Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
At my core, I’m a creative. Long before job titles or industries, music, storytelling, and self-expression were how I made sense of the world. Creativity has never been a side project for me—it’s the lens through which I understand systems, people, and meaning. I don’t separate creative work from “serious” work. I use creativity to explain, align, and move people through uncertainty. Whether I’m working on a business, a development project, or a community platform, storytelling is how clarity is created. DAFThub was born directly out of my own life. After spending nearly a decade living and working across the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands, I experienced firsthand how fragmented, confusing, and stressful cross-border entrepreneurship can be—especially for Americans navigating residency and business formation in Europe under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT). What started as informal guidance—answering questions, sharing hard-earned lessons, helping people avoid costly mistakes—grew into a structured platform. I built DAFThub to do what I wished had existed when I started: centralize accurate information, surface vetted providers, and create a real community around professional freedom abroad. DAFThub is not a hype project. It’s infrastructure. It reflects my belief that freedom isn’t accidental—it’s designed. And that entrepreneurs don’t need motivation as much as they need clarity, structure, and reliable systems. Oliver Emerson Development: Applying Discipline to Place In 2026, I stepped into the role of Chief Operating Officer at Oliver Emerson Development LLC, a Rockford-based real estate development firm founded by my father, Oliver Emerson Sr., and led by my brother, Oliver Emerson Jr. The company focuses on historic preservation and adaptive reuse, including the redevelopment of the Watch Factory in downtown Rockford—an ambitious project involving public funding, HUD-related financing, private lenders, architects, contractors, and long-term operational planning. I approach real estate development the same way I approached 11+ years in aerospace: assume complexity, surface risk early, avoid heroics, and build systems that prevent failure rather than explain it afterward. My role is to impose structure, preserve optionality, and ensure that decisions made today don’t trap the projects tomorrow. For me, Oliver Emerson Development represents a convergence point—where creative thinking, operational rigor, financial systems, and long-term stewardship meet in physical space.
DAFThub is an online community and platform that supports American business owners in The Netherlands navigating the DAFT (Dutch American Friendship Treaty) residence permit. This is done by hosting events, publishing fact-checked information, linking them to a business directory of Providers and Partners, developing tools, and more, to ensure they can develop and maintain legal businesses and residency in The Netherlands.
I'm the VP of Strategy & Operations at Oliver Emerson Development LLC, responsible for day-to-day execution, operational governance, and project management across the company’s development portfolio. I oversee project planning, budget adherence, construction oversight, and the transition of completed assets into stabilized operations. With a background in operations, supply chain, and complex project execution in the Aerospace industry, I bring structure and discipline to OED’s developments—ensuring that ambitious projects are delivered on schedule, within budget, and in alignment with lender and regulatory requirements.
Responsible for the operational success of a global network of suppliers and assembly partners across EMEA and North America.
Responsible for the sustained improvement of on-time delivery and quality while proactively managing risk for five aerospace suppliers in the EMEA region.
Managed the North American supply chain delivering into our EU, UK, and Indian sites. My presence at the supplier drove improvements in delivery, quality, and cost to obtain buffer stock requirements.
Responsible for managing cross-functional teams such as engineering, quality, operations, and contracts to ensure on-time delivery and right-first-time quality to an international customer base.