About Me

I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. At age 10, I began playing piano by ear. At age 11 my Father bought our first piano and I began studying classical piano. I began composing music at age 12 and earned a piano performance scholarship to attend Furman University but quickly became interested in Philosophy — especially Eastern. There I met Dr. David Shaner who was a professor of Asian Philosophy. He was also a student of Koichi Tohei Sensei, the Founder of Shin Shin Toitso Do Aikido. I also began experimenting with jazz and performed with a number of different groups at Furman University.

After leaving Furman I went to graduate school at the University of North Texas to study Jazz. There, in a music composition class, I met my first Macintosh computer and it changed my life forever.  I knew technology would be a very important part of my future. I played music in various formats and began working with the Macintosh to create advertisements. Soon after, David Shaner Sensei, who had begun consulting Fortune 500 companies, hired me on to help him develop corporate performance programs for clients such as Duracell, Pepsico, Slazenger Golf, and Ryobi.

After 2 1/2 years with Shaner & Associates, I began my career in technology sales with Datastream Systems, Inc. After helping Datastream go from $12 million private company to a $90 million public company, I was hired by Wonderware Corporation, now a division of Invensys PLC. I helped launch and run the Global OEM business, first in Japan and then globally. I was then selected to lead the Asset Management business for Invensys after they acquired Avantis Software. I was also responsible for launching the Solution Selling Sales methodology on a company wide basis for Wonderware/Invensys.

Since Invensys, I’ve held various sales and business development roles with Dovebid, Inc., Gardner Group Resources, my own company that specialized in sales performance development, Cognos Corporation, and SuccessFactors.  I was recently asked to join the Sales Performance Office at IBM as a Sr. Sales Performance Coach.  I did so because I love helping salespeople perform better thus leading a better life.  I also believe in helping IBM create a Smarter Planet.  While I wholeheartedly believe in the mission of IBM, the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Whether it be music, sales, martial arts, technology, parenting… I am a lifelong student of how people and organizations perform.