Digital Experiences & Platforms · Spatial Computing · Interface Innovation
I make complex digital environments navigable—reducing cognitive overload, decision thrash, and coordination friction. Over three decades, I've moved between enterprise product management, academic teaching, startup leadership, and independent research, always pursuing a single question: how can technology serve as seed and catalyst for advancing the human program?
This inquiry began with phenomenology around technology use—observing the "wizardry phenomenon" where expertise transforms perception—and evolved through deep engagement with embodied cognition, design philosophy, and collaborative systems.
My current work integrates these threads. At Comcast, I lead enterprise architecture producing $50M in annual savings and a 95-point NPS transformation. Through Design Anticipation LLC, I develop the Polyopticon—a spatial computing device positioning physical topology as a computational dimension, building toward "Bloomberg for Scientists." The patent portfolio now includes US 12,197,471 and pending applications.
In my junior year at Penn, my boss at the Wharton A/V Center asked me to help carry something inside from his car. It was a version 1.0 IBM PC. He said, "set it up and see what it can do." That was a foundational event. We became the first generation of the "PC literate"—distinct from what existed before, when they were still teaching computer science on time-share mainframes.
After graduation, working desk-side tech at Wharton, I observed what I came to call the "wizardry phenomenon." Someone would be stuck for hours with a problem; I would walk up and solve it with two keystrokes. They looked at me as if I was wearing a pointy hat with quarter moons on it. That introduced me to the phenomenology around technology use—and my first identification as entrepreneur and consultant, two defining themes in my professional development.
Novel interface paradigm for temporal data manipulation through embodied interaction—enabling intuitive timeline navigation and information retrieval through physical gestures and spatial computing principles.
Breakthrough spatial computing interface based on spherical topology with 32-face geodesic structure. Research integrates embodied cognition theory, enactive perception, and collaborative workspace design.
The signal experience Comcast has afforded is the capacity to operate with rigor, at scale. We transformed capabilities enabling customers to work with the company. We delivered features that produced phenomenal transformation in perceived value—a 95-point shift in NPS over a two-year period. This outcome produced $50 million in cost savings by shifting acquisition and support into a broad digital omnichannel. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we transformed legacy ecommerce systems, outfitting them to business and customer interaction requirements that had never been anticipated.
Founded research company focused on spatial computing and interface innovation with over 20 years of foundational work initially encouraged by Dr. Norman Badler at University of Pennsylvania. The original concept for the Polyopticon occurred while completing my MSE at Penn—studying 3D interfaces with Norm, who told me he thought I had something. The foundation came from discussing means to present results from Gap International's breakthrough performance diagnostic, where I worked with linguists and statisticians to develop platforms tracing multi-dimensions of human activity. The question emerged: how do we envision and interact with data sets at multiple levels of organizational performance, spanning individual, team, leader, and enterprise?
Spent years as adjunct faculty guiding master's programs in Information and Knowledge Strategy and Applied Analytics. This was my first experience in academics as a practitioner, providing insight into novel concepts and aiding in developing broader context for organizational strategy—how data was being applied in the new world of graph databases and emerging neural network applications.
Built Intellisynthesis™, a unique collaborative platform for multistakeholder collaboration and negotiation. Leveraged Google text analytics API to develop innovative mapping structures for managing online stakeholder engagements. Generated voluminous thought work, SBIR funding applications, and research into network, supply chain, and how to convene and collaborate.
From KPMG, I went to Gap International, a boutique human performance firm. My role was as the first information technology professional in a rapidly expanding firm. One of my signal accomplishments was to digitize what had been a prominently face-to-face methodology—I invented means to draw from the tacit to the explicit. This was a major shift, and I did the spadework for how to use digital means in transformational consulting. Developed knowledge management strategy and SharePoint portal platform that reduced training cycles by 50%.
Started working at KPMG at a formative time in the development of the digital ecosystem. Working for the Firm's Chief Knowledge Officer, led definition and implementation for the firm's first communities of practice sharing portal. We were using VR goggles in 1995. I interviewed David Chaum about Digicash in 1996 and wrote the firm's LabNote about it. Architected firm-wide consultant toolkit, developing the first browser-based consulting methodology platform.
Perhaps the most conventionally successful part of my career—promoted twice in four years. Assumed the Associate Editor role guiding editorial calendar and development for Datapro Reports on Management of Personal Computers and Datapro Reports on Management of Office Automation. This allowed me to immerse myself in the academic study of this emerging paradigm. During that time I initiated the firm's first hybrid of groupware—it was then that I became familiar with computer-supported cooperative work, just as it emerged as an academic discipline. It was also then that I read Duncan Sutherland Jr., sought him out, and made him my forever mentor in the area of the design of design.
Two books from the late 1980s had major impact. In the Age of the Smart Machine by Shoshana Zuboff was a deep meditation about how digital means would impact work and alter humanity's path. Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design by Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores demonstrated what the necessary trajectory for humans using technology needed to be. That was a major critique against the AI program of the '80s—neural nets and expert systems. They've been around a long time, and that's frequently overlooked. The synthesis resulting from that thinking drove me forward into exploring how technology could be a seed and catalyst for advancing the human program.
University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Master of Science in Engineering, Management of Technology · 2001–2005
University of Pennsylvania, School of Arts and Sciences
Bachelor of Arts, Economics · 1979–1983
Human-Computer Interaction · Spatial Computing · Embodied Cognition · Knowledge Management · Information Architecture · Collaborative Systems · Interface Design · Organizational Performance · Digital Wayfinding · Decision Support Systems · Enactive Perception · Computer-Supported Cooperative Work
My research integrates human-computer interaction, embodied cognition theory, and information science to address fundamental questions about how physical topology and haptic interaction can transform information organization and collaborative work. With over 25 years developing digital systems for Fortune 50 companies, teaching at Columbia University, and conducting independent research initially encouraged by Dr. Norman Badler at the University of Pennsylvania, I bring both theoretical depth and practical experience to investigating spatial computing as a computational paradigm.
My current work on the Polyopticon device represents a long-horizon research program positioning embodied interaction not as a peripheral interface consideration but as a fundamental computational dimension. I am particularly interested in exploring how these principles can advance collaborative scientific work and reduce cognitive friction in complex information environments.