About Me
Hi, I'm Ben! I'm an independent web dev developer living in Greenville, SC. In my free time I enjoy hiking, reading, riding bikes with my wife and children, and indie hacking.
💼 Work Experience
October 2023
Launched ColorBliss
Launch
Feb 2023 - Sep 2023
Netlify - Global Director of Technical Support and Customer Success
Leading a world-class team of support engineers, providing 24/7 assistance to enterprise customers adopting composable architecture.
Jan 2020 - Feb 2023
Gatsby - Senior Director of Customer Success
Started as sole Customer Success Engineer, built team to support 1,400+ paying customers. Successfully acquired by Netlify in February 2023.
Dec 2017 - Jan 2020
Mediacurrent - Senior Frontend Developer
Led front end development for complex architectures utilizing Gatsby, Drupal, Auth0, and Apollo Server.
Feb 2015 - Nov 2017
Up&Up Agency - Front End Developer
Spearheaded agency adoption of pattern libraries, wrote about it for CSS-Tricks.
Netlify
Feb 2023 - Sep 2023Global Director of Technical Support and Customer Success
Leading a world-class team of support engineers, providing 24/7 assistance to enterprise customers adopting composable architecture.
Expanding the acclaimed Concierge program from Gatsby to serve a larger audience of developers using different web frameworks.
Introducing Customer Success as a critical function, defining responsibilities and identifying opportunities to reduce churn and drive expansion.
Leading the initiative to merge Gatsby and Netlify support teams post-acquisition.
Gatsby
Jan 2020 - Feb 2023Senior Director of Customer Success
Started as sole Customer Success Engineer, built team to support 1,400+ paying customers.
Implemented monetized Gatsby Concierge program generating six figures ARR at 40% margin.
Rolled out quarterly business review process resulting in $500k+ expansion revenue.
Successfully acquired by Netlify in February 2023.
Mediacurrent
Dec 2017 - Jan 2020Senior Frontend Developer
Led front end development for complex architectures utilizing Gatsby, Drupal, Auth0, and Apollo Server.
Refactored React/Redux application for major insurance company, increasing test coverage by 1370%.
Performed accessibility remediation for enterprise clients to achieve WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.
Spoke and wrote on accessibility, component-driven development, React, Gatsby, and remote work.
Up&Up Agency
Feb 2015 - Nov 2017Front End Developer
Spearheaded agency adoption of pattern libraries, wrote about it for CSS-Tricks.
Developed award-winning Drupal 7 site for University of Kentucky.
Led team in documenting front-end best practices and streamlined build tools.
🎤 Speaking
MagMutual.com: On the JAMStack
DrupalCon Global 2020
Shared decoupled architectural approach combining Gatsby, Drupal 8, and Serverless.
View Slides →Move Fast, Don't Break Things
Gatsby Days 2018
Discussed trends in modern web development and moving away from "CMS-Centered Development".
Watch Recording →Common Accessibility Mistakes
DrupalCamp Asheville 2018
Four principles for developing accessible websites and how to avoid common mistakes.
Read More →Component Based Development
DrupalCon Nashville 2018
Full day training on component-driven development workflows and UI Patterns.
Learn More →🚀 Side Projects & Volunteering
Engaged Encounter
My wife and I are presenting couples for South Carolina Catholic Engaged Encounter, providing weekend-long marriage preparation retreats. I also serve as treasurer.
Visit Site →Second Nature Journal
2013 - 2017
Started and ran an online journal for critical thinking about technology and new media in light of the Christian tradition.
View Archive →IISTC
2013 - 2017
Executive Director of the International Institute for the Study of Technology and Christianity, the non-profit we started to publish Second Nature.
Learn More →About This Site
This site is a Gatsby site I designed and built. The type is set in IA Writer Duospace.