Interests
The best strategists are relentlessly curious. They pull insights from unexpected places, see patterns others miss, and stay sharp by constantly learning new things. That’s why I’m never just focused on work. I’m always building something, learning something, or exploring somewhere new.
The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for a newer and richer experience.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Sherman Acres (Maple Syrup)
Sherman Acres is our family-operated maple syrup farm in central New Hampshire, where a hobby turned into a full-scale passion project and a real small business.
There’s something deeply satisfying about working with the land and the seasons. Every late winter, we tap the maple trees across our property, running lines from the woods directly into our sugar house. When we’re boiling, the air fills with the smell of maple. It’s impossible not to smile. We bottle everything on-site and sell it online, shipping to customers who appreciate pure, high-quality New Hampshire maple syrup.
I love that Sherman Acres gives me an excuse to be outdoors, working with my hands on something completely different from enterprise strategy. It’s also fun to run a small business again: managing inventory, dealing with customers, making product decisions, and handling the e-commerce side. It keeps me connected to what it feels like to build something from scratch and manage every detail yourself.
The best part? We’re constantly expanding. Each year we add more taps, refine our process, and experiment with new products like bourbon barrel-aged syrup. It reminds me why I fell in love with entrepreneurship in the first place: you see an opportunity, you build something, and you share it with people who appreciate what you’ve made.
Sherman’s Rockin Illuminations (Animated Holiday Lights)
Every holiday season I run Sherman’s Rockin Illuminations, a light show synchronized to music that’s become a neighborhood tradition. It’s also a serious engineering project: thousands of lights, custom sequences, power distribution planning, and electronics that have to survive a New England winter.
The fun is in the puzzle. How do you sync lights to music down to the beat? How do you power that many fixtures without tripping breakers? Each year I add something new, and every addition brings a new problem to solve. Watching families pull up and kids light up makes every hour of programming worth it.
Woodworking
I’ve been building things since I was a kid, from LEGOs to scrap wood projects. These days I build furniture for my home and for friends and family brave enough to commission a piece.
Woodworking is problem solving with your hands. You start with rough lumber and an idea, then figure out how to make it real. My day job is designing strategies and operating models, which is important work but abstract. At the end of a day in the shop, there’s a table or a cabinet that didn’t exist that morning.
Racing Motorcycles
I raced motorcycles for years at the local, regional, and national level. At my peak, I carried 30+ corporate sponsors and was ranked among the top riders in New England.
Racing teaches you things you can’t learn anywhere else. At 150+ mph you read the situation instantly, trust your preparation, and commit to your line, because hesitation is how you crash. I bring the same habit to work: make the call, then commit to it fully.
Photography
I picked up photography in 2005 and haven’t put the camera down since. It trains you to notice light, composition, and moments most people walk right past.
That habit carries straight into strategy work. Good photographers and good strategists both look for what others miss, then frame it so the story is obvious. Photography also gives me an excuse to explore new places and spend time in the studio experimenting with light.
SCUBA Diving
I started diving young and have always been drawn to the ocean, especially the tropics. Most of my dives have been in Hawaii and the Caribbean.
Diving demands complete presence. Sixty feet down, you’re watching your air, your buoyancy, your surroundings, and your dive buddy, and panic is the one thing you can’t afford. That calm comes with me when I’m working on a problem I haven’t seen before.
Certifications:
- Open Water
- Advanced Open Water
- Enriched Air
- Rescue Diver
- Divemaster
Flying
I started flying in 2011 out of Syracuse Hancock airport and got hooked fast. Flying is technical precision plus freedom. You follow procedures exactly, and once you’re up there, the possibilities are wide open.
Pilots plan carefully, adapt when the weather or the aircraft throws something at them, and trust their instruments over their instincts. It’s the same discipline good strategy work demands.
Current Certificates/Endorsements:
- Commercial Pilot (Instrument – Single Engine)
- High Performance Aircraft
- Complex Aircraft
- High Altitude Aircraft
