Social media is clearly a powerful way to engage in an ongoing conversation with potential customers, the media, and investors. I am deeply involved with social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs) and have ghostwritten multiple corporate blogs, coordinated Twitter and Facebook accounts for numerous clients, have run a live Tweetup from a Linux tech conference, and have run campaigns coordinated through Twitter to increase corporate blog readership.

If you're a Japanese company looking to get noticed in Silicon Valley, please drop me a note. I am fully fluent in Japanese and have experience both working in Japan and helping a Japanese startup establish operations in America. In the past three years I have helped multiple Japanese clients with their US market communications strategies including Lunascape, Plat'Home, and quanp (a part of Ricoh Co., Ltd.). More info in Japanese here. Building strategies around social media services for Japanese companies is a particular strength, and I have written on the topic including "Three Things All Asian Companies Need to Know When Entering the US Market."

In the 1990s, I was a sysadmin on Sun boxes for five years, a technology analyst in Tokyo covering Japanese IT, and co-founder of an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Linux company. I moved to San Francisco in 1999 and have worked at Turbolinux (acquired by SRA), Intrinsic Graphics (acquired by Vicarious Visions), Tablus (acquired by EMC), and Seclarity, all software startups of varying sizes -- with a little hardware mixed in. Most recently, I worked for Page One PR before becoming an independent contractor. For more details, please see my LinkedIn resume.

I was born in Connecticut, raised in New Mexico. I call New Mexico home, even though I haven't really lived there for quite a while. I've been in California and Japan for a lot of years, but I still miss the New Mexican green chili, the wide open skies, and the clear air. I am married to Mari Saegusa, a ceramics and printmaking artist, and live in the Marina in San Francisco.

I have a BA in Asian Studies and Japanese from Connecticut College and an MA in East Asian Studies from Stanford.

Ice Hockey (left wing, Connecticut College, ECAC Div 3), running (Honolulu marathon Dec 2006, San Diego Rock & Roll Half Marathon 2010, Albuquerque Half Marathon 2011), saxophone ("some people just don't learn as fast"), Tae Kwon Do (black belt), amateur astronomy (can impress women by naming most constellations in the Northern hemisphere), soccer (played on Albuquerque Academy High School State Championship team in 1984, center half back), lacrosse (one glorious year of JV), and more...

And I balance all that physical activity with some reading and writing.