I started as a pioneer in user-based technology is the 1980s consulting on desktop publishing. I began working for the US government in 1991 at the U.S. Information Agency. I helped bring modern digital publishing, content management, social media, and other innovations to the forefront of the U.S.’s public diplomacy efforts around the world. I was also active in global issues such as Y2K and bringing internet to Kosovar refugee camps during the Kosovo war.
Between 2003-2006, I was a teacher and faculty technology advisor at the Foreign Service Institute. My main endeavor was to integrate technology training into the main body of the courses. By linking the technology use directly to the relate material, in context, we achieved a great retention rate and made IT usable to everyone.
I joined the U.S. Department of State’s Office of eDiplomacy in 2011 has the lead on the IT Innovation Fund. Up until then, I was an avid user of Joomla. However, the office was already established on WordPress…so it was back to school. I started reading and experimenting with WordPress. Did some development and design work, but my real talent has been to identify and define business requirement, then find the right set of existing tools to do the job. With the countless commercial and open source plugin and themes the WordPress community offers, this became easier which each WP release.
After attending WordCamp USA, I was even more charge with WordPress as a application platform. I am currently working on a major Knowledge Management effort which leverages WordPress, BuddyPress, and BBPress. And my role continues to change as I have become the go-to-guy for everything WordPress, serving as training, educator, customer requirements expert and R & D test pilot.