My career didn’t start in a boardroom or a startup incubator.

It started in a trench.

Early in my career as a civil engineer, I spent long days standing in open trenches verifying soil density. The work was gritty, rushed, and often felt insignificant. I had become an engineer because I wanted to build the infrastructure that supports society—roads, bridges, housing. The things that enable growth, comfort, and convenience for people.

But early on I felt disconnected from that purpose.

So I went back to school and pursued a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. I thought that if I better understood how things worked—machines, systems, design—I could contribute more meaningfully to building the world around us.

That decision took me on an unexpected journey.

Over the next several years I worked across industries: healthcare, automotive, renewable energy, conventional energy, consulting, software development, project management, education delivery, community building, construction, business development, and startups.

Each role taught me something new. The pay was good. The work was manageable.

But something was still missing.

For a long time I thought the answer was simply to keep advancing—learn new skills, move into bigger roles, challenge myself more. But no matter how much I progressed, I often felt like a cog in a very large machine.

The work was always about what I was doing.

Rarely about why.

Eventually I took time to reassess my values. I asked myself a simple but uncomfortable question: Does the work I do every day align with what truly matters to me?

The answer came from an unexpected place.

Volunteering. Helping others. Working with startups.

Startups operate in a completely different environment. They face uncertainty, technical challenges, process challenges, and the constant pressure of turning an idea into something real.

And I realized something: those were the moments when my work felt most meaningful.

Helping innovators refine ideas. Solving development challenges. Applying the skills I had accumulated across industries to move ideas closer to commercial reality.

That’s when I finally understood my “why.”

My “what” had always been my skillset—engineering, problem-solving, and experience across multiple industries.

My “why” was helping innovators bring ideas to life.

The last question was how.

The answer turned out to be the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program.

Innovation is hard. It requires experimentation, iteration, and risk. Many great ideas never reach the market simply because the resources required to develop them are too great.

SR&ED exists to support that difficult work.

By helping startups and innovative companies navigate the program, I can support the builders, engineers, scientists, and founders who are pushing ideas forward.

Today my work is no longer just about engineering.

It’s about enabling innovation.

Because when innovators succeed, the impact reaches far beyond a single company.

It reaches communities, industries, and the lives of people those innovations ultimately serve.

And helping make that possible—that’s the work that finally gave my career its purpose.