Winding Roads
Many have been surprised to discover Ted’s technology career was born from the 1990s New York City pop and jazz music scene. Ted moved to NYC after his undergraduate studies to pursue further music industry ambitions, continuing his studies with legendary drummer Kenwood Dennard (Miles Davis, Sting). As a then-unknown musician from a small coal town in Pennsylvania, his music career evolved into performing sold-out venues with members of Phish, The Psychedelic Furs, Blue Oyster Cult, and guitar icons Frank Gambale (Chick Corea Elektric Band), Marty Friedman (Megadeth), and countless others, all while leading his own popular NYC jazz trio.
During those years, often regarded as NYC’s last great live music decade, Ted also worked as a recording engineer and studio manager at some of New York’s top recording studios where he developed a newfound passion for all forms of digital production technologies (music, film, photography), mastering the early digital tools required for professional level media production.
A fervent believer in “getting out at the top,” and noting the winds of change in the music industry, Ted followed a natural migration to passions beyond music performance and officially retired from performing in 2000. With a newly earned Master’s degree in 3D animation technologies from NYIT (alumni include Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith), Engineworks was born that year.
Ted has taken Engineworks on a magnificent journey over the years, providing technology leadership for film companies, internationally acclaimed NatGeo photojournalists, fashion icons Ralph Lauren, DKNY, and Michael Kors, blockbuster Silicon Valley startup One Kings Lane, Swiss bank UBS, and Audi America, cementing Engineworks as New York City’s go-to technology provider for the arts and entertainment industries. Since 2023, Ted has been providing technology leadership at New York University’s world-renowned Tisch School of the Arts.