ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE MODERN AI ERA
Are you ready to modernize your organization for the AI era? Architecture has always emerged when complexity meets consequence and today’s enterprises are no different. We help executives and technology leaders cut through complexity, clarify strategy, and build scalable, data-driven systems that accelerate real business outcomes. By blending people, process, data, and technology, we remove structural bottlenecks, focus teams on measurable goals, and turn AI into a force multiplier rather than a disruption. With a pragmatic, results-driven approach, we help you mature your architecture function, strengthen governance, and build resilient, adaptive systems ready to compete in an AI-powered world.
The Third Wave of
Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise Architecture has evolved through three distinct waves. The first wave focused on IT architecture, emphasizing standardization, stability, and cost control by managing infrastructure and applications.
The Second Wave expanded into business and digital architecture, aligning technology with business strategy through capabilities, platforms, and operating models to enable scale and transformation.
Today’s Third Wave reflects a world of constant change, abundant data, and AI growing and accelerating. Adaptive enterprise architecture builds on the Second Wave and focuses on outcomes by applying both legacy and emerging technology, especially AI, with discipline and intent. It removes friction where automation creates real leverage, and concentrates people on the decisions and work only humans do best
In this era, architecture is a living discipline that helps organizations sense change, make better decisions, and evolve continuously to sustain advantage.
Accelerators, Frameworks, and Offerings
3rd Wave Architecture provides proven accelerators, frameworks, and offerings to help organizations mature their architecture, solution and team health, execution discipline, and ability to deliver with confidence. Here are some:
Product Mode Transformation
Still managing digital work as a series of projects instead of enduring products?
The Product Mode Operating Model shifts organizations from temporary, project-based delivery to long-lived product teams that own outcomes from first release through ongoing evolution. By aligning teams, funding, and prioritization around products—supported by Agile practices and the Elastic Commitment Model—organizations deliver faster, learn continuously, and compound value over time.
Elastic Commitment Model™
Tired of constantly renegotiating scope and deadlines as product teams discover risk and capacity tightens?
The model turns prioritization into a delivery contract based on confidence, not hope, with explicit rules for capacity, risk, and trade-offs. It preserves the most important deadlines by letting scope flex intelligently as risk reveals itself.
EA Governance & Frameworks
Frustrated by governance that slows teams down without actually improving decisions?
This approach facilitates teams in building Business and Technology Capability Models supported by decision frameworks grounded in guiding principles, metrics, and informed trade-offs between AI, modern platforms, and simpler legacy solutions. Paired with pragmatic ARBs and fit-for-purpose governance, it makes enterprise architecture a living system that evolves with strategy and supports healthy solution development.
Solution Health Analysis
Concerned that critical technology including AI looks “fine” on the surface but hides fragility, burnout, or accumulating risk?
The Solution Health Analysis examines solution and team health across development, execution, and operations—assessing where AI creates real value, where simpler approaches are healthier, and whether existing AI capabilities are fully leveraged. It surfaces root causes, mitigates risk, and helps teams embed sustainable health practices
Roadmap Development
Finding that your roadmaps look strategic but don’t translate into measurable progress across teams?
This process creates flexible, metric-backed roadmaps that connect strategy to execution through capabilities, OKRs, and scaled Agile practices—while explicitly accounting for technology trade-offs, including when AI adds leverage versus when simpler or existing solutions are the better choice. It enables teams of teams to move independently while maintaining alignment on outcomes, dependencies, and priorities.
About Me
I am a retired technology executive and business leader with more than three decades of experience primarily in the financial services industry. I most recently served as the CIO of Capital Group’s Global Sales and Distribution teams and also as the firm’s Global Chief Architect, helping one of the world’s largest investment management organizations modernize its platforms and strengthen its operating model.
Before joining Capital Group, I spent 15 years at Accenture as an Executive Partner leading the North American Banking Technology practice, where I advised Fortune 500 clients on technology strategy, operating model design, and transformation governance. As a member of the Global Strategy and Transformation Practice, I focused on helping organizations align people, process, data, and technology to deliver measurable business outcomes.
I also served as a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California for more than a decade and have spoken at several other universities on topics including digital transformation, data strategy, and enterprise architecture leadership.
I studied Decision Sciences as well as Operations Management. I love digging deep into data to find meaning and get hands on with technology to optimize solutions in addition to thinking through high level transformational strategies.
At the present time, in addition to advising Executives through 3rd Wave, I also am actively involved with CASA of Orange County serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate and I am on their Board as the Program Committee Chair. I also participate in my local community government and public school system.
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Vision
Why me
3rd Wave Architecture offers management consulting focused on modern enterprise architecture and responsible AI adoption. The goal is to facilitate outcome-based transformations to ensure your organization thrives in an AI-driven world. The integrated approach addresses people, processes, technology, and data seamlessly.
I’ve spent half my career inside a major consulting firm—deep in the technology, shoulder-to-shoulder with delivery teams, and in boardrooms shaping strategy for Fortune 500 companies. The other half I’ve spent on the client side, leading large-scale transformations, building new organizations, and driving measurable outcomes.
Because I’ve sat on both sides of the table, I understand what truly creates value in a consulting relationship. My work is not about producing impressive slideware that ends up on a shelf; it’s about achieving real results grounded in real experience, delivered with accountability, clarity, and partnership.