Instead, I design frameworks and strategies that help people make sense of an increasingly complex technological landscape. I see myself as a technology translator, bridging the gap between deep technical research and practical business strategy.
My work is grounded in over twenty years of executive leadership, enterprise architecture, and innovation management. Today, I work as a strategic foresight architect: applying a structured discipline to shaping uncertainty into what comes next. While this is sometimes summarised to the label of futurist, I am the kind that is less interested in making predictions and more interested in stripping away the jargon of emerging tech to find the human opportunity underneath. I believe the future is not something that happens to us; it is something we build through the choices we make today.
In my current role leading Technology Research & Advocacy at Xero, I apply this thinking at scale, exploring how emerging and advanced technology can positively transform the lives of millions of small business owners and their advisors globally.
Whether I am writing essays, exploring metaphors on this site, or speaking on a global stage, my goal remains the same: to make the complex more understandable and technology more approachable. I want the people I connect with to feel empowered to shape the future they prefer, rather than just reacting to the one they are given.
When I am off the clock at home in New Zealand, I am less foresight architect and more amateur photographer, frustrated basketballer, and a far-from-perfect Catholic Christian husband and father. For me, faith is not about sitting in judgement; it is about recognising the inherent dignity of all people, which is a perspective that fundamentally shapes how I see the world and the responsibility I have to my community.
Executive leadership of technology research, strategic foresight, architecture & engineering teams and functions
Xero is an incredible New Zealand-born global software company that works to make lives better for people in small business, their advisors and their communities worldwide. I have been privileged to hold multiple roles in my time at Xero, culminating in my current focus on technology research, strategic foresight, and advocating for using technology to unlock real business and societal benefit.
University of Houston: Professional Certificate in Strategic Foresight
Completed in-person study of the practical application of strategic foresight principles to help people and organizations understand, map, and influence change.
Business Leaders: 40 Under 40
Humbled to be listed amongst outstanding graduates who have already achieved considerable professional success before the age of 40.
Architecture, technology strategy and innovation executive roles
As a bank globally positioned as one of the best at digital transformation, ASB was an amazing environment to grow from enterprise architect, to managing teams of architects and specialists, to eventually hold the senior leadership position of Chief Architect. I relished building and leading enterprise architecture, strategy and innovation teams, helping align technology direction with business strategy, and advising executive and board leaders on key strategic technology choices.
TEDx Speaker: Teaching About Money in a Cashless Society
Standing on the famed red dot and talking about taking an alternative approach to leveraging technology in this difficult but critical area.
Deloitte Top 200 Awards: Young Executive of the Year
Honoured to receive this award which celebrates executives influencing, growing and providing direction within an organisation
Early career foundations in engineering, analysis and technology architecture
Launching my career at The Warehouse, at the forefront of New Zealand’s e-commerce transition, was an exciting opportunity to help contribute to meaningful projects and develop deep experience in a rapidly evolving sector.
University of Auckland: BCom in Management Science and Information Systems
My studies established the solid foundation needed for a career exploring how to help people leverage the best that technology offers in their lives and businesses.
Direct experience with starting and running a small business
My wife and I founded this company to help with providing technical consulting and digital services to Church and non-profit organisations.
Speaking themes
Strategic foresight and practical technology trend navigation, such as AI
Strategy and decision-making under ambiguity
Enterprise architecture that drives measurable business outcomes
Innovation management and change leadership in uncertain and complex times
Work With Me
If you are planning a conference, leadership forum, or client event and would like to connect with me about speaking opportunities, please use the contact form with your dates, audience profile, and objectives. I am available for keynotes, MC roles and strategic speaking sessions.
This site is my take on a digital garden to share my thinking and writing on technology, strategy and the future. I was, and remain, inspired by the incredible work of others, chief amongst them being Maggie Appleton, who really has set the bar for what true excellence in this approach to online content looks like.
Content stages
You will see stage pills throughout the Desk and Drawing Board. They signal how developed each piece is, so you can read it with the right expectations.
Concept
Early thinking. These pieces are idea fragments and rough hypotheses shared quickly to invite reflection and discussion.
Sketch
Work in progress. The structure is taking shape, but the argument, examples, or framing are still being refined.
Blueprint
Published and polished. These are the most complete pieces, although I still leave room to renovate them when new insights emerge.
For those interested in the technical details, the site uses a combination of technologies for static site generation: Eleventy, Nunjucks templates, Markdown content files, and Tailwind CSS for styling. For more information on the process of building this site, you can visit the project page for this site itself.
AI policy
As I detail in the project page, I have built this site with the assistance of agentic AI tools and capabilities. However, I have made a conscious choice to not use any AI tools to generate content for the site. All of the writing, thinking and ideas are my own. I use AI to assist through transcribing and organising information from my various talks and notes, but I do not use it to generate any of the actual content that is published on the site. I have long said that AI is a tool best used for augmenting human creativity and intelligence, rather than replacing it. I have found it incredibly useful in reducing the friction of getting ideas out of my head and into a form I can work with, but I want to be clear that the ideas themselves are mine, and the work of shaping them into something worth sharing is also mine.
Personal content
The site also contains a mix of content that is both professional, relating to my various roles in the technology industry, and personal, relating to my life, faith and community. I have made the option available to hide the personal content through a toggle, and I have also added a "personal" badge to any content that is more personal in nature. I hope it is also apparent to anyone reading the site that not all the opinions I express are necessarily representative of the organisations I work with. If in doubt, feel free to ask.
