Sofware Engineering

Ben and I worked together for 15 months; he was part of the sixteen-person delivery team that built a data visualization product for a large healthcare client in Chicago. He was the lead front-end engineer responsible for charting and visualization modules on the web application we built. Ben’s relentless approach to addressing business needs with technology solutions and his immense penchant for learning were noticed and recognized by his peers. As a manager, I greatly appreciated Ben’s willingness to mentor and provide technical oversight to junior front-end engineers on the team, which was instrumental to the continuity and success of this large-scale engagement. Ben is a talented coder with a high ceiling who would be a true asset to any engineering team. -Vijay Krishnan, AIM Consulting Chicago (Now Strive Consulting)  

The speed at which Ben [Founder, Chainwave.io] picks up new technologies and complex concepts is super impressive. Ben played an instrumental role in building a HealthCare Analytics Platform that now improves operational efficiencies in thousands of hospitals and clinics around the US. Ben is a hacker – he can prototype fast, iterate quickly and face situations objectively. Ben has a keen ability to detach from the cloud of emotion in stressful situations, and suggest a clear path to action towards the next milestone. Unlike most Developers, Ben has a diverse set of technical chops. From Front-End Development to Back-End; From Data Science to Cloud Computing – Ben can do it all and do it well – Aziz Ali – Founder ilovecoding.org   I had the pleasure of working with Ben on a healthcare reporting and analytics application. Ben is a very curious developer and learner – he’s eager to jump into new things and has an outstanding ability to pick new technologies up quickly and apply them to solutions. I hope to have the chance to work with Ben in the future! – Grace Tolan – Product Manager, Grainger “Great straightforward view of current score. Easy to move around and change the measure in need of evaluating.”  – Press Ganey Business Intelligence Team Lead “Interactive and intuitive. Visualization is great and data is more actionable…” – Press Ganey Business Intelligence Team Lead

Blockchain & DeFi Consulting

Knowledgeable, trustworthy, patient, available, credible and experienced are all traits that quickly come to mind when I think of Ben.  He has helped me understand the blockchain space since 2017.  Before Ben’s consulting, I had little to no understanding of blockchain, the market, or any particular project. Three and a half years later I feel like I have another degree. Ben was a huge help in exposing me early on to the basics, portfolio diversity, and things to avoid. Ben is successful at coaching beginners, and even those like him, who are some of the most advanced and experienced in the blockchain world.  Through Ben’s most recent council and inspiration, I have successfully participated in a defi project from a smart contract, staked it to farm, unstaked it into a streaming payment protocol that pays out by the second.  He has taken me past the surface and has done it in a way that a working professional, outside of the space, can understand and consume.  Ben takes pride in his trait, is a terrific communicator and is extremely humble. I appreciate that Ben’s not there to “pump” any one thing, or even push someone to get involved in a certain project. He is focused on projects that have momentum, developer interest, and have a real “use case” potential.  Ben is always open to share his thoughts and ideas and puts you in a position to make your own best decision.  I like that he always provides you material or thoughts at the end of our conversations-“Homework.” He does this to have you keep skin in the game. I can tell you it works. I would compare him to a great coach, teacher, or mentor.  Thankfully, because of Ben, I now have an in depth understanding and appreciation. Ben lives on the cutting edge of where things are going and has a skillset I would put up against anyone I have followed, read about, or listened to in the space.   Thanks Ben for making me educated, inspired, curious, profitable, and simply ahead of the game because of your council.

-Michael Bechert – Sales Director, Nike  

I have been a quiet observer, for several years, on the sidelines, with regards to crypto. Watching, reading, and engaging on a strictly readership level. More recently, I started to commit an increased thought share to crypto’s underlying technology. Specifically, the immediate value with regards to its expanding applications and how blockchain is addressing some of the most challenging dilemmas of equity and decentralization. Like the majority, attempting to understand this world is largely intimidating and misunderstood. Thankfully, I have known Ben for many years and can not only attest to his technical expertise but how he has been at the helm of Crypto since its beginning. He was an early adopter and became a diligent student of blockchain. I recently reached out to Ben for educational and consultation purposes. He competently distilled the technologies’ complexity into simple and relatable concepts. For a beginner, like myself, this was the education I was looking for. Not only did Ben help explain the underlying tech, but he was able to draw examples from several disciplines to help me connect the dots. For anyone looking to get a comprehensible and digestible introduction to crypto/block chain or for anyone looking to better understand a specific aspect/application of the industry, Ben is without a doubt a reliable and trusted advisor.

-Nick Stoynoff  

So someone convinced you that Bitcoin is a good idea and now you have some but you don’t know why and you don’t know exactly what is going on with *all that crypto*. Ben offers a great way to get yourself situated in the wild west of crypto. He tightens the saddle on your horse, situates you in a direction and offers some key tips for the journey. Ok, all the metaphors aside, Ben was helpful in framing what the crypto world is about. He explained the basics as well as offered a bit of philosophy. I learned from him a practical understanding of its importance and usefulness. He not only knows the ins and out of investing, he’s a programmer with knowledge and experience in creating this realm. I was looking for info on the investing side and how to make that work for me. He passed on great ideas for how to consider my strategies. Do I want to pay off a debt? Then when the value of my investment hits close to that, cash it in. Maybe I just want to put a comfortable amount in and be patient. He’s been investing for years and he understands the fluctuations and shared how important that is to understand about the crypto market. We also brainstormed a bit about how I might be able to use Bitcoin as a payment method. Do I want to teach people about how and why it’s a valid and useful method or do I want to find people already using Bitcoin to use it as payment for my services? I came away from Ben’s consultation feeling clearer about the uses and possibilities of crypto. Because of our talk, I have an idea of other ways to investigate and invest the money I have in there right now that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. He’s knowledgable, experienced and in touch with what’s going on with crypto at multiple levels.

-Eve Hermann