It's probably fair to say that my somewhat scattered range of skill and interest may be of significant value to some, yet only mildly entertaining to others. Either way is praise indeed. Tucked nicely between epic road trips and other unemployed diversions have come some really intersting projects, wonderful collaborators, and a few business class scandals. Below is a resumé of sorts and picture galleries of some of my work.

After spending the past 10 years or so as some sort of creative director for numerous west coast advertising and design agencies (with stopovers in NYC, Paris and Atlanta along the way), I have finally wised up and realized a few things here in Portland, Oregon of all places...

1) I want to solve serious client problems and catalyze energetic teams around a vision that satisfies them, more so than I want to govern corporate policies and comp time. 2) I am a paradoxical idea designer, writer and free strategic thinker--not a decorator, pixel pusher or unaffected supervisor. And 3) No matter how hard I try, I still don't much care for coffee.

My main areas of professional focus have been brand creation, digital media and integrated marketing. Between my time at Hornall Anderson in 2005 and now with Ziba Design here in Portland, I continued my independent client work while pursuing other interests like photography, movie making, biking, and just being outdoors. Yes, I believe in having a life. Oddly enough, I didn't used to.

My work in the communication arts started back in 1990, after giving up my rock star dream and leaving the Hollywood clubs for the Pacific Northwest. Somehow, though not entirely by accident, I soon found myself doing set design and building work for Seattle Shakespeare, Fox Television and other local theatre groups. I subsidized this very creative, albeit fiscally meager time with a few modest graphic design jobs as well.

Then in 1994, I did a couple pretty smart things. For one, I finally put away the rubilith and x-acto knife, and taught myself how to use a computer. Second, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area just as the technology and internet boom began. It was an exciting time and I learned a lot in the coming years of long hours and crashes on the office sofa--attending to some interesting projects for Apple, Disney and Dilbert.

In 1999, I gladly accepted a creative director post with well respected design and interactive firm, CKS Partners, in Cupertino, California. As the firm evolved into USWeb/CKS, which then became the global behemoth, marchFIRST, I found myself living in Paris, France and leading a multi-national account and agency team that spanned nine offices.

After my time in Europe, the company promoted me to Partner and Executive Creative Director heading up our Brand Building group in Atlanta. Here, I was responsible for integrating a multi-disciplined branding, marketing and development staff of 50+, while growing our creative leadership in the Southwest region. Significant account wins during my time there included McDonald's, Disneyworld and Zurich Financial.

I was hired in 2004 by Seattle's Hornall Anderson Design Works (Omnicom) -- specializing in brand identity, packaging, digital media and environmental design. As Senior Design Director, I led the creative direction and production of numerous strategic design projects for clients such as Ciena, Paperboy Ventures, Weyerhauser and Intel. Great work. Good people.

And that brings us right back to where this thing started.