About me

• 1973 – 1987 — Senior Systems Engineer at Digital Telephone Systems
• 1987 – 1990 — Founder/Engineering Director – Architecture and System Design at Optilink
• 1990 – 1994 — Director of System Engineering, Senior Engineer DSC Communications
• 1994 – 2001 — Founder , CTO, President , Co-CEO at Next Level Communications
• 1999 – 2001 — Founder, CTO, System Engineer, Next Level Communications, a Motorola Company
• 2002 – 2008 — Founder, Chief Strategic Officer, Board Member at Arrive Technologies, Vietnam
• 2008 – 2010 — Semi-retired Climate Change Obsessive, Strategist and Personal Carbon Neutral Implementer

My experience began with circuit and firmware design in early digital PABX systems at Digital Telephone Systems, San Rafael, CA. while under its CEO and founder Don Green and was serendipitously hired by now Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.  This work evolved into architectural design, system design and circuit and software implementation within the Harris 20/20 digital PABX.  My passion at  Harris/DTS led to my being asked by Don Green to evaluate the opportunity presented to him by Venture Capitalists that ultimately led to my joining and the formation of Optilink. Our highly successful and amazing endeavor was to create the first highly intelligent, fully integrated, SONET  fiber optic based TR-303 compliant Optical/Digital Loop Carrier. When I then joined the founding team of Optilink, myself and its brilliant founding team  collaborated  to create a marvelous product.  I led the system design and implementation of sections of the  Litespan 2000, the first SONET/TR-303 intelligent Next Generation Digital Loop Carrier.

My architectural work led me to also routinely be dragged away as the primary technical sales spokesman for Optilink/DSC. The product we developed has sold into all of the RBOCs plus GTE, something rarely done with a strategic Network Component.  The Litespan 2000 and it’s Litespan 2012 variant now serves telephone or broadband service to between  50 and 60 million homes or business’s in the United States according to its now owner Alcatel/Lucent. That represents nearly 1/3 of the population of the US. The success of Optilink/DSC resulted in both spin-offs or attracted new high-tech Telecom Equipment Suppliers such that the Santa Rosa Valley was coined the name “Telecom Valley“. Today I live in Sonoma on 10 acres with my significant other Geneva enjoying whatever creative endeavor I encounter.

Throughout these high-tech founding experiences I developed both a vision and passion for solving problems with large teams of brilliant people and succeed. I also leaned about the dark side of passionate creativity. I encountered a wrong and horrific law suit brought by my previous employer, DSC, for whom I had helped hand them one of the most successful Telecom products in history. I also learned the very personal lesson that even good  friends with apparent strong ethics and a former DTS manager that also joined Optilink, David Ehreth , could turn ravenous using his power at DSC in an attempt at destroying his old fiend. It was interesting he asserted I stole roughly the same 5 trade secrets he used against Don Green and John Webley’s Advanced Fiber Corporation (AFC)  a year earlier. These were two important lessons about humanity I learned that put me along with my system’s vision and passion on a course to help fight one of man’s greatest challenges – Anthropogenic Global Warming and the resulting Climate Instability!

My specialties include my ability to utilize my 30 years of Telecom/WAN systems & business experience ranging from circuit/software design, architectural design, product planning, founding multiple crazy Startups, working with and leading teams of brilliant engineers, marketing and sales technology spokesman, fund-raising, design & company management and involvement in acquisitions and a multi-$billion 1999 well-timed IPO. I hope to find a way to utilize my wild set of experiences and passions to help in whatever way I can with this problem of all problems for the sake of my children and the world children. We owe it to the billions that came before us not to allow our emotions from unravelling everything learned over man’s million years of existence.