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01 Career Timeline
  1. US Navy

    After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, I served as a Naval Flight Officer with deployments to the Western Pacific, South China Sea, and Iraq. As part of a forward-deployed aviation squadron in my early twenties, I traveled the world, learned to lead people, and began forming a view of the world and my own definition of a meaningful life and career.

  2. White House

    My last tour in the Navy was at the White House, where I worked on presidential emergency and continuity planning. I worked alongside exceptional leaders and learned from some of the most memorable experiences and valuable mistakes of my career.

  3. Consulting + Investing

    After leaving the military, I joined PRTM as a management consultant. After PRTM was acquired by PwC, I began writing small angel checks as a way to explore my interest in early-stage startups and spend more time with founders. I later founded District Ventures, an angel investment group that allowed me to write bigger checks and gave me an investor’s perspective on early stage company building.

  4. Lyft

    In 2015, I joined Lyft as its first operations hire in Washington, DC. Over the next five years, I held three leadership roles, led two of its largest markets (New York and the Mid-Atlantic), and owned a $500M+ P&L through the company’s IPO in 2019.

    In many ways, Lyft was the culmination of everything I had learned about management and leadership up to that point. I was part of an exceptional group of General Manager peers who operated on the line between chaos and structure with total autonomy and ownership. I learned that the best operators value decision speed, iterate constantly, and simplify wherever possible.

  5. Founder + COO

    After Lyft, I served as COO at Fixt and Big Health and co-founded HipTrain, which was acquired by FORME in 2023. Today, I’m co-founder and CEO of EVPowerInsights, the trusted intelligence and executive network for the EV charging industry.

  6. TALIS

    I’ve spent my career in leadership roles in the military, consulting, investing, and startups. I’ve experienced company building from nearly every seat and stage of growth. Over time, I’ve developed a perspective of leadership and decision-making shaped as much by my mistakes and failures as by my success.

    Today, I serve as an external operator and advisor to a select number of founders, CEOs, and investors, helping them think more clearly, exercise better judgment, and make decisions during uncertainty and change.

I serve as an advisor and performance coach to a select number of CEOs, founders, and senior leaders committed to improving how they think, decide, and lead.

I’m a 3x founder and 3x COO who has built and sold companies, served in leadership roles at the White House and Pentagon, invested in early-stage startups, and experienced company building from almost every seat and stage of growth.

I started TALIS after selling my last company to help founders work through their most difficult challenges.

  • Evolve how they lead, delegate, and focus their attention as their company grows.
  • Recognize which patterns of thought and behavior serve them and which hold them back.
  • Widen their perspective, anticipate challenges, and adapt as they learn.
  • Work through tension with cofounders, Board members, and leadership teams.

My background

  • U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Naval Flight Officer, with deployments across the Western Pacific, South China Sea, and Iraq.
  • Served at the White House with responsibility for presidential emergency and continuity planning.
  • Management consultant at PRTM and PwC, then angel investor and founder of District Ventures.
  • Early GM at Lyft. Over 5 years, I held three leadership roles, ran the New York and Mid-Atlantic territories, and managed a $500M+ P&L through the 2019 IPO.
  • COO at Fixt (acquired by Assurant in 2020) and Big Health, and co-founder and COO at HipTrain (acquired by FORME in 2023).
  • Co-founder and CEO of EVPowerInsights, a newsletter and executive network of founders, executives, investors, and policymakers shaping the future of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Steve created Talis to bring trusted counsel and strategic insights to a select group of founders and executives.