Hi. You can call me Kelso.

I have over 15 years of experience in both hands-on and leadership roles in application development and data engineering. From a business-knowledge expert learning to write code, I've grown to become a director-level leader in IT at a Fortune 100 company.

Throughout my career, I've worn many hats, going from a DSL-specific rules writer for IBM ILOG JRules to a Java server developer, to a mobile developer, a data engineer, and beyond. I've worked in diverse industries, including insurance and finance, healthcare, consumer apps, enterprise apps, and data.

I'm proud of my ability to adapt to new technologies and take on new challenges, always striving to learn and grow. Whether leading teams or contributing individually, my focus remains on driving success for both clients and colleagues.

• Learn More About My Experience

I'm a leader, learner, communicator, and technologist. As a leader, I prioritize supporting and growing the people I lead. My non-traditional path to my current role has taught me the importance of being adaptable and embracing the unknown, making me a lifelong learner. As a communicator, I strive to distill our vision, mission, and values into an easy-to-understand paradigm, so that our goals are clear and ingrained in our culture. And as a technologist, I'm always seeking to expand my knowledge and expertise, exploring new programming languages and emerging technologies.

• Learn More About My Philosophy

I graduated valedictorian of a small high school class. I was inspired to pursue a career in technology by my computer repair and robotics teacher. He ignited my passion for the field and encouraged me to major in Electrical Engineering. I enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, but, after attending for over two years, I realized that Electrical Engineering Technology was not equivalent to Electrical Engineering, and I couldn't afford to start over. I was the first person from my family to attend university, and didn't understand the difference between majors until I'd dug into the coursework.

I began my career at the Cincinnati Insurance Companies as an insurance rater, where I learned how to manually calculate premiums for commercial insurance policies. Later, I was hired onto a software development team that was implementing a system to automate that math. Here, I was lucky enough to learn from experienced mentors, who shared their knowledge and guided me as the team leveraged my business expertise. I also supplemented my knowledge with open course work from MIT and Stanford. Though I was initially brought on as a business expert, I fell in love with tech and pursued it wholeheartedly.

Through my experiences, I have learned that while it is possible to pursue a career in tech without a degree, it is a challenging path. Traditional coursework can provide a solid foundation and make the journey easier. Nonetheless, I am proud of the career I have built and the ability to learn and adapt quickly.

I live in Hebron, KY with my wife and three young kids. We enjoy spending time together exploring new places and making memories on the open road with our RV. I love to get lost in a good book, particularly in the space opera or fantasy genres. When I'm not reading, I enjoy building and tinkering with my custom-built gaming PC, and I'm always up for a good match of League of Legends.