For conference bios, click here.

Currently

My title is Assistant Director of Rural Sourcing, really that means my job is to do everything necessary to make sure we deliver excellent service and software from our office in College Station. For me, that includes: managing project teams, providing input on architecture and best practices, organizing community events, spreading the word about Improving, building relationships with students and faculty at Texas A&M, and communicating with new and existing customers to identify technology solutions to their business problems.

I also spend time working with our Microsoft and Agile practices to help organizations improve the way they build software. Sometimes that means coaching them through an agile transformation, evaluating and improving their use of Microsoft tools to support their development teams, or working with Microsoft to help their customers achieve great results using Microsoft products.

How you might encounter me

I live in College Station, Texas and work in Improving’s Rural Sourcing Center. I love my job because I get to work with a variety of customers and teams. I also travel to Houston, Dallas and other areas around the country to help teams harness the power of Agile Software Development or Microsoft development tools.

On any given assignment I may play the role of: Agile coach, Scrum master, Agile instructor, TFS consultant, Architect, Developer, Business Analyst, Tester, or Project Manager.

Background

I grew up in Baytown, Texas and spent a lot of my childhood playing football and the trombone. I graduated from Texas A&M in 2004. I’ve been consulting ever since. I started out as a Java developer, picked up .NET, and quickly found a passion for Agile Software Development and project management and leadership. I love consulting because I’ve had the opportunity to learn by playing a wide variety of roles across a wide variety of projects. My two favorite things are helping companies find new technology solutions to support their business, and improving software teams through Agile adoption.

I fell in love with the idea of Rural Sourcing and moved back to College Station in 2006 to help create a software outsourcing solution that could deliver quality software using teams with Agile values while keeping costs low and jobs in the USA. I joined Improving in May 2007 to help start our Rural Sourcing center and I’m still thrilled to be here working with the very best in the business.

In July 2007 I married my wife Ellen, my best friend and favorite person in the world. We have four dogs that constantly keep us entertained. In my spare time I enjoy playing poker, taking my dogs to the park, hanging out with friends, and working on various software projects. I’m a GTD nerd and a gadget lover with a soft spot for Apple products.