What 20+ Years in Tech Taught Me (And Why I’m Writing Now)
On a flight, I was talking to the person next to me about work, passion, and the things we enjoy doing.
I told them I was a marketer doing the typical marketing things. Then I added, almost as an aside, “I always wanted to be a writer.
They looked at me and said: “You are a writer.”
And they were right. I’ve spent my career writing all types of marketing content, blogs, messaging, emails, narratives that help companies explain what they do and why it matters.
So, I am a writer.
This blog is a reflection of that and a place to share what I’ve learned along the way. Because I’ve been blessed with a very full and diverse career.
Where it started
I started in cost accounting at Texaco, moved into finance, and eventually into business development negotiating large-scale agreements like pipeline builds, refinery sales, and fuel supply contracts for major metropolitan areas.
Then I made a leap into tech.
A friend at Silicon Graphics recruited me to sell professional services into the oil and gas industry. I didn’t know much about IT, but I understood the customer. That turned out to matter more.
The role took me around the world (including my first international trip to Rio de Janeiro), into some of the largest oil and gas accounts, and on multiple Presidents Club trips. I kept exceeding quota, so like many tech companies do, they moved me into leadership.
Then the dot-com bust hit and I got my first layoff.
Welcome to tech.
This is the work I love
I joined Cray to lead their HPC Cluster solutions, helping build and deliver cluster solutions tied to systems like Red Storm for Sandia National Laboratories.
One moment I’ll never forget: a full rack shipment to Madrid for the Ministry of Defense arrived damaged. Not ideal especially when it could impact future supercomputer deployments. Within five hours, working across teams and time zones, we diagnosed and solved the issue.
From “this is bad” to “we’ve got it handled.” That’s the kind of work I love.
The Open Source era
As the industry redefined itself post dot-com, I expanded with it. I started my own marketing consulting business. I worked in enterprise partner marketing. And then I found open source. And it changed everything.
At Dell’s {code}, I got a front-row seat to what passionate communities can build, working with the amazing Josh Bernstein, Amanda Katona, and Jonas Rosland.
Then to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, where I joined as the first dedicated marketing hire, working alongside Dan Kohn, a true leader in the space.
It was a period of explosive growth from 26 to 66 projects, the creation of the cloud native roadmap, and membership growing from 170 organizations in 2017 to over 500 by 2020. These were the early days of proving cloud native is real. We didn’t just market the technology, we told the stories of the people using it. That became the foundation of the End User program.
Next was RISC-V where I built the marketing function from the ground up with the amazing Calista Redmond. There, we grew global awareness, built programs and communications to show technology proof, and fostered a thriving community.
Alongside that, I co-founded the Open Hardware Diversity Alliance, bringing multiple organizations together to expand access and opportunity in open hardware. Launching this with Marjan Radi at the RISC-V Summit in 2021 was one of the highlights of my career.
The next shift
I left the Open Source Foundation system and went to a number of large enterprise and start-up organizations to lead marketing and community. During this period of the “great reset and end of easy money”, we are seeing the shift from cloud to AI infrastructure, to growth at all costs, the new way buyers are learning, and from noise to (hopefully) clarity.
Which brings me back to writing.
As I look ahead to the later stage of my career, I’m focusing on what I do best:
Explaining complex ideas clearly
Helping teams align around what matters
Teaching what actually works (and what doesn’t)
I’ve learned a lot. And I enjoy sharing it.
The big tie to writing
So this blog is where I’ll do that. Experience fosters growth.
I’ll write about:
Marketing in technical and open source environments
Messaging, positioning, and GTM strategy
Events, community, and ecosystem growth
How AI is changing marketing
Practical, experience-based insights.
If something here helps you think differently, make a better decision, or avoid a mistake, I’ll consider that a win.
And if you have a topic you want me to cover, let me know. There’s a good chance I’ve seen it and have something to say about it.
