ABOUT ME
An awesome dad, killer novelist, product-design unicorn, & cancer survivor.
A PROBLEM SOLVER WHO GETS THINGS DONE.
I’m a veteran design leader with over 25 years experience working with some of the biggest creative agencies, consultancies, and brands in the Southeast and beyond. Alongside my amazing wife, I co-founded the #1 Clutch-ranked user-experience design agency, J+E Creative. I recently served as the Executive Design Director for MaxMedia in Atlanta, and am currently one of the founders of the Roswell-based product design agency, Sharpen Partners.
Throughout my career, I’ve used a process known as design thinking to create award-winning solutions for client’s ranging from startups to Fortune 500 giants. This user-centered, iterative problem-solving process emphasizes empathy, creativity, and collaboration to deliver effective solutions for almost any audience in almost any industry—even government. And I thinks it’s high time such a constituent-first approach was brought to bear in Georgia’s legislature.
A COMMUNICATOR WHO’S GOT A WAY WITH WORDS.
I’m the award-winning author of the acclaimed scifi-western novel, Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man—a Philip K. Dick Award nominee, Georgia Author of the Year nominee, and Nook selection. My writings—fiction and non-fiction—have been featured in Creative Loafing, The Grantville Gazette, The International Journal of the Book, Newsweek, Paste, and Smashing Magazine. My novel-length work is represented by The Zack Company.
I’m also an accomplished teacher and public speaker. I taught US history at The University of Georgia and design at the Atlanta College of Art, Creative Circus, and General Assembly. I’ve even led training programs for companies and organizations ranging from Mailchimp to the US Department of Defense.
A LOCAL BOY WHO’S GROWN UP WITH GEORGIA.
I grew up in the North Atlanta suburbs—the son of a pediatric registered nurse from Quebec and a chemical engineer from New Hampshire—where I attended Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School and graduated as part of their first high school class. I later attended St. Andrews University, Scotland, and graduated from both Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, and the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) with a bachelor’s in medieval history and a master’s in US-Middle Eastern foreign policy history, respectively.
A proud child of the ‘80s and ‘90s, I like to think I’ve grown with the metro area, embracing the optimism, the diversity, and the hustle that’s brought our area so much success—from the Olympic Games to our status as one of the fastest growing states and economies in the country.
A FATHER WHO WANTS THE BEST FOR ALL OUR KIDS.
My family is big and blended and amazing! My wife Ellie—a former film actress who currently places marketing and technology staff as a recruiter—and I live in downtown Roswell with our five awesome kiddos. Malcolm, Sean, Jack, Matthew, and Lily range from 13 to 18 and attend Crabapple Middle and Roswell High Schools. We also have three dogs, two cats, and two turtles. Oh my.
Like a lot of families, we’ve been through a lot: The blending of two households, experimenting with charter schools, sudden health emergencies (for both Ellie and me), struggling with health insurers as small business entrepreneurs, and—most recently—navigating the anti-trans legislation authored by our incumbent state senator and neighbor.
But we remain positive and resilient, knowing a better Georgia is on the way.
LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH.
Open communication is a cornerstone of good representation—and something sadly lacking in many Georgia senate districts, including the 56. I pledge to respond to everyone who reaches out. So email me anytime at:
You can also keep up with me and my state senate campaign by signing up for occasional updates (I promise, not too many 😇). Or connect with my campaign on your favorite social platform: