Work

Building what comes next.

I've spent my career on software for physical things: a shipment that arrives, a meal that reaches the table, a construction project that gets funded, a health protocol someone can actually follow. My job is building the teams that build it.

I've been programming since 1988 and leading teams since 1999. I still write code.

01 · Now
Health, designed as a system you can follow
Immortals is where I work now. It used to be Blueprint by Bryan Johnson. We build science-backed protocols people can follow so they live longer and healthier. I work remotely from Short Hills and Millburn.
02 · Food
Great food, closer to every table
Wonder set out to make great food easier to get: kitchens, software, and dinner that actually arrives. I was CTO from March 2024 through February 2026.
03 · Construction
Capital that keeps pace with the jobsite
Built Technologies sits in construction finance: draws, budgets, and the systems that help a project rise. I led technology there between Flexport and Wonder, from Nashville, remotely from Kirkland. I liked how concrete it was: software that helps a building actually go up.
04 · Trade
Global trade, made clearer
Flexport first, Amazon before that. Global trade and logistics are physical systems lifted by software — ocean, air, parcels, and the exceptions that make a network intelligent. At Amazon I led technology for Global Logistics and Amazon Shipping. At Flexport I was CTO, building toward an operating system for freight. It's why I still talk about supply chains every chance I get.
05 · Commerce
Tokyo, San Francisco, and a loyalty platform
I joined Rakuten when they acquired FreeCause, the consumer loyalty platform I led as CTO. After September 2009 I stayed — San Francisco first as executive officer and CTO of LinkShare Labs, then Tokyo as senior executive officer. Ichiba, smart devices, core services, infrastructure, cross-border; later Digital Content and the FinTech Fund. Membership, points, payments — the layers that make a marketplace feel instant. Three patents granted in those years still live on Google Patents: a store that can counter-offer when you try to buy cheaper online, and coupons you drop on the map tiles you actually walked.
06 · Start
A college portal, then eight years of building
CampusCraze started in August 1999: a web portal for the 18–24 market, a product we shipped. Jenzabar acquired it in March 2000. BusinessWeek wrote it down. I stayed eight years — portal development, then new application development, then CTO and VP of Technology, with five acquired product lines and a team that grew to about a hundred. Higher education taught me how to bring many products onto one vision. Shipping that first company, then growing the craft for eight years, is a chapter I still smile about.
07 · Earlier
The lab, then the internships
The path began at the MIT Media Lab — Software Agents and News in the Future — Market Maker, 3-D chess, image encoding, Zwrap. Then a Microsoft test-engineering summer on Visual InterDev, Merrill Lynch, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, including Major League Baseball. Those years made me an engineer who loves to stand in front of a room and invite people into the next idea. I still love that feeling.

Career timeline

Where I've built

Immortals is where I work now. It used to be Blueprint by Bryan Johnson. We build science-backed protocols people can follow so they live longer and healthier. I work remotely from Short Hills and Millburn. Wonder ran through February 2026. The Media Lab and internships are at the bottom. Newest first.

Feb 2026 – present
Chief Technology Officer · ImmortalsNow
Human healthLos Angeles, remote from Short Hills, NJ
Formerly Blueprint by Bryan Johnson. We turn the science into protocols people can actually follow.
- Product and technology for science-backed longevity protocols.
Mar 2024 – Feb 2026
Chief Technology Officer · Wonder
FoodNew York
Make great food more accessible. Mealtime as a system — kitchens, software, and a promise that dinner shows up. That chapter closed in February 2026.
- Primary destination for mealtime — the systems behind a food company at scale.
Jan 2023 – Mar 2024
Chief Technology Officer · Built Technologies
Construction financeNashville, remote from Kirkland, WA
Improving the way the world gets built — draws, budgets, and the systems that keep construction moving.
- Construction finance: the infrastructure that helps a building rise on time.
Jul 2019 – Nov 2022
Chief Technology Officer · Flexport
Global tradeSan Francisco1,800+ people
Make global trade easier for everyone. Led the Technology organization. The operating system for freight.
- CTO of Flexport’s Technology organization at 1,800-plus people.
Apr 2016 – Jul 2019
Director of Technology, Amazon Global Logistics / Amazon Shipping · Amazon
LogisticsSeattle340,000+ people
Product and technology vision for global logistics and Amazon Shipping. Build the teams that execute it — large-scale movement, on the clock.
- Product and technology vision for Amazon Global Logistics and Amazon Shipping.
- Built and managed the product and technology teams that executed it.
Sep 2011 – Mar 2016
Senior Executive Officer · Rakuten
Global commerceTokyo10,000+ people
Part of the global development management team. Senior Executive Officer. Three Japanese patents granted in those years — showrooming defense and location-based coupons.
- Technology advisor, FinTech Fund (2015–2016).
- Head of Digital Content, Media and Marketing product and technology (2015–2016).
- Smart Device Technologies; development-process optimization; global infrastructure and operations.
- Group Core Services: membership, points, coupon, email, payment, data warehouse.
- Cross-border trading. Rakuten Ichiba (ecommerce).
Patents
Patents granted from the Rakuten years. Each number opens Google Patents.
1. JP 5235043 B2Granted July 10, 2013
  Purchase support server, purchase support method, purchase support program, and computer-readable recording medium for recording the program
  購入支援サーバ、購入支援方法、購入支援プログラム、及びそのプログラムを記録するコンピュータ読取可能な記録媒体
  If you photograph an item in a physical store and then try to buy it cheaper online, the store gets a chance to counter-offer — a discount, points — on your phone. Showrooming defense for real shops.
  Udana Bandara, James Chen (ジェームスチェン)Rakuten, Inc.
  US 9,898,757 B2 · granted February 20, 2018. Retail time location based bargaining system for physical stores to compete against online retailers
2. JP 5959744 B2Granted August 2, 2016
  Advertisement system, advertisement processing device
  広告システム、広告処理装置
  Location-based electronic coupons. You drop a coupon onto real-world map tiles around where you actually are — including neighboring tiles, so you do not have to cross the intersection. Others pick it up when they are in that tile. Stops indiscriminate map-spam while keeping it convenient.
  Udana Bandara, Alex Chia, James ChenRakuten, Inc.
3. JP 5959745 B2Granted August 2, 2016
  Advertisement system, advertisement processing device
  広告システム、広告処理装置
  Sibling of JP 5959744 B2. Coupons can only be dropped on map tiles you actually walked through — a past GPS trail — so you have to have been there. Stops pinning ads on random streets you never visited.
  Udana Bandara, Alex Chia, James ChenRakuten, Inc.
Feb 2010 – Sep 2011
via FreeCause acquisition
Executive Officer · Rakuten
Global commerceSan Francisco
Joined through the FreeCause acquisition. The San Francisco side of a global internet company.
- CTO of LinkShare Labs (2010–2012).
- Technology advisor to the board (2010–2011).
- Executive Officer of Rakuten (2011–2013).
May 2008 – Feb 2010
FreeCause
Chief Technology Officer · FreeCause
LoyaltyBoston30 people
Joined a small team to build the platform and grow engineering. Acquired by Rakuten USA in September 2009. Stayed through the handoff.
- Hired the additional development staff the company needed.
- Designed the next-generation framework for FreeCause’s web products and trained the team onto it.
- Client implementations, enhancements, and the refactoring that follows a fast-growth product.
Mar 2000 – Mar 2008
via CampusCraze
Chief Technology Officer / VP of Technology · Jenzabar
Higher educationBoston250 people
Joined via CampusCraze. Eight years aligning five acquired product lines and their teams onto one vision.
- Manager of Portal Development (2000–2001), then Director of New Application Development (2002–2003), then CTO and VP of Technology (2003–2008).
- About a hundred people in product. A $9.8 million budget.
- Next-generation campus portal (Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution). Java ERP and .NET portal work. Business intelligence.
- Migrations off AS/400, OpenVMS, and UNIX. Partners included Microsoft, IBM, Cognos, Oracle, Sun.
Aug 1999 – Mar 2000
CampusCraze
Founder & CEO · CampusCraze
College internetCambridge, MA20 people
Founded a web portal for the 18–24 market — ecommerce connecting students to marketers. Acquired by Jenzabar in March 2000. BusinessWeek wrote it down.
- Vision, business plan, revenue model, and the programming itself.
- Led the company through the Jenzabar acquisition.
1999
Project Consultant · PricewaterhouseCoopers
ConsultingNew YorkMajor League Baseball
Microsoft technology specialist on the Major League Baseball project.
- Design specs for MLB’s internal contract-management system.
- Development environment, module conventions, and a bug-tracking process for the consulting team.
1999
Technology Leadership Intern · Merrill Lynch
FinanceNew York
Technology Leadership intern. A summer building tools on Oracle inside a global bank.
- FTP pipeline linking investment profiles to an ecommerce site.
- A knowledge-sharing prototype after mapping how information actually moved internally.
1999
Software Test Engineer · Microsoft
Developer toolsRedmond
Visual InterDev. The first big-company engineering summer.
- Test-breakout automation for Design-Time Controls.
- Sample InterDev 6.0 apps — runner-up in the application-building contest.
- Moved the automation engine from Visual Basic 5 to 6. Widgets that sped up the test team.
1996 – 1999
Software Developer and Researcher · MIT Media Laboratory
ResearchCambridge, MA
Software Agents and News in the Future. Research that still reads like product work.
- Market Maker — backend algorithms for an ecommerce site.
- A 3-D chess package tied to online newspapers.
- Image encoding (Patchwork, texture mapping, affine invariance).
- Zwrap — the UI for an experimental personalized newspaper. Maintained the lab’s Java DT library.

Health, designed as a system you can follow

Great food, closer to every table

Capital that keeps pace with the jobsite

Global trade, made clearer

Tokyo, San Francisco, and a loyalty platform

A college portal, then eight years of building

The lab, then the internships

Where I've built