About

I’ve spent my career telling stories and helping others tell theirs. These days, that means building the systems that let teams do complex work well: the plans, cadences, and documentation that make progress visible and keep decisions moving, so the stories actually get told.

What I do now

At Pitt, I built the project management structure for our video, photo, content, design, events, and special projects teams, and I lead the plans for integrated marketing campaigns. I’m also structuring our project data so AI workflows can turn it into real-time reporting. At MIT, I’m working with researchers on a tool that helps teams see where AI fits in their work at the task level.

How I work

Creative teams do their best work when the structure around them is solid and mostly invisible. I design the processes behind the work: approvals, budgets, timelines, and stakeholder communication. I document them so they outlast any one project or person.

I also use AI the way I think it works best: on top of well-structured information, turning streams of project data into answers a team can use right away.

How I got here

I grew up in a small town in northern Appalachia, earned my master’s from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and jumped into the dot-com boom as a staff writer and multimedia editor at Wired. Those early years taught me how technology was reshaping storytelling, a theme that’s defined my career ever since. From there:

  • MIT Technology Review: Senior producer and editor. I built a 10-person digital news operation and led a redesign that tripled traffic in a year.
  • Northern Kentucky University and Ball State University: I directed media programs and co-developed Ball State’s Center for Emerging Media Design & Development.
  • ETC Press, Carnegie Mellon: Editor, then director and editorial director. I scaled the press from 15 to 45 titles a year and built workflows for 300+ authors across four continents.
  • Carnegie Mellon University Libraries: Managing editor and senior communications project manager. I ran the exhibits and publications for CMU’s 125th anniversary, and I relaunched and directed the University Archives’ oral history program.
  • iGeneration Youth: Fractional director of operations, building the cadences, dashboards, and documentation that moved the organization from founder-only knowledge to team-owned execution.

Along the way, I built a few things of my own:

  • Dungeons & Dreamers: A book I co-authored on how computer games built global communities.
  • The Geeky Press: An Indianapolis writing collective I founded and grew to 800 members, publishing several anthologies.
  • The Downtown Writers Jam: A podcast of long-form biographical conversations with writers.
  • Play Story Press: An open-access publisher of research on games, technology, education, and society, where I was a founding editor.

You’ll find more on Past Projects.

Writing and editing

My work spans traditional and digital publishing, from daily newspapers to university presses. I’ve written for Wired, Business 2.0, The Hollywood Reporter, and many others. Just as important, I’ve helped build editorial teams and publishing programs that give other people a platform to share their stories.

Recognition

  • UCDA Design Awards, 2026: Silver Award for Room to Imagine: 125 Years of Carnegie Mellon University
  • UCDA Design Awards, 2026: Award of Excellence for the Room to Imagine companion newspaper
  • UCDA Design Awards, 2025: Silver Award for Like, Totally Transformative: CMU in the ’80s
  • UCDA Design Awards, 2025: Award of Excellence for the Like, Totally Transformative hallway signage
  • PR Xchange Awards, 2025: Winner, Exhibits/Virtual Exhibits, for Like, Totally Transformative
  • UCDA Design Awards, 2025: Award of Excellence for Legacy of Innovation

Education and credentials

  • M.J., Journalism, University of California, Berkeley
  • Graduate certificate, Human-Computer Interaction, Indiana University Indianapolis
  • B.S., Communication Education, Miami University
  • Project Management Institute: Generative AI for Project Managers series (four courses, 2025)
  • Carnegie Mellon University: Project Management Facilitator (2026), Project Management Advisor (2025), and Change Management Agent (2025)
  • Certificate in Oral History for Social Change, Institute for Diversity and Civic Life (2024)

Community

I’ve been part of South by Southwest for more than 30 years, including eight years as finals emcee and judge for SXSW Pitch, and I serve on the SXSW Interactive Programming Board. I’m a member of PEN America and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs.

Let’s connect

I’m always up for a conversation with fellow writers, editors, and project managers about storytelling, operations, and how teams are actually using AI. Get in touch or find me on LinkedIn.