Mud to Machine Code
Four arcs — Forged, Fractured, Forging, Foundry. A sixth-generation farmer's path from the field to the frontier of energy and AI.
Born into a sixth-generation Ohio farm family
The farm taught me early: nothing gets wasted, and the trough has to be full.
Raised on mud and machine noise
County-fair animals every year; helped manage 200 head of cattle. Responsibility you can't fake.
The Accident
October 29, 1990 — an ATV accident at age 10 that nearly took my leg and my life. It was my fault, and it reshaped everything.
40 surgeries, ~19 years of recovery
During recovery I learned the oil business beside my father in northeast Ohio — and fell hard for technology.
Philosophy + Computer Science
Dual majors. Philosophy taught me to question assumptions; CS taught me to build. I never separated the two.
Founded Fielding Systems
It started as a fix for our own family wells — field data capture, remote monitoring (SCADA), safety and environmental. Keeping wells running is how you make money. Every operator had the same pain, so I bootstrapped it into a company. My first.
Acquired by Quorum Software
Fielding was acquired by Quorum Software — backed by Silver Lake, later Thoma Bravo. I joined Quorum's senior leadership, and walked away with relationships that will last the rest of my life.
Quorum → Thoma Bravo
A second exit as Quorum was acquired by Thoma Bravo.
Founded Terrasow
Practical AI for farmers and land operators — intelligence that augments judgment, not replaces it.
Founded EnergiAcres
Circular, energy-first campuses: power AI, recover the heat and CO₂, grow food, give communities a real stake.
The national fight
Op-eds in cleveland.com and the Columbus Dispatch on data centers — and the Mansfield campus taking shape as a model for the country.