Lending Tech · ML Underwriting
Apr 2025
Zest AI: The Lending Intelligence Play (and Its Legal Baggage)
From ZestFinance to credit unions — the model, the lawsuits, and the market fit.
Product Strategist · AI Realist
13 years in product — fintech, edtech, and my own dev shop. I specialize in regulatory-informed product strategy, competitive intelligence, and AI vendor evaluation — always with the customer's actual needs as the through-line, not an afterthought. I publish Read In to surface what vendors won't put in the deck. PMP certified. Zero tolerance for pitch deck theater.
Experience
13+
years in product
Certification
PMP
Project Mgmt. Professional
Base
ABQ
Albuquerque, NM
Zest AI: The Lending Intelligence Play (and Its Legal Baggage)
From ZestFinance to credit unions — the model, the lawsuits, and the market fit.
Interface.ai — next up
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The best product decisions I've made live at the intersection of regulatory constraint and genuine member need. At Sunward Federal Credit Union, that means building strategy around compliance requirements while keeping the member experience front and center — not treating the two as competing priorities, but as the same problem viewed from different angles.
I map competitive landscapes, evaluate AI vendors against what members actually need, and publish the analysis that helps leaders make decisions that hold up — both in the boardroom and in the branch. Before Sunward: 7 years running my own dev shop, a program manager role shipping a mentorship platform in under 90 days, and a background in graphic design I treat as a professional edge.
Certification
PMP · Project Management Professional
Current role
Product Strategist · Sunward FCU
Newsletter
Read In · AI vendor intelligence for CU leaders
Strengths
Regulatory strategy · Competitive intelligence · Member-centered design
Edge
Graphic design + product strategy — rare combo
AI Vendor Evaluation
Independent teardowns of AI vendor claims — what's real, what's roadmap, and what's missing from the pitch deck. Evaluated against both regulatory constraints and genuine member impact, not just feature checklists.
Regulatory Product Strategy
Compliance requirements translated into product decisions that serve members, not just auditors. I build strategy where regulatory fluency and member-centered thinking reinforce each other — because they should.
Competitive Intelligence
Ongoing market analysis and fintech landscape mapping for credit unions navigating AI adoption. I read the fine print, the SEC filings, and the member forums — and tell you what it means for the people you serve.
Practitioner teardowns on AI vendors and fintech platforms — delivered to your inbox. No pitch deck theater. Written for the leaders who have to make the call.