About Me

The first question I ask is “what is possible?”. From there we can make it happen. I am driven by a desire to push boundaries, and make everything around me better while continually growing as a person, an engineer, and most importantly a father.

I have faced many challenges that I have pushed to overcome. The opportunity to approach these head on has left me with many valuable lessons and principles to live by.

Just after I turned 11 years old I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. While one may think this was a life-shattering event, in the years that followed I applied the diabetes management approach to the rest of my life. This has led me down a path to success and taught me one of my core principles:

"Start with why!

Understanding the “why” of any problem allows us to identify the best solution and know where it is possible to compromise. Through this perspective I have found opportunities to help others manage challenges, train and rise to one of the highest tiers in international professional cycling, build valuable software products, and be the best father I can be.

Finding Opportunities in the Face of Challenges

Every challenge presents an opportunity for growth. My diabetes diagnosis came just before my teenage years and it was easy to use as another reason to rebel. Over time, and through the support of an amazing network of friends, family and coaches, I realized that this challenge I was dealing with could actually open a lot of doors.

Prior to my diagnosis, I had recently begun cycling and was showing signs of talent, but the lack of control was holding me back. As a teenager I wasn’t overly interested in dealing with my blood sugars because I had “more important” things to worry about like fitting in with my peers and trying to be the best cyclist in Illinois. What I learned, through some prompting and experience, was that all of these things were actually related.

Since insulin is a hormone, having my blood sugars at the correct levels meant I would be in a generally better mood and it would also aid with my performance - so I fit in better and got faster. The diabetes community is also pretty tight-knit, so as I started winning some local races I got noticed by an up-and-coming cycling team that was starting to promote the possibilities for athletes with Type 1 diabetes.

Through years of hard work, dedication and my support network, I was able to launch my pro cycling career, highlighted by these accomplishments:

1. Holding the world record for the eight person division of Race Across America (RAAM) - a 3000+ mile race from coast to coast that our team won in 5 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes.
2. Achieving high placing results in some of the biggest cycling races in the United States.
3. An overall win at the Tour of Rwanda, both in the general and team classification.
4. Racing in major European classics/semi-classics such as the E3 Saxo Classic.
5. Teaching others how to handle diabetes during large endurance activities.
6. Coaching the San Diego Ride to Cure Diabetes team.

Beyond Cycling

Unfortunately a career in professional cycling could not last forever. I relish the experiences I had traveling around the world, and competing at the top level of a sport, while sharing my experience navigating diabetes, with the goal of helping others with similar challenges. After a number of years in the sport, however, it was time to figure out what was next and what I wanted to do with my life for the long term. This was just another challenge and one that had infinite opportunities under the hood.

Ultimately I set to work finishing school and becoming a software engineer. My approach to life translated well into this new career. Always starting with “why” in engineering has led to multiple successful exits by startups I have worked at and my work being instrumental in saving the companies I have worked for hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in various capacities.

“The Only Constant is Change”

While adaptability is a major key to success, I believe it is important to stick to your core principles: understand why we are solving the problem in front of us and we ensure that our solution has a positive impact on everyone surrounding it.

At the end of the day, we are all just learning as we go. Leveraging experience and successful approaches means that we can ultimately accomplish more than we ever thought possible. Please reach out to me to connect, even if it is just to chat. I thoroughly enjoy talking to and learning from others. If there is an opportunity for me to use my experience to help you out in one way or another, all the better!