The Paths of Wisdom: AI and the Storyteller
Building for storytellers means getting out of their way. That instinct is what decides where AI belongs in the work, and where it does not.
Technology Leader · Speaker · Advisor
I help people see technology clearly
Over two decades building platforms: at scale for Amazon and Microsoft, and nearly a decade of tools for storytellers at Disney and Lucasfilm. Caring about the people using them is what makes the best technology disappear. It stops demanding attention and starts serving the person, and the story they are trying to tell.
Speaking
If your audience is half engineers and half executives, I know that room
Keynotes from Munich to Vancouver to San Diego, and I still like the small rooms best. Conferences, user groups, university classrooms.
Invite me to speak
Recently
2025iJS San Diego
2024iJS Munich
2024iJS New York
What I come to talk about
Questions That Build
When Listening Is Not Enough
Most leaders get good at having the answers. I am more interested in asking questions that leave someone able to find their own.
Leadership Lessons from Middle Earth
The fellowship is a study in character, and half of what it teaches is what goes wrong. Courage, pride, loyalty, and doubt shape a team's ceiling more than any process does.
From people I've worked with
Garth has an uncanny ability to listen deeply, challenge assumptions with care, and translate technical complexity into clear decisions. He doesn't just advise. He partners with you through the uncertainty.
He listens first, understands the real problem, then guides you to the right answer.
Garth has an exceptional ability to cut through complexity and bring clarity at exactly the moments it matters most. He helped us move faster with more confidence and fewer missteps.
Work
Where I am committed
Day role · Since 2024
VP of Engineering at Muse
We build AI assistant tools for creative projects and the individuals behind them. Tooling that helps you capture a concept while you still have it. This is where most of my attention goes, and it is why everything else on this page is selective.
AloeLuma
aloeluma.com
Co-founder
AI facilitation on a planning surface. The difference between a board full of sticky notes and a room that actually reached a decision.
Building nowVisit ↗
Band of Friends
bandoffriends.tv
Advisor · Contributor
Brand and web presence for an upcoming children's animated series. Back to making technology disappear so the story can do the work.
Since 2025Visit ↗
Rella
getrella.com
Advisor
Technical advisor for several years running. The longest relationship on this list, and the one where I have seen the most seasons.
Since October 2022Visit ↗
About
I grew up on an island whose name means the place that has
Guam is called Guahan in Chamorro, from guaha, meaning to have. The name celebrates what is present rather than pointing at what is missing. I have carried that through every job since: find the strength already in a person or a team, and amplify it. It is most of why I mentor.
More about me →