History
Born at Camp Pendleton to two Marines, I spent my early years moving between military bases. We eventually settled in Port Hope, MI, a tiny town of maybe three hundred people on the shore of Lake Huron. For most of my youth I was involved in sports, volunteer, and academic groups, graduating as valedictorian (of a class of fifteen!) and being named number one in our county’s “Tribune Top 50.” Excited to embark on my own, I headed north to Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. I quickly got involved in student organizations, including being a representative of the Undergraduate Student Government, Memorial Union Board, and president of Inter-Residence Hall Council. Slightly distracted by these groups, it took me five years to earn my bachelor’s in Applied & Computational Mathematics, with minors in Communication Studies and Journalism.
Career
During my college years I began to teach myself how to build websites, mostly to spin up event pages for the student groups I was part of. After graduation, I continued working at the university, building applications for facilities, dining, and the residence halls. A year later I moved down to Wisconsin with my (amazing) wife and worked at a few small agencies before landing a remote programming job at Shutterstock, a stock photography company based in New York. I spent eight years there, first helping with the smaller Bigstock brand before building up the public API team, where I led a team of fifteen amazing humans across multiple disciplines and grew the business from $4MM to $20MM in a fast-paced, startup environment. That was so much fun that I left to do true startup work. Today that means ForgeWright Labs, my own startup, and a founding-developer seat at Ask the Forge, where I’m building Switchtower. I’m also a founder at Zerker, building agentic gateways and staying on the leading edge of the evolving technical landscape.
Hiking
My passion for hiking started back in 2008, when I decided to visit every waterfall in the Keweenaw area. This little project turned into a deep appreciation of the wild lands of the Upper Peninsula, the hidden trails and tucked-away gems, and soon I was wandering through deep woods and up ancient mountains. As my family began to grow, we moved down to Arizona, and I continued my wild meanderings into the desert and highlands. My solo trips still continue, long treks into the wilderness areas, and sometimes I haul along my kids or do trail maintenance. Whether it’s a dry desert hike, a rocky mountain scramble, a stroll under ponderosa forests, or skipping rocks on Lake Superior, I love a good outdoor adventure.
Family
Katie and I met in college and married in 2012, and somehow we made a family and a life together. We now have three kids, two boys (Noah and Thomas) and a younger girl (Charlotte), as well as plenty of household pets to fill our home. Our shared passions of board games, nerdy books, and general tinkering have fulfilled every dream young Jake could ever have had. We’ve been together through good and bad times, and I can’t wait to see where we end up next.