who am i?
It’s hard to describe what I am, sometimes I don’t even know myself. Entrepreneur? Consultant? Urban Planner? Government Worker? What I do know is that I am passionate about technology, startups and things that make the world a better place. Oh, and I love building things. Currently, I work for the City of New York, under Mayor Bloomberg at the New York City Economic Development Corporation. As the Assistant Director of Media and Emerging Technology, I lead the team that builds, grows and ensures the vibrancy of the NYC media and tech/startup ecosystem. Essentially, my job is to turn NYC into Silicon Valley… or better. I work collaboratively with NYC’s top startups like FourSquare, VCs like Union Square Ventures, and hacker orgs like NYTechMeetup and HackNY to leverage the best of NYC’s resources to ensure we’re the #1 destination for media and tech entrepreneurs everywhere. I listen, collaborate, and build.
Formerly I spent 3 years in Silicon Valley founding and running a tech startup called SnapItTo.Me, managing a team of engineers and marketers to disrupt the photo market through real-time crowd-sourced photography. My focus was understanding customer needs, designing product, UX/UI and building the customer and community base. Prior to that, I spent 6 years in management consulting at Accenture, working in their strategy group doing things like M&A, expansion strategy, product design, and building online customer engagement strategies for Fortune 100 companies. I’ve advised companies like HP, eBay, Merck, and Unilever on these very things. During this time, I also cofounded a social enterprise called newSpark Group, advising international development agencies and social enterprises like World Relief and MicroPlace on growth strategy. My first startup was founded during my undergraduate years at Yale. It was called CMYK Strategies, a regional marketing and advertising design company.
Like I said, I love building things.
