Experience
Twenty-five years, four eras: networks and Unix systems, web platforms and commerce, experiential installations, and now AI. The same habit runs through all of it: find out why a system works the way it does, then build the next thing on top of it.
Roles
- 2025–now
Technical Owner, Enterprise AI learning platform (contract)
Confidential client
Technical owner, end to end, of an enterprise learning platform whose AI guide knows each learner and never invents what it doesn’t know.
- Turned a client’s open question, how do we use AI with our product, into a costed, phased plan and a six-week proof of concept on Bedrock, then took over their early-stage platform to bring the guide into it
- Owned it end to end for 11 months: architecture, AI, infrastructure, design and interface, with about 73% of today’s code across ~1,170 commits
- Grew it from one pilot to three signed enterprises, with a fourth close, each on its own isolated database and deployment, with content authored once and published read-only
- Built the AI guide on Claude via Bedrock: layered prompts, long-term memory learners can read, retrieval and 18 tools in a streamed loop with guardrails
- Tested it with agents: a synthetic cohort, a simulated working day, and a model-swap bench that found a higher rubric score (24/30 vs 19/30) at about 38% of the cost
- 2003–now
Founder, AI Innovation and Solutions Architect
Cre8ive Industries LLC, Atlanta, GA
Principal consultant for AI, automation and web projects, from boutique e-commerce in 2003 to agentic AI systems today.
- Fractional CTO for Cohezion, an AI startup: architected its AI infrastructure, mentored the dev team and led product strategy
- Technical team manager for Arival, an international travel research firm: ran a distributed team and brought in agile process
- Founded AI News Brew and ran it for three years: cross-sourced, bias-scored daily news with a haiku per story, closed when its data license ended with 5,738 articles archived
- Generative media work licensed by Horiar to mature its platform; wrote about 20 MCP servers so agents render images, video, voice and music on local hardware
- Built an LLM evaluation ladder that rated 44 local and cloud models over 378 matches, and distilled a 14B model that ranked fourth
- Earlier: an on-demand movie service in 2003, e-commerce and CRM for ElfOnTheShelf.com, product search for FloorAndDecorOutlets.com, and an email platform that sent hundreds of thousands of emails
- 2022–2023
Director of Software Development
Toolbox No. 9
Ran local and remote development teams delivering client web and application projects.
- Defined the strategy for modernizing and maintaining legacy client applications
- Supported business development through RFPs and proposals
- Owned timelines, resourcing and quality standards across the portfolio
- 2021
Director of Development and Innovation
LUCKIE
Led the development group, with a focus on innovation and delivery process.
- Stood up a 24-hour development and delivery pipeline for a major pharmaceutical client
- Managed local and international teams and tightened communication across them
- 2016–2021
VP of Development
Look Listen
Founded and led the experiential marketing practice: interactive installations and live activations for national brands.
- Built technology for AT&T, Samsung, IHG, AIG, Chevron and LG
- Mobile escape rooms, a Final Four basketball simulation and national STEM activations, on reusable frameworks of web, sockets and custom sensor boards
- Managed about a dozen engineers and a director of development, including overseas contractors
- Pitched and presented to clients, and spoke at industry events
- Best in Show, AIMA 2018
Earlier career
- 2012–2014
Lead Web Developer, Manager of IT and Operations, Pinnacle Promotions
Rebuilt the IT and web team and redeveloped the product customization engine: 3,000 products, an eight-level option matrix.
- 2005–2009
Manager of Technical Services, AS/AP Apparel Software
Led ERP web integrations, built the support and tracking systems, and managed programming and support staff.
- 2002–2005
Senior Unix Systems Engineer, Glenayre Electronics
Built monitoring tools, supported international voice-services deployments, and taught Linux and Cisco classes.
- 1998–2002
Network engineering and administration, Mentisys, Chatfish, Fong Kai Industrial
Network infrastructure, QA labs and high-availability systems, including a media-streaming datacenter.
Skills
- AI and agents
- Claude, OpenAI and Bedrock APIs, MCP servers and agent tooling, RAG and prompt caching, LLM evals and benchmarks, Ollama and local models, LoRA fine-tuning
- Generative media
- ComfyUI (Qwen Image, WAN 2.2, Hunyuan3D), ACE-Step music, Chatterbox voice, FFmpeg pipelines
- Software
- TypeScript and Node.js, Next.js and React, Python, PHP, WebSockets, Three.js
- Data and infrastructure
- PostgreSQL (Supabase, pgvector, RLS), MySQL, SQLite, Vector databases, AWS and Azure, Linux and Docker, High-availability architecture
- Hardware
- Arduino and custom PCBs, Sensors and IoT (AWS IoT), LED installations, 3D modeling and printing
- Leadership
- Building and mentoring teams, Distributed and overseas teams, Agile delivery, RFPs, pitches and client work
Certifications
- AWS IoT
- Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
- Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT)
Recommendations
“Steven is an exceptional developer and leader who is extremely passionate about making incredible things and setting others up for success.”
“He was deeply appreciated as a leader and friend, and embodied our core values.”