Gibson was right — it just isn't evenly distributed yet. I've spent my career on exactly that: streaming, broadcast, cloud, and machine learning back when "AI" still sounded like science fiction. The throughline was never the tech. It's connecting people and systems into win-wins, using clear communication and honest reasoning.
A title tells you what I own. It doesn't tell you how I work. Three things sit underneath everything I've shipped.
I design experiences, not just specs. A broadcast-synced NFT drop, a gamified token economy, self-aware graphics that respond in real time — the fun part is inventing something that didn't exist yet, then making it real.
Invention · Experience · PlayI make the complex legible. I turn tangled systems into a shared language, put the reasoning on the table, and get a room of stakeholders to sign the same decision — without needing authority over any of them.
Clarity · Reasoning · TrustI lead by clearing the path. The best outcome is the one where the team wins, the partners win, and the business wins at the same time. I optimize for the win-win, not for who gets the credit.
Empower · Unblock · Win-winStudios, streaming, broadcast, Web3, and AI — one pattern throughout: many teams and moving parts, aligned toward a launch that holds. Program-level figures reflect contribution, not sole attribution.
On Apple's Studio Technologies team, I work at the front edge of production — bringing AI into the filmmaking and studio workflow for Apple TV. The brief is exactly the kind of problem I chase: reimagine how content gets made and moved, with intelligence built into the pipeline rather than bolted on after.
After the acquisition, I helped modernize and integrate MGM with Amazon Prime Video — a "Studio in the Cloud" effort spanning global workflows, distribution, and the data supply chain in a complex, fast-moving industry. I built the system of record for approved content assets, consolidating metadata from script through vending onto Origin, a next-gen operational data platform, and drove a 93% reduction in defective title submissions (16% → 1%) through automated ingestion, validation, and routing — with API integrations across Deluxe, Rightsline, and Spherex.
Every app team had built its own player — inconsistent features, broken analytics, redundant work. As Director, I chartered a unified set of Web / iOS / Android SDKs and drove it across Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Nation and more — the first broadcaster to stream 4K, HDR10, and Dolby 5.1 for marquee live events like the Super Bowl and World Cup, standardizing streaming metrics org-wide.
I was the first team member and head of product & strategy for Blockchain Creative Labs, Fox's Web3 venture. Our flagship — The Masked Singer "Maskverse" — was a massive effort: crypto-wallet onboarding, gamified NFT "drops" synced to live episodes, real-time minting at the character reveal, a marketplace, and smart-contract prizes. In coordination with partners including WWE, BCL led the industry into community-based NFT broadcast games and watch parties — and the work earned a shelf of awards.
At MLB Advanced Media — the streaming pioneer behind BAMTech — I led DTC OTT projects for WWE, HBO GO, and Fox Sports across iOS, tvOS, FireTV, Roku, and Android, and contributed to Statcast, MLB's computer-vision ballpark tracking system that turned every pitch, hit, and sprint into data. It was live sports at massive scale, and an early education in shipping real-time media and analytics together.
Part of NBC's "Project 15 of 2015" digital transformation. I consolidated fragmented graphics systems — Chyron, Thunder, iNews plugins — into a single platform, designed the "quarterback" orchestration logic for self-aware graphics with frame-accurate multi-operator control, and unified DAM/MAM workflows that lifted Art Department productivity 40%. The work won an Emmy for on-air graphics and coverage of the 2015 elections.
Long before every product had a chatbot, I was building Alexa Skills and Google Actions, working hands-on with NLP frameworks, and applying machine learning and deep learning to real problems. That head start is why AI feels native to how I work now — from Apple's studio-of-the-future to running an AI company of my own.
That head start didn't stop at a job title. I run my own life — and ran OLY.AI — on an agent stack I built myself: Openclaw and Nanoclaw for task orchestration, with an Obsidian vault underneath as the memory layer that ties it all together. I talk and consult about this often, helping other people and teams unlock the same superpower.
When two sides each get what they actually need, the deal holds and the team keeps building. Getting there is a discipline — communication and reasoning, applied on purpose.
Decisions hold when everyone can see the logic. I write it down, name the trade-offs, and let the argument — not the org chart — win.
I rarely own the teams I need. So I lead with clarity and credibility: understand each stakeholder's real interest, then find the path that serves all of them.
One shared framework beats ten one-offs. I build reusable systems — a player SDK, a BRD template, a metadata model — so the next win comes cheaper.
My job is to unblock the people doing the work and hand them the credit. Servant leadership isn't a slogan — it's how good people stay.
Before I argue against a position, I try to state it better than the person holding it. You can't find the win-win until you actually understand the other side's win.
I move across technical depth, product strategy, and outcome without a translation layer in between. Here's where the depth lives.
"He will undoubtedly be the nucleus of any team he's a part of and set the tone for any project. This is his gift."
Stephanie HarrisCo-Founder, Receipts.xyz — reported to Michael at MXM Hyperfactory & Qello
"He successfully drove stakeholders to consensus, clarified ambiguities, and positioned internal and external partner delivery teams for success."
Dave Ambroseon the Fox Sports GO launch
"Impressed with Michael's ability to adapt to changing criteria and scope while keeping a cool and steady head."
James MatareseVP Artworks, NBC News — client on the graphics project
"Michael took a chaotic crypto project and implemented organizational structures and operational processes."
Caleb Gateson the Blockchain Creative Labs launch
"Michael regularly took time to teach me the essentials of being a great visionary, staying five steps ahead."
Peter Slavishcolleague at Qello Concerts
I founded and ran OLY.AI from 2022 to 2025 — AI-powered financial reporting for small businesses, built on the QuickBooks ecosystem. I bootstrapped it to $680K in annual recurring revenue with full P&L ownership, owning strategy, product, and go-to-market end to end. It's where technical depth, product ownership, and an AI-native way of working all came together — the same instinct for connecting people and systems into win-wins that I've carried into every role since, including where I am today.