Hi all!
I’ve been in Seattle living in the same house for over 30 years, working on web and mobile ecommerce and search products, and married to one kind, brilliant and gorgeous woman (who may one day read this note). Together we’ve brought 2 healthy kids into the world and encouraged them to believe in themselves, to be good friends, to work hard with purpose, and to seize every opportunity to be happy and celebrate each other.
But before I spike the football, let me jump back in time for context on how I got here.
Ten days after TZ graduation, I left the cozy confines of Tappan and entered the sterile confinement of Cadet Basic Training at West Point. Little joy, little fun, carrying rucksacks in the sun, but the hills that we climbed would prove worth it over time. During the academic year I went to classes Monday through Saturday. Mandatory breakfast was at 6:30AM, first class at 7:10AM. Being late, let alone skipping or dropping a class, really wasn’t an option. I’ll spare you more details but after 4 years I graduated as a
cadet captain with a civil engineering degree (w/EIT), a 2 nd lieutenant’s commission in the US Army, and orders to go to flight school in LA for 10 months. Note: “LA” in the Army, is lower Alabama.
I did my best to lead soldiers in Europe and the US for 8 years on active duty. I parachuted from airplanes, rappelled from helicopters (at night onto 16’ x 16’ wood platforms over dense forests), ran 3 marathons, finished 1st in my class at 2 Army schools, commanded an aviation company in Germany and was promoted twice. I also flew single-pilot, cross-country missions throughout Europe.
When I returned to the states, I was the brigade adjutant for Army aviation in Washington, DC, and worked at the Pentagon. As a pilot, I flew weekly flight missions up and down the Potomac River, past
Reagan National airport. But over time my day-to-day work felt stale and future assignments seemed uninspiring. After some soul-searching, I resigned my commission to pursue a career in business. On leaving the army I was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal and an honorable discharge.
After 2 years of full-time study at Georgetown, I graduated with an MBA and job as a senior financial analyst at American Express TRS in Manhattan. At Amex, I met a woman as she was leaving the company to join a firm in mid-town. Months later we started dating. Years later our companies moved us to Seattle, we married and started our family.
After moving to Seattle, I became enamored with software—so much so that I took a 50% cut in pay to join a 12-person startup. The role required intensive after-hours study, a habit I kept for the next 25 years of my career. Eighteen months after I joined, the company was acquired, my options vested, and I moved to T-Mobile as Director of Ecommerce. Over the next two decades, I transitioned through several companies, eventually becoming an expert software product manager specializing in search and ecommerce. Two years ago, while at Expedia for the third time, I turned 65 and happily
retired.