So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Four years is the longest I’ve worked anywhere. Usually, I follow a rule of three: one year to learn a job, a second year to rock it, and third to hand off to someone else and start looking for the next growth opportunity. I’m proud of what got accomplished my first 2 years at this job, and I re-upped long enough to see the sequel through, but personal growth has slowed, opportunities have been constrained, and as has happened in the past, there’s nothing on offer that would make it worth sticking around any longer. I accomplished what I set out to do, so its time to move on.

In those four years, with the expert help of two tiny but amazing teams, we launched two products unlike anything anyone in our space has ever seen before. Shelby is the “Onboard Diagnostics Scanner” for industrial automation, with a friendly UI and an astoundingly simple setup experience. Sherlock is a legitimate artificial intelligence for manufacturing, invented by some of the nicest PHDs you’ll ever meet, who trusted us to bring it to market. Along the way, I got to form and help lead teams, invent and develop new ideas, and communicate cutting edge technology at the highest levels within my company and without. It was a good run. Worth the extra year, despite occasional emotional trauma.

Up next is my first experience in senior management. I’ve accepted the role of Chief Technology Architect, for an Institute within UCLA’s Office of Information Technology. In that capacity I’ll be working with some old friends, and some new ones, on a platform that has lots in common with Shelby — only at a larger, more impactful scale. Our goal is to plumb entire manufacturing enterprises for automatic information retrieval, while simultaneously funding and enabling academic research to create new value atop that data source.

Although the organization is based in Los Angeles, the Wises will remain stationed in Ohio, where I’ll be in close proximity to important partners and potential users. After nearly 6 months without significant work travel, I’ll be flexing my SkyMiles again with frequent trips to California — and where ever else potential partnerships can be developed.

Update: Press Release for the new gig.

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