About

No, this is not the website of the famous Hollywood screenwriter Tracy Gamble!

Personal:

I live in Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas, with my family. While I love my family and am extraordinarily proud of them, I respect their privacy, both online and off-, so you won’t see much about them here. Thanks for understanding!

I have always lived in Texas. Texans are a textbook case of the phenomenon of “exceptionalism” which I find both endearing and frustrating. I am quite fond of Houston and Austin, cities where I spent many formative years.

I was reluctant to move to the Dallas Metroplex, but have since embraced it with both arms. I am an especial fan of Frisco, my adopted hometown.

I am very involved in the North Texas community. I am partial to civic and service activities.

Professional:

I am the vice president of marketing for a financial advisory firm headquartered in Frisco, Texas, with clients all over the country.

My background is an unusual intersection of business development (specializing in marketing, sales, strategy, brand, events) and public sector (specializing in state and local government, campaign, and Westminster-model parliaments).

Because it is referenced elsewhere in my writing, I will leave the following bio material here. The philosophy is true although the 2008 timeline is now stale:

“Most recently, I was the business development VP for a European software company that wanted to launch its brand to the US public sector. A lot of travel was involved and I’ve since become an expert “road warrior.”

This role really up-ended a couple of my core perspectives on business. Specifically, I now feel strongly that where one offices isn’t as important as how… and that there will never be a successful one-size-fits-all approach to technology business development. Instead, a company that wants to lead its industry must acquire strong business intelligence and experience, funnel that toward a bespoke strategy, and then constantly refine and improve that strategy. And, this “design and refine” approach must be systemic, measurable and continual.

In other words, there’s no magic bullet, to be simply gleaned from an MBA textbook and applied, voila! Whether in a start-up or a century-old Fortune 100 org, experience and wisdom should inform a customized approach that meets the business objectives of all the stakeholders.

As a manager, I believe it’s more important to listen than to speak. (In fact, that’s pretty much true no matter what role one plays: manager, employee, teacher, student, parent, spouse, advocate.)