Architect by training. Builder by nature. AI implementor by choice.

Built at the intersection of making and thinking.

I'm a designer and builder who started out as an architect and never really stopped making things. Thirty years later — across architecture, product design, software engineering, and AI — I built Black&Tan Labs as a place to put all of it to work for the businesses that actually run the world.

The lab grew out of a simple observation: most small business problems aren't waiting for a new platform. They're waiting for one careful tool, fitted to the actual workflow. Most businesses never get one — not because the technology doesn't exist, but because no one has taken the time to understand the problem well enough to build for it.

The work doesn't stop when the client work does. I design toys, 3D print things I've sketched on a napkin, write more than I publish, and keep a running list of problems I want to solve — six of which are currently in the lab. When you work the way I do, side projects aren't distractions. They're where the ideas come from.

I'm based in Chicago, but I work wherever the work is good. Discovery sessions happen in person — your office, your shop floor, your back office on a Tuesday morning. The distance has never stopped a good engagement. It helps that I love to travel — most client trips find a way to include a few extra days somewhere worth exploring.