Product & technology leader · Philadelphia

I lead the product and engineering behind online businesses.

Seventeen years in ecommerce technology, leading teams as VP of Technology & Product, Director of Engineering and CTO, most of them at Wine Access. Now I'm the founder of thewaitlist.

01About

I joined Wine Access in 2007 as one of its first employees and helped build the company through roughly 50x revenue growth, culminating in its sale to a private equity firm.

In 2014 I moved into fintech at Thomson Reuters, working with several major banks to gather requirements for their FATCA/KYC compliance software, then with the teams that built and tested it. Financial services runs in my family, too: I held a Pennsylvania life insurance license for my family's insurance business and helped my dad organize policy renewals. When Wine Access's ownership transition after the sale proved difficult, I came back in 2015 to help get the technology organization back on track. At one point in 2018 I was the company's only technologist, running development, QA and product single-handedly for the better part of a year, before rebuilding the team and rising to VP of Technology & Product. Throughout, gathering requirements from marketing, product and the rest of the business was a core part of my job, and I ran the team's Agile sprints to deliver them.

After Wine Access, I spent 2025 as fractional CTO of BottlePop.com, leading the tech team on an MVP for a wine retail concept powered by influencer marketing. The product/market fit wasn't there, and the project wound down. In 2026 I founded thewaitlist. I'm still endlessly curious: I spent a year in Wharton's executive CTO program, where a deep dive into product management reshaped how I think about a field I've worked in for over a decade. The throughline, in work and in the cellar: stay curious, taste everything.

02Track record

Results from my years leading technology and product at Wine Access.

50x

Revenue growth at Wine Access, from early hire to its sale to a PE firm

+62%

Revenue where my AWS Personalize recommendation engine ran

400%

Pandemic traffic surge absorbed after a serverless migration, with zero downtime

~50%

Lower database cost after moving MySQL to Amazon Aurora

17 yrs

In ecommerce technology, leading teams as VP, Director and CTO

20 yrs

In the wine industry, starting behind the counter

03Recent work

Write-ups of things I've built lately.

No. 4 · October 2026

Fun Sheets: Science & Math for Curious Kids

My boys, 11 and 9, ask questions faster than we can answer them, so we keep a notebook in the car just to catch them. The best ones become printable fun sheets, made with Claude: why strange quarks are strange, why thinking about pizza makes you hungry, how soap actually works, and, since my older son jumped ahead to Algebra 1, every algebra topic he has questions about. Each one is a page or a short set of real science, a spotlight story and a puzzle with the answers printed upside down.

Browse all fun sheets →

No. 3 · August 2026

Rebuilding WXPN's 1966 Day, One API Call at a Time

WXPN spent a whole day playing 1966, and I wanted those 239 songs as a Spotify playlist, in broadcast order. The AI connector couldn't do it, so it became a Python script, a 24-hour rate-limit lockout, and 233 tracks matched with an honest list of the six that got away.

Read the write-up →

No. 2 · May–July 2026

The Car Line That Built a Company

Idling in my kids' school car line, I watched a clipboard-and-walkie-talkie operation shout names into the wind, so I built thewaitlist. The software took a weekend; getting phone carriers to let me send one text took an LLC, an EIN and five rejections.

Read the write-up →

04Experience

From one of Wine Access's first employees to VP, then CTO and founder.

2026 – now

Founder · thewaitlist, Halp Holding LLC

A queue-management app for businesses with a walk-in line: customers join by QR code, and the owner taps once to text them when it's their turn. Launched October 2026.

2025

Fractional CTO · BottlePop.com

Led the tech team building an MVP for a wine retail concept powered by influencer marketing. We tested fast, didn't find product/market fit, and the project wound down.

2022 – 2024

VP of Technology & Product · Wine Access

Led an 8-person team and ran its Agile sprints. Built behavioral models for targeted recommendations and was tech lead on an LLM email pilot with Chicago Booth and YPO.

2019 – 2022

Director of Engineering · Wine Access

Serverless migration to AWS Lambda that absorbed a 400% pandemic surge with no downtime; an AWS Personalize recommendation engine (+62% revenue); temperature-aware shipping logistics.

2018 – 2019

Engineering Manager · Wine Access

For nearly half a year, the company's only technologist, running development, QA and product. Moved MySQL to Amazon Aurora for roughly 50% lower database cost.

2015 – 2018

Software Engineer & Product Specialist · Wine Access

Came back after the company's sale to help stabilize technology. Primary engineer for requirements gathering with the marketing and product teams. Shipped Django/Python features across catalog, checkout and CRM, and served as acting DevOps manager.

2014 – 2015

Technology Consultant · Thomson Reuters, fintech

Relationship manager and business analyst for several major banks rolling out FATCA/KYC compliance software. Gathered requirements from their compliance stakeholders, worked with the teams that built and tested the software, and trained bank staff on site.

2007 – 2014

Website Technical Support Manager · Wine Access

One of the company's first employees. Managed 150+ retailer relationships, helped build an early wine comparison-shopping engine, and maintained the CMS behind Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, then one of the world's most respected wine publications. Part of the core team that grew revenue 50x to the company's sale.

05Education & recognition

Wharton Executive Education · 2024–2025

Chief Technology Officer Program

A year-long "mini MBA" in technology leadership: 18 core modules and three six-week electives, including a deep dive into product management.

AWS webinar

Featured speaker, "A Perfect Pairing"

How Wine Access scaled 400% and cut costs 50% with machine learning on AWS.

Watch the recording (18 min) →

Villanova University · 2011–2015

B.I.S., Information Technology

Earned while working at Wine Access, to sharpen my skills and build my own ideas. The company was small enough that I could use it right away, growing from a manager and product guy into one who can also build the vision as an engineer.

Language

Southern Vietnamese, B1

Reading and writing ahead of listening. Classes plus self-study, five-plus hours a week.