Most people experience change in search and digital marketing as a series of confusing updates. I’ve experienced it as a series of system shifts.
Over the past two decades, I’ve watched discovery evolve from directories, to links, to intent signals, and now to AI systems that sit between content and audiences. The rules didn’t suddenly change the layers did. Much of today’s confusion comes from trying to explain new systems using old mental models.
My work focuses on helping people understand those shifts clearly, without hype, fear, or oversimplification.
How My Perspective Was Formed
I’ve spent my career on both sides of the discovery equation building platforms, and helping organizations operate within them.
At Microsoft, I worked on Bing as a Senior Product Marketing Manager and led the launch of Bing Webmaster Tools, creating resources to help publishers and developers improve visibility and site performance. During that time, I also helped bring Schema.org to life, working at the intersection of structured data, search engines, and the open web.
Later, as Vice President of Industry Insights at Yext, I worked hands-on with hundreds of organizations to diagnose visibility, content, and discovery challenges, translating how search systems actually worked into actionable guidance teams could use.
I’ve also led agency operations as VP of Operations at Bruce Clay, Inc., overseeing SEO, paid media, content, and platform strategy, and earlier in my career I worked in-house, managing search and digital programs inside large organizations.
That combination – platform builder, practitioner, and advisor – shapes how I think. I don’t approach problems from theory alone. I approach them from how systems behave in the real world.
What I Focus On Now
Today, my work centers on helping leaders and teams navigate the shift to AI-driven discovery.
AI systems are no longer just tools. They’re intermediaries, deciding what content gets retrieved, summarized, cited, or ignored. That has implications far beyond rankings, touching trust, authority, and how businesses are understood by machines before they’re ever seen by people.
I spend my time helping organizations make sense of that change, pressure-test assumptions, and build strategies that hold up as discovery continues to evolve.
How I Approach the Work
I don’t sell shortcuts or silver bullets.
I work best with people who want clarity, not comfort, and who understand that adapting to new systems requires rethinking language, metrics, and expectations.
My role is to help teams:
- Understand what’s actually changing
- Separate signal from noise
- Make informed decisions grounded in how modern discovery systems function
That usually means fewer tactics, better questions, and more durable thinking.
Outside the Work
Away from screens and systems, I spend time building guitars and exploring the back country.
Both are exercises in patience and problem-solving, working with materials, constraints, and environments where there’s no instruction manual and no reset button. You plan carefully, adapt when things don’t go as expected, and respect the system you’re operating within.
It turns out that mindset transfers well.
Where to Go Next
If you’re interested in how I think about modern discovery, you might explore the frameworks I use, read more about my work, or reach out to start a conversation.