How I Found Product Management
My path to Product Management wasn't linear. It was built on something more valuable than a straight line: 20+ years of being the person closest to the customer.
I started at Clear Channel Outdoor in marketing, where I got my first real education in what moves people: understanding audiences, translating data into decisions, and learning that the best ideas come from watching what customers actually do, not just what they say.
From there, I spent over a decade at Arbitron and Nielsen as a Training Services Consultant and Sr. Account Manager in New York. Those years taught me a skill I still rely on every day: listening for the need behind the need. Clients rarely tell you exactly what they want — they tell you their symptoms. I learned to translate.
At ACTIVE Network, I started as a Strategic Account Manager managing a $20M enterprise portfolio that included the United States Tennis Association's custom registration software, TennisLink, built and managed by ACTIVE. With gaps in headcount, I found myself jumping in to fill both the Product Management and Project Manager roles for that account, owning requirements, managing the engineering team, and driving delivery. That's when it clicked. Product Management was where I was meant to be.
By late 2019, I made it official and became Manager of Product for ACTIVEnet, ACTIVE's $70M Recreation & Membership management software serving over 1,800 Parks & Recreation departments and YMCAs across the country. That same year, I was named Product Manager of the Year, an award voted on by leadership and cross-functional team members. It felt less like recognition and more like confirmation. This was always where I was headed.
I came to ENTOUCH to build the product management function from the ground up. Before building anything, I spent time learning the business and earning the trust of the team. That foundation led to a strategy built around what made ENTOUCH uniquely positioned: billions of IoT data points sitting untapped. I made the case for an AI-first product vision, got executive buy-in, and led delivery of the ENTelligent Insights suite: four production AI/ML models that turn raw sensor data into proactive intelligence for multi-site enterprise customers.
The through-line across every role, every company, every industry? An unwavering focus on the customer experience. Whether training sales teams, managing enterprise accounts, or shipping AI models, what drives me has always been the same: get close to the customer, understand their real problems, and build something that actually fixes them.
