+ attendees from 35+ countries at the UN HQ).
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Partner Enablement & ArchitectAcquiatoI lead Technical Partner Enablement & Architecture at Acquia's largest partners, building their open source practices/teams.TechnologyI lead technical enablement for Acquia’s leading agency partners: primarily WPP, the world’s largest agency holding company (e.g., AKQA, BC&W, Globant, Mirum, Ogilvy, Possible, R/GA, Wunderman/JWT, VML/Y&R); and secondarily, other agency holding companies and independents (e.g., IPG, Omnicom, Publicis, Digitas, MRM, HUGE, R/GA, Code & Theory).BusinessI helped establish Acquia's Drupal Developer Certification Program (including help dozens of devs get certified), and also co-wrote Acquia’s Reference Drupal Architecture covering delivery & development best practices. Through this work, I also deepened my Drupal expertise in healthcare, fintech, edtech, eCommerce, CPG, and telecom.AccomplishmentsAt the time, Acquia was named one of the fastest growing private tech company in North America, and my work helped generate substantial ARR to support Acquia's $1B exit.
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Smart Communities DirectorSmart CommunitiestoI lead the creation of smart communities for major real estate projects, which featured innovative smart home solutions from technology industry leaders.TechnologyThe technology I architected and developed included hardware elements, related software solutions, and fiber optic network topology -- including turnkey triple-play fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) communications networks (which was eventually patented).BusinessIn addition to my technical responsibilities, I lead work on finance, branding, sales, and operations. I also established strategic alliances with leading technology companies, including Rogers, Cisco/Control4, Best Buy/Geek Squad, and Commscope.AccomplishmentsWe established North America's first FTTH smart community with a tier-1 communication company (Rogers). Our work was the foundational template for Rogers new communities and other European Telcos' projects. We also secured front-page national press coverage and exceeded all project sales expectations.
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Tech Lawyer & Platform ArchitectBaker & McKenzietoAs a tech lawyer at the world’s largest law firm, I worked for a variety of global clients (e.g., Accenture, Apple, Google, Nokia, Yahoo). We built industry leading-technology tools to establish and expand a global tech practice.TechnologyI built websites and apps that were used to help create a practice, which expanded globally. The successful applications that we built were foundational to those eventually created by the firm's global IT group.BusinessI was able to craft a unique role at the firm which included a mix of lawyering (50-60%), business development (10-15%) and software development (30-40%). I was also able to practice a limited amount of commercial law, including finance, M&A, VC, JVs and real estate.AccomplishmentsTo secure this role, I helped create a new interdisciplinary masters at my university and an internship program at the firm (see below). I also was admitted to practice law in both Ontario & New York.
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EdTech ConsultingUniversity of OttawatoI paid my way through undergraduate and graduate school by doing technology consulting for a variety of clients, particularly at the university I attended.TechnologyI architected and implemented apps & websites for my university's faculties, professors and courses.BusinessIn addition to my software development work, I helped establish an interdisciplinary technology & law program at the university. The program also included an multidisciplinary internship program, which lead to my unique law & technology role at Baker & McKenzie (see above).AccomplishmentsMy work involved creating a leading distance education lab at the school and raising over $40M to support ecommerce research. The interdisciplinary master and internship program that I helped establish, also lead to my role at the world's largest law firm (see above).
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Family Real Estate BusinessesBusiness Inn & MacLarenstoI began working in my family's businesses at age 12. I worked my way up from custodian & housekeeper, to eventually help manage the businesses (1996) and ultimately launch new ones (1997).TechnologyI helped with all aspects of several of the businesses (conception, strategy, branding, marketing, sales, hiring, etc.). However, my eventual primary role involved directing and implementing technology strategy, with a focus on hardware & software solutions to minimize operating costs and facilitate remote management.BusinessIn addition to my technical work, I helped build certain businesses from scratch; including hotels, restaurants and real estate development/rentals (now with many units in inventory).AccomplishmentsMany of the technology solutions I helped implement are still used to run these businesses today, and in many cases they have been expanded upon. These business have grown substantially, and are still run by my family.