Selected Work

Challenge

I started the business that became Ravenox in 2012, working from my garage. The opportunity was to build a brand around useful products and reach customers far beyond a local storefront. Turning a listing into a dependable business meant finding customers, keeping products available, fulfilling orders and earning the next purchase.

Role

As Ravenox's founder and CEO, I built the commercial direction and connected marketplace strategy with the daily work of the business. Product selection, brand development, advertising, customer service, and inventory could not operate independently. I needed to understand how each decision affected the customer and the team delivering the order.

Approach

Amazon gave a small operation access to a much larger market. I learned to use Fulfillment by Amazon alongside marketplace advertising and clear product information, while developing Ravenox as a recognizable brand. Growth meant improving the operation behind the listings as well as helping people find them.

Customer feedback became a source of product insight. We invested in training our support team to provide personal attention and used sales information to understand buying patterns and opportunities in the catalog. Serving new markets also helped diversify the customer base. A broader range of products required better inventory coordination, more deliberate replenishment, and closer attention to suppliers.

Amazon Business opened another route to commercial and government buyers. Certifications, procurement access, and product information mattered to those customers alongside quality and availability. The business expanded across direct-to-consumer, marketplace, and B2B channels, with each channel informing the same underlying operation.

As demand grew, the relationship with our rope supplier became a strategic opportunity. Acquiring manufacturing would allow us to connect what customers were asking for with what we could make. That decision is the next chapter of Ravenox's story: bringing production and the customer-facing business under one roof.

Outcome

By 2017, Amazon was reporting that our twisted cotton rope had held the bestseller position in its category for two years. By 2019, Ravenox had reached the top 1% of Amazon's third-party sellers. That year, Amazon named Ravenox one of six U.S. Small Business of the Year finalists in its inaugural Small Business Spotlight Awards.

The garage-stage business had become a recognized brand with manufacturing capability, multiple routes to market, and operating experience worth sharing. Amazon featured that journey in Seller Stories and invited me to contribute through Amazon Accelerate, This Is Small Business, and the Small Business Academy. I also brought the perspective of a marketplace owner into Amazon-supported advocacy discussions on Capitol Hill.

Learning the platform led to building a business behind it, then sharing those decisions with other owners. Meeting marketplace demand created the opportunity to become a manufacturer.

Challenge

The demand built through Amazon changed the scale of the decisions Ravenox needed to make. We initially bought rope from a manufacturer and sold it to customers. As the business grew, product quality, supply, and the ability to expand the range became increasingly important. When the opportunity arose to acquire the manufacturing operation, it offered a way to connect production directly with the market we had developed.

Role

As founder and CEO, I led the decision to acquire manufacturing capability and integrate it with Ravenox's sales and operations. That meant taking responsibility for production equipment, inventory, product quality, and an American workforce. The manufacturing team's experience was essential; my job was to connect that expertise with customer needs and the direction of the business.

Approach

Bringing the manufacturer into Ravenox shortened the path between customer feedback and production decisions. We could address quality at its source, develop products with the people making them, and coordinate the range we offered with the capabilities of the factory. Acquiring the operation gave us greater control, while also making the work behind that control our responsibility.

Production, inventory, and e-commerce became parts of one operating system. Inventory software helped coordinate availability across channels, while hands-on checks remained important to product quality. Amazon, direct sales, and B2B customers had different purchasing needs, but depended on the same ability to plan supply and deliver a consistent product.

Product development also involved materials and sourcing decisions. Ravenox's documented rope range includes recycled and upcycled materials. Those choices sit alongside practical considerations about the properties a rope needs, how it will be manufactured, and how customers will use it.

Building an American manufacturing workforce meant investing in people as well as equipment. Training and employee benefits, including health insurance, are part of Ravenox's employment offering. The same business supports community relationships: Operation Freedom Paws helps people train service dogs, while Ravenox's partnership with Saving A Hero's Place includes rope used in Honor Chairs commemorating fallen officers.

Outcome

Ravenox became a vertically integrated business connecting manufacturing, product development, inventory, and digital retail. The acquisition changed our relationship with production from purchasing a finished product to taking direct responsibility for how it was made and how it reached the customer.

Amazon helped build demand and operating experience; manufacturing gave Ravenox a direct way to respond. Greater control over our products came with broader responsibilities to employees, customers, suppliers and the community.

Context and role

Nordic Naturals wanted greater control of its direct e-commerce and marketplace operations. I assessed the operation, benchmarked its existing state and developed a phased roadmap connecting commercial priorities with the systems and people responsible for delivery.

Approach

Planning moved into hands-on support for Seller Central, FBA, Brand Registry, listings, product information, SEO, imagery, advertising and inventory systems. ChannelAdvisor, customer-service workflows and brand control connected the marketplace operation with the internal organization. The broader roadmap evaluated additional marketplaces and international expansion alongside the channels being actively developed.

Outcome and perspective

Documentation, training and the transfer of responsibilities helped the team understand and increasingly manage the operation. Carrie Phair’s December 4, 2017 recommendation describes that patient teaching and phased support. It remains central to how I connect strategy with implementation today.

Context and role

In Afghanistan, delayed requisitions created an immediate need for local solutions. Working with the higher-headquarters financial officer, I managed the finances for a mission-support program that funded more than $1 million in projects and employed nearly 200 local laborers. My Team Leader Elliot Ackerman’s firsthand account describes a bakery, barracks, a helicopter landing zone, toilets and other facilities.

Approach

My Pay Agent role involved financial accountability and coordination with procurement authorities, distinct from a warranted Contracting Officer. Later, as a business owner, I interpreted solicitations, sourced and priced products, prepared offers and coordinated suppliers. Customers included repeat U.S. Navy procurement through NAVSUP, NOAA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and an Air National Guard customer; a DLA order supported a Navy beneficiary.

Outcome and perspective

Supplier performance brought responsibility for production, inspection, shipping and acceptance documentation. Navy examples include a paid final invoice and closeout on one order, and inspection and acceptance at source on another. Extensive DAU coursework deepened that applied experience, which I now bring to opportunity evaluation, proposals and fulfillment planning at North Ember.

Challenge

Emergency preparedness depends on information people can find and volunteers who can coordinate. CERV needed an online presence and a reliable way to communicate with supporters. In my separate municipal CERT roles, readiness also depended on equipment, inventories, training support, rosters, and communications.

Role

For Community Emergency Response Volunteers, I took on digital communications and marketing responsibilities, including the website, social channels, and email and contact management. As of September 2026, I serve as Treasurer on the CERV Board of Directors.

Separately, I served with City of Monterey CERT as Logistics Section Chief and Neighborhood Zone Captain from October 2013 through April 2017. CERV’s nonprofit work and municipal Community Emergency Response Team programs share a preparedness mission, with separate leadership and responsibilities.

Approach

For CERV, I developed and maintained the website, established branded social channels, and connected outreach with Mailchimp email and contact management. I organized preparedness resources and communications procedures so supporters could find useful information and the organization could keep its outreach consistent. Search visibility and maintainable content were part of making those resources accessible.

As municipal CERT Logistics Section Chief, I supported equipment and inventory management, procurement coordination, training materials, and the logistics needed for volunteer readiness. The work required knowing what was available, what needed attention, and how to support the people organizing training.

As Neighborhood Zone Captain, I recruited members, maintained rosters, led meetings and training, and worked on communications readiness. Web and social channels supported that coordination alongside internal procedures. My retrospective describes collaboration involving Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel; these were collective programs supported by volunteers and public agencies.

Outcome

CERV gained a communications foundation spanning its website, public channels, email outreach, and preparedness resources. The municipal CERT work supported the equipment visibility, coordination, and volunteer organization needed for readiness.

Readiness depends on sustained collaboration among volunteers, community organizations and public agencies. My current CERV Treasurer service adds financial governance to the earlier communications and municipal CERT experience.

Challenge

The effects of public policy show up in everyday operating decisions: the cost of materials, whether inventory can be replenished, when a supplier gets paid, and whether a business can hire or invest. Bringing those consequences into the discussion has been a recurring part of my work across manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, and technology.

Role

I contribute the perspective of a small-business owner through several organizations and across multiple years. My Washington Retail Association board service from 2018 through 2024 included Vice Chairman, Chairman in 2021, and Immediate Past Chairman. I have also participated in the National Retail Federation's Small Business Retail Council and served on the Intuit Small Business Council since March 2023.

Amazon-supported advocacy and Association of Washington Business involvement broadened those forums. The common responsibility is to translate experience from inside a business into practical input that associations, other owners, and policymakers can use.

Approach

I start with the operating decision behind the issue. Tariffs and trade affect sourcing, product costs, and hiring. Taxation, workforce needs, organized retail crime, and regulatory predictability influence the conditions in which retailers and manufacturers can grow. Through Washington Retail Association and NRF, I have contributed to discussions that connect those subjects with their effects on smaller businesses.

Amazon-supported Capitol Hill engagement brought the experience of marketplace sellers into policy conversations. At Amazon Accelerate in 2022, I also joined a public-policy panel about how business owners can participate in advocacy. NRF events in 2018, 2022, and 2024 provided additional opportunities to speak with policymakers and work alongside other retailers over several years.

Intuit council participation developed another continuing thread: digital inclusion and technology access in 2023, responsible AI adoption and literacy in 2024, and payments modernization in 2025. In May 2026, I returned for Capitol Hill discussions about the PACE Act and a White House small-business AI roundtable. Payment timing becomes concrete when it affects supplier commitments, inventory, and payroll; AI policy becomes practical when owners have the knowledge and tools to use it responsibly.

Association of Washington Business membership, beginning in 2023, added a state business forum. Across these settings, I bring the connected perspectives of American manufacturing, veteran entrepreneurship, and digital commerce. The approach remains nonpartisan: explain the problem clearly, contribute an operating example, listen to other owners, and keep participating.

Outcome

Years of participation have connected practical policy input with industry leadership and recognition. This includes NRF finalist recognition in 2018, Washington Retail Association's February 2022 service award for my 2021 chairmanship, later NRF honoree participation, and Intuit council work spanning 2023 through 2026.

Continuity lets me connect changing policy questions with experience from the same operating business. My contribution is practical policy input: making the consequences understandable, representing small-business experience, and helping keep owners involved in the discussions that affect their work.