San Francisco Bay Area
I build AI products that survive contact with the real world. I've done it three times: as first product manager on the IBM Watson Computer Vision team, scaling APIs to 15+ global markets and 1,700% MAU growth in six months; as VP of Product at Figure Eight (acquired by Appen for $300M); and most recently as VP of AI & Analytics and Sr. Director of Product at Blue Shield of California, where my teams built the Digital Member Health Record (6B records, sub-second mobile latency), MyTurn.CA.gov (the State of California's COVID vaccine platform), and AI governance for 80+ enterprise pilots and 5,000+ Microsoft Copilot users. Most AI executives have shipped in one context — enterprise, startup, or regulated incumbent. I've shipped in all three. The through-line is responsible AI in the places where it's hardest to do, and where it can do the most good — which is what I wrote the book on. Real World AI: A Practical Guide for Responsible Machine Learning (Lioncrest, 2021) is taught in the MBA curriculum at the Walton College, University of Arkansas. Named to Modern Healthcare 40 Under 40 in 2025. Three issued US patents. Currently building Grounded Work with two partners — fractional product leadership and market research for digital health & AI-for-healthcare founders. What I'm looking for next: a Chief Product Officer role at a Series B-D digital health or AI-for-healthcare company solving real problems around access, cost, or outcomes. If you're a CEO, recruiter, or founder working on something that fits, I'd love to hear from you.
Building Grounded Work — fractional CXO for founders in digital health and purpose built AI applications. Recent engagements include serving as fractional Chief Product Officer at Particle Health and speaking to DaVita's executive product leadership. Working where AI in healthcare actually moves the needle for access, cost, and outcomes. https://grounded-work.com
Advisor to Canvas Ventures and the CEOs of Series A & B health-tech and AI portfolio companies. • Strategized a market entry plan with one portfolio CEO that drove a >50% increase in usage (>800K calls vs <400K) in Jan 2025 for an AI-driven digital health startup • Enabled strategic partnerships that contributed to 50% YoY growth uplift for a health marketplace portfolio company • Pattern recognition across the portfolio on what is and isn't working in AI-driven health tech at the early stage
Co-author of Real World AI: A Practical Guide for Responsible Machine Learning (Lioncrest Publishing, 2021; with Wilson Pang). The book teaches business leaders how to take AI from concept to real-world production — picking the right problem, building a sound AI strategy and the right organization, finding the right data, running a pilot that actually ships, scaling sensibly, and reaching AI maturity without losing sight of ethics or business value. • 5,000+ copies sold; consistent 4.5-star rating on Amazon • Top 100 in the Machine Learning category for 6 months • Adopted into the MBA curriculum at Walton College, University of Arkansas • Reviewed favorably by leaders at NVIDIA, Forbes, Silicon Valley Product Group, IBM, and Google
Led a 120-person organization (data scientists, product managers, analysts, data engineers) building AI products and analytics platforms for a $26B nonprofit health plan serving 6M Californians. • Identified $35M in operational savings within 6 weeks by launching 4 production pilots across claims payment integrity, risk management automation, agent-supported software development, and call center assistive agents • Spearheaded DataScout — generative AI applied to a member health record of 6B+ records — decreasing speed of insights from weeks to seconds • Overhauled AI governance to increase deployment speed and transparency, resulting in 3x increase in AI production releases • Partnered with P&L and functional leaders enterprise-wide to drive measurable improvements in member and provider experience, costs, and health outcomes • Briefed the CEO twice monthly, as well as demos to Board, and senior leadership on AI strategy and progress
Partnered with the CIO to transform a 1,000-FTE / 3,000-contractor technology organization from a project-based to a product- and platform-based operating model across 16 Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. • Created an AI-first product framework: oversaw 80+ enterprise AI pilots and scaled Microsoft Copilot adoption to 5,000+ employees, achieving a 1,165% efficiency gain for our data engineering team. • Delivered a first-of-kind AI call center agent — 44% improved call containment, 94% agent satisfaction • Led strategy and development of the cloud-native Digital Member Health Record: 70+ data sets, 13,000+ data quality rules, 6B+ records accessible in sub-second latency from the mobile app while maintaining PHI and other regulatory compliance • Reduced enterprise data leak risk by 30%+ via AI-based oversight of external data sharing, aligned with Board Audit Committee standards • Built and delivered Board-level presentations to 270+ C-level executives across the BCBS family of plans
Hired to transform a 20-person product team into a high-performing function responsible for digital member experience across web, mobile, and all digital channels. • Drove 93% channel containment within 18 months (no call within 24 hours of digital activity) and a 9-point increase in NPS • Improved team engagement score by 20 points — contributing to Blue Shield of California earning the Fortune Best Workplaces in Health Care 2023 award • Managed $100M+ in annual strategic investments in digital health and security • Pioneered LLM- and ML-driven analysis of member voice data to drive product prioritization, cutting operational call volume (billing, appeals, grievances) by 10% • Achieved 50% YoY mobile traffic growth, 2% self-service gain, $6B+ in premiums processed, 80% transitioned to autopay • Selected to demo the Digital Member Health Record to the BSC Board of Directors as part of the inaugural top-talent innovation showcase
VP of Product at Figure Eight, an AI/ML data-platform company. Acquired by Appen for $175M in March 2019; remained as VP, AI & Data post-acquisition leading GTM and integration. • Scaled a 15-person product & design team specializing in AI/ML • Managed a $23M ARR product portfolio at 30% YoY growth • Designed and launched the Udacity AI Product Manager Nanodegree — 1,500+ students in the first 90 days; the program is ongoing as of 2026! • Built a customer sponsor program from scratch: 84 design partners in 90 days • Led the development of advanced training-data AI models that improved accuracy by 25%, increasing client satisfaction and retention through the acquisition • Negotiated strategic partnerships that expanded platform capabilities and drove a 30% increase in user base • Championed ethical AI through industry speaking engagements — the seed of what became Real World AI