Scientist. Strategist. Storyteller. I Never Saw a Reason to Choose.

Ph.D. — Earth & Environmental Science

Columbia University

Doctoral training grounded in scientific research, data analysis, complex systems, critical thinking, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and communicating complicated findings clearly.

That scientific foundation has influenced virtually everything I've done since—from strategy and marketing analytics to technology, data science, and artificial intelligence.

Author of 11 Published Books

Seven National Bestsellers in Humor

Writing isn't something I do separately from my analytical work. It's another way I make sense of information, people, and the world around me.

Across 11 published books—including seven national bestsellers in humor—I've spent years studying and practicing storytelling, voice, structure, audience psychology, observation, comedic timing, and the surprisingly difficult art of making something complicated feel effortless.

That creative experience has become an important part of my professional work.

Data can tell you what happened.

Analysis can help explain why.

Storytelling makes somebody care.

The ability to move between those worlds—to analyze something rigorously and then communicate it creatively—is one of the most useful skills I've developed.

Guest Lecturer • Author • Speaker • Panelist • Subject-Matter Expert

Invited to lecture, teach, speak, and participate in professional and educational programs on subjects including:

• Storytelling & Narrative
• Writing & Creative Process
• Marketing & Brand Strategy
• Artificial Intelligence
• Data & Analytics
• Digital Transformation
• Leadership & Strategy
• Communication
• Entrepreneurship
• Professional Development

My work has also led to appearances on podcasts, professional panels, industry discussions, book events, educational programs, and other forums.

The subjects can look wildly different on paper. To me, they're connected.

Whether I'm looking at a dataset, developing an AI strategy, advising a growing business, writing a book, or standing in front of a room talking about storytelling, I'm usually trying to do some version of the same thing:

Find the signal. Understand what it means. And communicate it in a way people will remember.

I value education. Clearly. At this point, I may have personally kept several continuing-education departments financially solvent.

But credentials aren't expertise. Application is.

Harvard — Storytelling, Marketing & Leadership

Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences / Harvard Business School
Storytelling as Strategy: Narrative and AI
Strategic storytelling, narrative development, AI-assisted storytelling, influence, communication, and using narrative to clarify complex ideas and inspire action.

Harvard Business School Online
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital marketing strategy, positioning, customer acquisition and retention, paid/owned/earned media, attribution, customer lifetime value, personalization, storytelling, and community building.

Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education
Public Narrative: Leadership, Storytelling, and Action
Leadership through storytelling, communicating shared values, developing public narrative, organizational change, mobilizing people, and using story to inspire action.

Harvard Division of Continuing Education — Professional & Executive Development
Certificate of Leadership Excellence in Marketing & Communications
Executive-level professional development in marketing, strategic communications, brand leadership, influence, and organizational communication.

Dartmouth — Storytelling, Strategy & Executive Education

Advanced professional and executive education in:

• Storytelling
• Strategic Communication
• Persuasive Communication
• Executive Communication
• Leadership
• Strategy
• Translating complex information into compelling narratives

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Data Science

Google Cloud

• Professional Machine Learning Engineer
• Generative AI Leader

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• AWS Certified AI Practitioner
• AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer – Associate

NVIDIA

• NVIDIA-Certified Associate: Generative AI LLMs (NCA-GENL)

Databricks

• Databricks Certified Generative AI Engineer Associate
• Databricks Machine Learning Certification

IBM

• IBM AI / Data Science Professional Certification

Additional advanced education, certification, and applied work in:

Generative Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, Data Science, Data Strategy, AI Strategy, Responsible AI, AI Adoption & Organizational Transformation, AI-Enabled Business Transformation, and Applying AI to Marketing, Operations, Strategy & Decision-Making.

Project, Product & Agile Leadership

Project Management Institute (PMI)

• Project Management Professional (PMP)®

Scrum Alliance

• Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®)

Additional experience and professional development in:

Agile Leadership, Scrum, Product Management, Program Management, Portfolio Management, Cross-Functional Transformation, Complex Project Leadership, and Strategic Planning & Execution.

Executive & Fractional Leadership

Fractional Executive / Fractional Leadership Certification, Fractional CMO / Growth Leadership, Executive Leadership & Strategy, Digital Transformation Leadership, AI Strategy & Organizational Adoption, Change Management, Organizational Transformation, Data-Driven Executive Decision-Making, Cross-Functional Leadership, Growth Strategy, and Organizational Strategy & Execution.

Marketing, Growth & Digital Strategy

Digital Marketing Institute — Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP)

OMCP — Online Marketing Certified Professional (OMCP)

Meta / Facebook — Facebook Blueprint Certification

Google — Google Ads Certification, Google Analytics Certification

HubSpot Academy — Content Marketing Certification, Inbound Marketing Certification

Hootsuite — Social Media Marketing Certification

Additional advanced work and training spanning:

Marketing Strategy, Brand Strategy, Growth Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Strategy, Marketing Analytics, Customer Acquisition, Customer Experience, Social Media Strategy, Search Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Audience Development, Measurement & Attribution, Marketing Technology, and Data-Driven Marketing.

Business Growth, Advisory & Economic Development

Marketing Consultant — GrowFL
Selected to serve as a Marketing Consultant and subject-matter expert supporting GrowFL's business-growth program for Florida second-stage companies.

Participating small and mid-sized growth companies applied to the program and were partnered with a multidisciplinary team of specialists who brought expertise across areas such as marketing, strategy, finance, research, operations, technology, and organizational growth.

As the team's marketing specialist, I worked directly with participating companies and fellow subject-matter experts to identify barriers to growth and develop practical strategies around areas including:

• Marketing Strategy
• Customer & Market Identification
• Competitive Positioning
• Digital Marketing
• Search & Online Visibility
• Audience Development
• Customer Acquisition
• Market Research
• Growth Opportunities
• Strategic Communications

The work was collaborative, practical, and centered on a deceptively simple objective: Help good companies become bigger, better companies.

Community & Civic Leadership

Leadership Orlando — Graduate
Orlando Economic Partnership
Graduate of Leadership Orlando, a long-running regional leadership program connecting business and community leaders throughout Central Florida. The program focuses on regional leadership, economic and community development, civic engagement, relationship building, and understanding the interconnected organizations and systems that shape Central Florida.

Military, Operational & Crisis Leadership Training

My military education provided a somewhat different kind of graduate school.

• SERE — Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape
• Hostage / Crisis Negotiation Training
• Military Operations & Operational Planning
• Crisis Leadership
• Decision-Making Under Pressure
• Mission Planning
• Operational Execution
• Risk Assessment
• Leadership in High-Stakes Environments
• Advanced Tactical & Field Training

And a considerable amount of additional tactical training that, while interesting, probably isn't especially relevant to developing your marketing strategy, implementing AI, or transforming an organization.

Although I've discovered that planning for uncertainty, understanding human behavior, communicating clearly under pressure, making decisions with incomplete information, and remaining functional when everything goes sideways are surprisingly transferable skills.

All of those experiences taught me something. But the most valuable education has come from actually doing the work.

Building things. Leading people. Advising organizations. Analyzing data. Writing books. Telling stories. Solving problems nobody had conveniently defined yet. Developing strategies—and then discovering what happens when those strategies encounter reality.

I've spent much of my career moving between two worlds people sometimes treat as opposites: The analytical and the creative.

I have a scientist's instinct to ask What does the evidence say? And a storyteller's instinct to ask Why should anybody care?

A Ph.D. in Earth & Environmental Science and 11 published books—seven of them national bestsellers in humor—may seem like an odd combination. I think it's one of my greatest professional advantages.

Because increasingly, organizations don't need more data. They need people who can understand the data, recognize what matters, develop a strategy around it, and tell the story well enough that human beings actually do something about it.

That's the intersection where I've spent my career.

Data brain. Creative brain. Strategy connects them. Experience makes them useful.

Credentials are useful. What matters more is whether the thinking survives contact with real organizations, real markets, real audiences and decisions that have consequences.

The site now has deeper examples of how I apply this background across strategy, AI search, science, storytelling, industry growth, writing and speaking.

• Meet Rob
• Digital Marketing Consultant & Advisor
• AI Search & Organic Growth
• Storytelling, Authority & Visibility
• Science, STEM & Deep Technology
• Industries
• Markets
• Speaking
• Books

Ultimately, I'd rather show you what I've done than show you another certificate saying I learned how to do it.