Who is this guy?

I was born and raised in central Wisconsin in the United States but have spent the past 21 years in Japan.

My upbringing exposed me to many cultures and languages. From my first trip to Denmark to Studying abroad in China, from studying at the Marvelwood School and Hamline University to traveling to Indonesia and Hong Kong, each experience added to my perspectives and ideas of the world. My keen interest in history and international relations specifically in Asia led me to pursue a degree in East Asian Studies and a minor in History.

It was also during university that I began doing cultural and diversity training programs.

Following my heart, I moved to Japan and became an Assistant Language Teacher. I used the experience to build relations for launching several study abroad programs and negotiate the Japanese educational system.

After municipalities merged in 2005, I moved into a cultural and language consultant and trainer position while teaching in seven schools which was preparation for my current position as foreign staff manager, Elementary School Language instruction trainer, International Education advisor, and City representative to regional and prefectural Foreign Language meetings.

In the summer of 2009, in cooperation with the regional teacher's organization and regional ALTs, I designed and operated a one-day language and culture camp for children ages 10 through 14. Global Village tried to break from the standard "English is the world" view and the "sit and listen to learn" style common in Japan with a highly interactive and multi-cultural structure.

In 2011, I joined JapanTourist.jp (now Japantravel.com) as the Gifu Partner and in 2012 became the Social Media Manager for the entire site. I spend time managing social media content and determining how to increase visits by improving the quality of tweets, Facebook and Google+ posts. (remember Google+?)

In 2013, I gave up living in rural Japan to take a position in branding and social media management at Oak Lawn Marketing, a direct marketer based in Nagoya. Over my 4.5 years at Oak Lawn Marketing, I developed social media strategies, implemented inbound marketing methodologies and worked on building a brand from 25% to 57% recognition mainly through digital means. In 2015, I started supporting global expansion operations through developing methodologies and guidelines for brand operations outside of Japan. By 2017, I was involved business development in China and South East Asia. Working with partners in China, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, I developed localized strategies for introducing the Shop Japan brand and products. One of the biggest challenges during that time was training staff on how to think as a brand beyond the logo and tagline but how to "live the brand" and think of the tagline as a promise to which all services are built.

In 2018, I left Oak Lawn Marketing to join Wunderman as a Senior Strategist working on building digital strategies for Microsoft, GSK, Bose and a few other local and global brands. By 2019, Wunderman was merged with J Walter Thompson to form Wunderman Thompson bringing the best of two worlds together. In September, 2020, I was put as Head of Customer Experience building on my digital, branding, technical and data skills. Though this capability, we inspire brands to think differently about branding away from traditional media push to a wholistic construct tying in online and offline activities and ensuring they build toward internal KPIs and business goals. 

Through this work I have been working globally on some of the companies top 30 global brands as well as some of the top brands in Japan in various categories from femcare to automotive to chocolate to air travel.

On top of all this, I am the father of three and husband to the greatest woman in the world.

I'm a graduate of the Japan Marketing Expansion Competition and served as the Alumni Association co-chair for 3 years. We host monthly events on topics ranging from management to the latest in digital trends to design and CSR. Keep your eyes open for the next one. Beside the alumni association, I have been a JMEC team mentor for 4 years and have held the position of co-Vice chair of the entire program since 2019. 

You can find me on twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (but I only connect to people I know in person on FB).

Cities: Skylines A coworker introduced me to Cities: Skylines in 2020 and I spent a year just watching Overcharged Egg, Biffa and City Planner Plays videos. In 2021, I finally bit the bullet and bought the game for myself. I spend only a few hours a week playing. If I didn't limit my time, I would never work.

Hobbies Aviation Planes just rock (Airliners). The whole idea of something so large getting up into the air just boggles me.

Taiko drumming I belonged to a Taiko group in Kashimo Japan where I performed mainly on the Shime or Tsuke but also play the Nagadaiko and often do Odaiko (big drum) solos. Besides playing I assisted with the instruction of the youth group.

Regular drumming  I played a 8 piece Yamaha with double pedal and 8 cymbals in a band until my son was born. I guess my style is ... Steve Gadd meets Niel Peart meets Gene Krupa meets Mike Portnoy but nowhere near as good...not even 1000 kilometers close. Watch us.

Quirks Can name every astronaut to fly on Apollo 7 through 17 in order of flight and position.

Can count to 10 in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese. Working on Korean. Would like to add Swahili, Indonesian, Arabic, Hindi, and Farsi.

Can say hello in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Swahili, Arabic, Hebrew, Wolof and Hindi.