What the tech #$%#@?

Over the last 45 years, I have been a journalist, an editor, a news executive, an IT executive, a business owner, newspaper columnist, and freelance writer.

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Throughout those years, two things have been constant. I love writing and believe passionately in the power of words; and I love technology. While I believe technology has made society better, I also believe that privacy and security are at risk. At risk from two quarters: External forces like hackers and unscrupulous business practices, and from within. My goal is to provide information people need, in language they can understand, so they can be smart – and safe – users.

About me

I began my career as a journalist writing the Mr. Fixit column for a newspaper in Staten Island, NYC. Over 23 years, I was a reporter, an editor, a coach, and newsroom executive. But I was fascinated by emerging technology – not how it worked but what it could do to empower my business reporting and delivering the news. In 1997, I accepted a position as Systems Director at the same paper where I had been managing editor. To see the paper through the Y2K years. I continued in technology as a senior manager at The Gannett Co. headquarters in McLean, Va., and ultimately as vice president of IT at the Gannett newspaper in Greenville, SC.

After leaving Gannett in 2008, I started my own business, began writing a weekly column on technology for small businesses, and worked with scores of businesses to improve their communications. Now I’m retired from the day-to-day, but am continuing to write the Digital Thinking blog.