Career
Technical executive and entrepreneur with experience founding companies, leading engineering organizations, and architecting systems that scale to millions of users. I’ve served as CTO, VP of Engineering, and engineering lead across financial technology, government infrastructure, and digital identity.
Current Engagement
At SpruceID, I lead engineering for digital identity systems deployed by state governments. My work delivers standards-compliant mobile credentials serving millions of users, with implementations receiving TSA approval for airport authentication. I architect cross-platform Rust SDKs and contribute to open standards including ISO/IEC 18013-5 mobile driver’s licenses and OpenID credential protocols.
Entrepreneurial & Start-Up Journey
Emergent Financial, LLC (Founder, 2018–Present) Founded to build financial technology software and maintain intellectual property including U.S. Patent US18/082,630 for cryptographic systems enabling high-volume digital transactions with advanced security guarantees.
Knox Networks (CTO) Led technical strategy and engineering for central bank digital currency infrastructure.
Token, Inc. (VP of Engineering) Directed engineering organization building open banking APIs and payment infrastructure.
M10 Networks (Staff Engineer) Architected distributed ledger systems for monetary authorities and commercial banks, including real-time settlement and cross-border payment protocols.
ConsenSys (Senior Engineer) Early contributor to enterprise blockchain solutions and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, developing proof-of-concept systems for Fortune 50 companies.
Distributed Systems
My technical work focuses on high-performance, fault-tolerant systems:
Financial Infrastructure: Architected low-latency systems for CBDCs and payment networks, specializing in Rust-based microservices for concurrent transaction processing. Designed adapters to legacy bank APIs, cross-border protocols, and real-time settlement systems.
Identity Systems: Built government-scale credential systems with strict uptime requirements, implementing horizontal scaling, offline-first operation, peer-to-peer verification, and secure credential exchange.
Protocol Development: Created RPC frameworks over HTTP/3, implemented consensus mechanisms, and contributed to standards bodies defining next-generation identity and payment protocols.
Policy & Leadership
In 2020, I ran for Washington’s 10th Congressional District on a platform focused on financial technology policy, Federal Reserve modernization, and digital payment infrastructure. The campaign informed my perspective on the intersection of technology and regulation—experience I apply directly in building compliant systems for government and financial institutions.
Education
Dual B.A. degrees from the University of Puget Sound (2011):
- International Political Economy
- International Business & Finance
Advanced Chinese language study at East China Normal University and Tunghai University.