As a co-founder of Nori, I played a pivotal role in kickstarting the carbon removal industry. Our trailblazing marketplace, coupled with impactful podcasts and partnerships, had an outsized role in the growth of this crucial sector. I raised over $18 million for Nori, grew the team to 30 people, and we’ve accounted for over 260,000 tonnes of CO2 removed and verified, resulting in millions of dollars paid out to farmers. I’m exceptionally proud of the culture and values we instilled into Nori, and I’m skilled at hiring and building out high-performing teams.
In 2015, I recognized the critical need for a carbon removal industry several years before it gained mainstream attention. As a pioneer in the space, I founded the world’s first community dedicated to carbon removal, laying the groundwork for future growth.
I’m an entrepreneur driven by challenge and a passion for solving significant problems. With a background in engineering and management, I bring a unique perspective to my work, utilizing systems thinking and pattern recognition to approach complex issues.
My diverse professional experiences, including roles in quality assurance, iOS engineering, product management, operations, and as a CEO have equipped me with a versatile skill set. I excel at leading complex projects that span multiple business areas, and I am known for my ability to identify and mitigate risk points efficiently.
Currently, my interests lie at the intersection of AI, VR, immersive experiences, and community/social connection. I am excited to leverage my expertise in engineering, finance, and management to innovate and create new things that propel humanity forward.
Throughout my career, I have remained committed to my values of nutrition, fitness, and living a virtuous life. I believe that for-profit businesses have the power to drive social good, and I am actively working towards a decentralized world that empowers individuals everywhere.
Chief Executive Officer | August, 2017 – May, 2023
As founding CEO of Nori (2017-2023), I led the company to create a pioneering carbon removal marketplace connecting projects and corporations to address climate change. I designed our original marketplace and blockchain concept, raising over $18M and developing an innovative platform that has accounted for over 260,000 tonnes of CO2 removed and verified.
Recognizing the need for an industry capable of removing billions of tonnes of CO2, I spearheaded Nori’s unique marketplace, which creates Regenerative Tonnes and enables direct transactions between farmers and buyers. This innovative approach has scaled soil carbon removal in a previously impossible way.
My biggest achievement was securing a partnership with Bayer Crop Science, validating our approach and opening doors to further collaborations.
As CEO, I oversaw all aspects of growth, built a talented team, and created a robust platform that streamlines carbon removal and ensures integrity through rigorous verification.
Nori’s success has been widely recognized, with coverage in TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal, raising awareness about carbon removal and Nori’s role in driving the industry forward.
Leading Nori was an incredible journey, making significant strides in fighting climate change, empowering farmers, and providing corporations with a reliable way to regenerate the earth. I’m excited to see the industry’s continued growth, building on Nori’s foundation.
| *Chief Product Officer | May, 2023 – Mar, 2024* |
As Chief Product Officer at Nori, I led the company’s product operations and strategic initiatives during a critical transition period. After expressing my desire to move into an operational role, I worked closely with the board to hire Matt Trudeau as the new CEO, bringing in his extensive experience in building financial exchanges.
In this role, I spearheaded the rationalization of our internal tools and systems, streamlining processes and improving efficiency. I also led the data infrastructure team in a new buildout using tools such as BigQuery, Fivetran, dbt, and Google Looker Studio, setting the stage for data-driven decision-making and enhanced insights.
My most significant project was coordinating the search for a new partner to measure the soil carbon of our regenerative agriculture projects. Starting with a list of 11 potential companies, I conducted thorough interviews and evaluations, eventually narrowing it down to two finalists. Through a rigorous selection process, we chose Perennial as our new partner, and the relationship was publicly announced in April 2024.
This strategic partnership represents a major milestone for Nori, enhancing our ability to accurately quantify the impact of our regenerative agriculture projects.
Throughout my tenure as CPO, I collaborated closely with teams across the organization, fostering a culture of innovation, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement. My experience in this role deepened my expertise in product management, data infrastructure, and strategic partnerships, while also highlighting my ability to drive change and lead cross-functional initiatives in a dynamic startup environment.
| *Cofounder and Board Director | Mar, 2024 – Current* |
I left Nori full-time in March 2024, and now serve as the founder board director. In this new role, I primarily serve as support to the CEO and refer new business into the company.
Project Manager / Director of Operations and Delivery | Dec, 2014 – July 2017
My role at Mentor is to manage our projects to delivery and facilitate everything else that keeps the business activities running smoothly. I’ve delivered over 10 mobile and web applications while managing multiple projects with multiple clients in varying technology platforms. I’ve implemented tools and systems to help our teams communicate more efficiently, helped clients create new business models, designed technical architectures, debugged and updated iOS apps, located office space and built out the office infrastructure, researched and selected health insurance plans, developed a recruiting and interviewing process, purchased computer equipment, etc.
Instructor - Agile, Scrum, and Kanban Course and Product Management Bootcamp | Aug, 2015 – July 2017
I teach others how to improve their project processes. My Agile overview class covers the basics from how to break down large projects into achievable tasks, how to visualize work in a kanban board, all the way up to the mechanics of Kanban, Scrum, and Scrumban. More than 200 students have completed this class with an understanding of how to design a process for their teams that will give the best chance of success.
My Product Management Bootcamp is a full-day introduction for students on how to think about product development, what an MVP is and how to design and test it, and how to analyze their own context to create the best product possible.
Co-Founder | Sep, 2016 – August 2017
As the technical co-founder of You Enjoy My Stickers, our iMessage sticker design company has seen over 3000 downloads of our apps since launch. Our mission is to collaborate with our community to produce sticker packs that help people communicate exactly what they want to say. My role is to develop all the applications, manage them on the App Store, develop our website, and market our apps on social media.
Founder | May, 2014 – Aug, 2015
I launched The Happy Crate in May 2014 because I saw a significant need to establish entertainment and educational niches in the brand-new legal marijuana market. My solution was The Happy Crate - a monthly subscription box of activities, snacks, and smoking accessories. I ran all aspects of the business including hiring and managing contractors, product sourcing, order fulfillment, website design, customer service, internet marketing, and business development. In the summer of 2015 I decided to move on to new challenges, and I sold The Happy Crate.
Product and Project Manager | Jul, 2011 – Sep, 2014
As the Scrum Master for a 14 person cross-functional team, I coached in Agile processes and unblocked their way to delivering an iOS mobile point-of-sale application for Nike retail stores in just 3 months time. After an initial pilot program in two stores, Nike’s executive leadership was thrilled with the results, and we began scaling the application for deployment to every store in the United States. As a response, I led the team in a strategic transition from Scrum to Kanban (Scrumban) so that we could remove unnecessary processes and better respond to changing needs from production.
When Deloitte became a keynote sponsor of SXSW Interactive in 2014, our studio was asked to “make a mobile app to support the sponsorship.” With that direction, I organized and led multiple creative strategy sessions of a team of volunteers. After deciding on our app experience, I put together back-end, Android, and iOS development and design teams. In under 12 weeks, we built gamified apps that incentivized users’ attendance at events with Deloitte speakers.
Founder | Sep, 2015 – Current
I founded the Carbon Removal Seattle meetup group because I want to work on solving climate change, and I need to find other people who are passionate about fixing the damage humanity has done. The mission of this group is to incubate new businesses, products, and practices that will remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. We want to create a platform for like-minded individuals to share, examine, and build upon innovative ideas and projects that will restore levels of CO2 in the atmosphere to 350ppm. We aim to provide tools and information for people to work on this problem. I also maintain a related blog at carboncmdz.com.
Developer
Rate My Meeting is an app for people who are sick of being stuck in boring and unproductive meetings. I designed and built this app to be used at the end of every meeting. Every meeting participant anonymously gives feedback to the rest of the group how productive they felt the meeting was. The app grabs those votes and displays an average percentage for the group. The rating is meant to be used as a talking point for improving the process going forward, so that next time it’s a bit more productive.
Master of Engineering Management - Engineering Management | 2010 – 2011
Bachelor of Science, Engineering - Computer Systems Engineering | 2006 – 2010
