Who I Am
I’m an AI product strategist, builder, and advisor. Over the past decade I’ve shipped products and set strategy at Cisco, Google, IBM, and Akamai — most recently leading GenAI adoption for Cisco’s Corporate Strategy org, where I turn AI capability into offers, roadmaps, and adoption programs that actually ship.
Outside of Cisco, I build AI agents and tools under RossLabs. This site is where I share what I’m building, what’s working, and what enterprises tend to get wrong about AI adoption.
What I Focus On Now
My work centers on the gap between AI capability and AI product: taking a model or agent framework and turning it into something that ships, gets adopted, and holds up under real usage. At Cisco that’s meant scoping agentic AI use cases, building the business case for partnerships like the NVIDIA Secure AI Factory alliance, and running the enablement programs — bootcamps, prompt libraries, bi-weekly training — that get teams actually using AI instead of just talking about it.
The same focus carries into RossLabs: building agents and tools, testing AI use cases and tradeoffs directly, and using what I learn to sharpen the product strategy work I do everywhere else.
How I Work
I start with a PRD — defined requirements, key workflows, and behavior-driven tests — before writing code. I build in observability from day one with OpenTelemetry, LangSmith, and Sentry, because AI systems fail in ways you can’t debug from logs alone.
My M.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering shapes how I see product: user interactions as discrete events flowing through a process. I’m always looking for where a step can be faster, simpler, or removed outright. I prefer composable architectures I can reuse across projects, and I build in public — most of what I ship starts as a solution to my own problem.
Background
I’ve spent over a decade building products and strategy at Cisco, Google, IBM, Akamai, and ShearShare — most at home in startups and in small, fast-moving teams inside large companies. Before that, I served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, directing a multinational air operations center in Afghanistan.
I hold an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an M.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from San Jose State University, and a B.S. in Human Factors Psychology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I’m an active angel investor with the Chicago Booth Angel Network and Hustle Fund Angel Squad, and I sit on the board of Chapter 510, a nonprofit that helps kids write and publish their own books.
Personality Profile
MBTI: ENTP. High D + I on DISC.
- I love trying new things, enjoy debating, and hold strong opinions — but change my mind fast when the evidence says to
- I like building processes that make things better, and get bored by process for its own sake
- I go deeper into “why” than most people I know — research is where I do my best thinking
Get in Touch
I’m always glad to trade notes with builders working on AI products, adoption, or strategy. Reach out on LinkedIn or via email at [email protected].