SocialMedia Talk

I am a Business Productivity Architect for the Microsoft Corporation working out of the Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center. I am super passionate about social media, knowledge management and collaboration, and I absolutely LOVE Microsoft's SharePoint technologies (although I am still waiting for that magical web part that will brew my coffee for me in the morning). Let’s see I am the proud parent of 2 incredibly awesome kids and have been married to the same wonderful woman, Tracy, for more than 20 years (married 1989). I am a geek, martial artist enthusiast, love to read physics books and spy novels. Was born and raised in Connecticut. Spent 4 years in the Army after High School. Taught 8th grade in Southern California for 6+ years. I have also worked as a social worker, construction worker, you name it I have probably done it. Settled in to the world of technology for good in 1998 and started working for Microsoft in 2001. My goal in life (besides raising my kids to be strong, educated, self-assured, and above all else HAPPY adults...job 1!!) is to make enough to buy a second house in Southern Italy (a nice villa on the coast) where I can spend my evenings looking out over the Mediterranean sipping Chianti with my wife and strolling together through the local piazza for espresso or gelato. :-)

Born: 1962
Place: San Francisco, California
Raised: Waterford, Connecticut
Office: Microsoft Technology Center -Philadelphia

Occupational Background:

• The Microsoft Corporation, 2001-Present
  Business Productivity Architect 
• The Vanguard Group, Malvern, PA 1999-2001
  Corporate Systems Architect
• Intracorp, Philadelphia, PA 1998
  Instructional Web Designer/Webmaster
• Coachella Valley Unified School District, Thermal, CA 1995 - 1998
  Mentor Teachor/8th Grade Language Arts Instructor
• Mecca Recreation Center, Mecca, CA 1997 - 1998
  Sensei-Martial Arts Instructor
• Florence Crittenton Agency, Wheeling, WV 1993 - 1995
  Family Preservation Field Case Manager
• Coachella Valley Unified School District, Thermal, CA 1990 - 1993
  Migrant Education Administrator/7th Grade Language Arts Instructor
• United States Army 1981 - 1985
  Sergeant (NCO)

Interests:

• General:
  • Kids, Martial Arts, Technology, the Beach, Wine and Candles, and ITALY!
• Music:
  • Pretty eclectic in my tastes. Music from the 70's, 80's, 90's, present (just about anything but rap). Listen to everyone from Andrea Bocelli to Van Halen to Keith Urban to Hayley Westenra to Jimmy Buffet to Michael Buble to Dave Mathews to Third Eye Blind to Frank Sinatra.... you get the idea ;-) 2 Favs are Matt Maher and Audrey Assad
• Movies:
  • The Last Samurai, Brave Heart, The Patriot, White Chicks, The Notebook, All the Scary Movie comedy series, Raging Bull, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Spiderman, The Lord of the Rings series, The Matrix flicks, The Rocky series (yes all of them), and anything by Arnold S.
• Television:
  • Supernatural, Smallville, Battlestar Gallactica, Sponge Bob Square Pants, and oh where ever did my all-time favorite Ren & Stimpy go?
• Books:
  • Sun Tzu: The Art Of War
  • Morihei Ueshiba: The Art of Peace
  • Brian Greene: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
  • Brian Greene: The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
  • Michio Kaku: Hyperspace : A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension
  • Jim Butcher: Whole Dresdon Files series
  • Simon Green: Whole Nightside series
  • Robert Leckie: Delivered From Evil
  • Edmund Morris: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
  • Edmund Morris: Theodore Rex
  • Anything by either Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy