I spent more than 25 years directly involved in the digital signage and digital out of home industries, active in them well before they even had names.
My work has involved everything from running operations for one of the largest and most technically complicated screen networks in the world to doing business development for a pair of the largest SaaS CMS software companies. I've also been engaged by numerous global and national brands to guide their digital signage strategies and procurement decisions, with clients as varied as Nike, Lexus, Samsung, Sony, LG and Bank of America, to Tim Horton's, Panera and the government of Canada.
I am most known in the two related industries for creating, building and populating Sixteen:Nine (sixteen-nine.net), an online trade publication that provides invaluable news and insights. Over almost 20 years, I wrote more than 11,000 articles and did hundreds of podcast interviews. I became known globally as the industry's BS filter, and was almost universally appreciated and respected for my frank, fair and sometimes snarky takes on industry developments and announcements.
The writing chops came out of a first career as an international award-winning daily newspaper journalist in Canada - doing everything from covering the early 80s rock music scene to federal politics. I also spent several years as an editor in charge of large reporting teams, and I digitized a daily newspaper, taking it online in 1995, the VERY early days of the Web.
I stepped back from Sixteen:Nine in May 2025 - handing off day to day content production to a new editorial team. I am now kinda-sorta retired, but still keep up with industry and broader technology developments. I am also still eager to work with companies and, frankly, make some mad money for vacations that can now be measured in weeks or even months. And then there's the red wine budget to top up.
I live outside Halifax, Nova Scotia on the way east coast of Canada. That's one hour ahead of Toronto/NYC time and four behind London in daylight standard times.
I can ghost-write thought leadership pieces and papers, even posts just intended for social media. I can also knock out press releases and announcements that will have an impact, by getting to the point and explaining things clearly. I work very quickly - with speed and accuracy the byproduct of years spent as a daily newspaper journalist.
I know most of the companies in the industry, and the people who run them. I know what they're good at, how they go to market and how they're doing. I remain current on macro trends and emerging technologies. I have done everything from help companies develop strategies and guide procurement decisions to helping investment firms understand the sector and identify suitable M&A targets. I've also done what amounts to psychology sessions, with CEOs walking ideas past me and asking if they were clever or crazy. I'm open to compensated board positions.
Companies as big as Samsung have had me in to talk to sales and marketing teams, and to clients, about the state of the industry and where things might be heading. I've also done keynotes, run panels and sat on them at numerous industry events. I'd need a day rate and my travel costs covered to make that work.
In person at trade shows and online, I've played host, guide and sometimes referee for topics-focused sessions that involve everything from one to one interviews to panels. Because I know the subject material, and often the guests, I make sessions engaging and fluid - not needing to sift through prepared notes and canned questions. Need someone to be the host for your podcasts, webinars or even company events?
The best reference for writing are the 11,000+ posts produced over roughly two decades on the site I created and ran - Sixteen:Nine. From May 2025 and back, it is almost all my work.
Here's a link to the archive ...
I have been interviewed many, many times at trade shows and for a variety of video and audio podcasts. Here are some recent samples:
I did roughly 400 half-hour-ish podcast interviews with digital signage thought leaders, going back almost a decade. The full archive is located here, and almost all of the ones from the past five years include full transcripts.