Dylan Ward

Behavioral & mental health · Program management · Clinical counselor in training

they/he · San Francisco, CA · dyl@dylanward.work

Two years running intake at a dual-diagnosis residential program in San Francisco, where I also rebuilt the systems around the job: the referral pipeline, the utilization reporting, and the Epic templates the program ran on. Before that, five years of agency project management in New York.

View my experience ↓

Choose a lens on the left to view a selection of my experience.

Experience

Behavioral health

2024 – 2025

Intake Specialist and Residential Counselor

PRC Baker Places

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

  • Improved average bed utilization from ~62% to 78%+ (rolling 3 months) by digitizing internal intake and referral processes.
  • Completed AO-07 intake assessments through multi-provider records research: Epic first, then three to five outside providers per client by message, phone, and email, rebuilding social histories from fragmentary records. Assessment turnaround fell from about seven days to 24–72 hours.
  • Maintained and extended the agency's SQL referral database and built the digital intake workflow around it: online forms, Teams routing, email, and website updates across four houses, partner jails, and SF DPH. It replaced a fax-based manual process.
  • Named by the program manager as the site's Epic resource: formally trained three clinicians on documentation workflows and served as the standing escalation point for Epic questions across the residential program.
2023 – Present

Harm Reduction Volunteer

Independent — multiple festivals (incl. BAAAHS)

San Francisco, CA / festival sites · Volunteer

  • Designed the harm reduction program for BAAAHS, a large-scale queer arts community at festivals of ~200–800 attendees, including protocols for risk recognition, supportive engagement, and referral-to-care.
  • Trained 3 volunteer "rangers" at BAAAHS in risk recognition, supportive engagement, and referral-to-care protocols for large-scale queer arts events.
  • Serve as a frontline harm-reduction ranger at festivals — sitting with people in altered states, providing psychological first aid and de-escalation, administering naloxone, and executing referral protocols.
  • Organize and run on-site psychopharmacoeducation workshops on drug safety (DanceSafe-style), giving festival attendees practical risk-reduction information.
2007 – 2012

Onsite Outreach & Care Coordinator

Lifelong AIDS Alliance

Seattle, WA · Part-time

  • Ran late-night volunteer HIV/STI prevention outreach (10pm–2am, 1–2 nights/week over 5 years) in Seattle bathhouses and bars, distributing condoms, lube, and safer-sex materials and engaging ~20–50 men per night — roughly 2,000+ contacts per year sustained.
  • Collected nightly venue census and referral tally data and submitted it to Lifelong AIDS Alliance, feeding Public Health–Seattle & King County MSM sexual-health surveillance informing HIV/STI prevention and early PrEP research and recruitment.
  • Provided on-site resource navigation and referrals — ~5–10 per night — connecting men to STI testing, housing, and support services in queer community venues.
  • Provided 1:1 harm-reduction counseling on safer sex and substance use risk reduction in bathhouse and community settings, listening to client concerns and tailoring information to each conversation.

Project management

2021 – 2022

Senior Project Manager

Edelman DxI

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Captured requirements, estimated fees, and developed SOWs for creative, media, and measurement services valued up to $2.2M.
  • Coached account team on emceeing and running effective standups, reducing time spent in meetings by 30–50%.
  • Identified senior-labor utilization trending 10–15% above target and delivered quarterly staffing recommendations to the portfolio VP from actual-vs-expected hour analysis (Edelman's proprietary SQL platform and Tableau), bringing utilization back to target and advancing portfolio margin +10% YoY.
2021

Scrum Master (Consultant)

Anheuser-Busch

New York, NY · Contract

  • Led the Scrum transition for Anheuser-Busch's Beyond Beer division, consolidating its twelve brand teams into one operating unit. Shared agile routines were documented in Microsoft Project and Azure DevOps with the portfolio VPs.
  • Traveled nationally to train 6 teams of 5–7 people on agile methodology and effective agile ceremonies.
  • Consolidated 7 independent team routines into 3 coordinated agile routines across the division and leaned heavily into Scrum, cutting the data-gathering-to-insight pipeline from ~3 days of email back-and-forth to under 24 hours.
2020 – 2021

Senior Project Manager

Jump450 Media

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Co-founded agency PMO with SPMs and CCO; documented and distributed best practices across the agency.
  • Built an automated, Slack-integrated approval pipeline between Wegmans and Jump450 using Zapier, Slack, and Airtable — assets submitted to a single Slack channel landed in an organized Airtable database for quick approvals, shortening asset time-to-market from 2–3 weeks to 3–4 days and giving the team granular data on each asset's social and digital ad performance. (Scope clarified by Dyl 2026-08-31: pipeline ran between the two orgs, and the per-asset performance visibility was part of the win.)
  • Re-engineered analytics reporting on a Tableau stack fed from Airtable and all of Wegmans' social, Google, and ad-tracker data, shifting biweekly output to quick screenshots instead of manual report-gathering — saving each team member 4–6 hours per week and cutting media-team labor on the account by ~one third while maintaining or increasing productivity.
2019 – 2020

Creative Project Manager

Future Colossal

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Managed logistics, budget, and procurement for "The Arctic Refuge Experience," a two-story immersive installation simulating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before oil drilling, with a call-your-senator station for ANWR and the Gwich'in Nation. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC with Wallplay; project valued around $1.1–1.5M.
  • Contributed sound design ideation to "The Arctic Refuge Experience," a multi-sensory immersive installation incorporating 14-channel audio, custom scent, wind, and fog effects.
  • Traveled nationally to manage onsite staff and vendor installation of client exhibitions for Future Colossal.
2016 – 2019

Producer

Evia Events

Seattle, WA · Full-time

  • Led up to 17 junior editors producing blocks of 500 videos daily within 24-hour turnaround times for large-scale tech conferences.
  • Implemented onsite communication practices using Skype for Business, reducing average production time by 25% at large events.
2023 – 2024

Business Development Consultant

Cafe Suspiro

San Francisco, CA · Contract

  • Analyzed 2023 sales (~$150k gross) for trends; developed strategic plan targeting 50%+ growth in 2024.
  • Identified menu items under 0.7 gross-profit margin and ran a profitability analysis of the owner's best-selling, most-focused items; recommended adjusting recipes, pricing, and sales mix toward comparable higher-margin items to lift overall profit margin from ~40% toward 60%.
  • Made custom, luxury espresso drinks in a laid-back environment, covering up to 75–100 customers daily.

Arts & community

2009 – 2023

Arts Producer & Grant Administrator

Self-Employed (Sleep Nod)

USA · Freelance

  • Produced multi-camera documentaries of live performances for nationally touring artists to stream on OtBTV (On the Boards TV).
  • Obtained and administered public grants to produce performances, films, and workshops with local artists; reported on use of public and private grant funds.
2009 – 2018

Event Producer and Barista

Easy Street Records and Cafe

Seattle, WA · Part-time

  • Produced sold-out, site-specific theater pieces and concerts of 75–100 attendees with artists local to West Seattle.
  • Streamlined service processes and mise en place, raising daily sales by 35% within three years of hire.
2013 – 2017

Event & A/V Production, Donor Relations

Velocity Dance Center

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Contributed to collaborative planning for fundraising galas raising up to $500k; partnered with Velocity to approach individual patrons to fund new production grants for emerging dance artists.
  • Produced multi-camera documentaries and sound design files on QLab for Velocity Dance Center's dance events.
2016 – 2017

Volunteer Event and Workshop Coordinator

BASE Art Space

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Made Countertechnique classes available to Seattle artists by inviting and hosting faculty from San Francisco; underwrote a scholarship and work-study program to subsidize enrollment.
2023

Food Program Director and Event Lead

BAAAHS

San Francisco, CA / Mendocino, CA · Volunteer

  • Planned, marketed, and executed a fundraising event of 750 attendees, raising $14k for San Francisco artists.
  • Designed and led a vegan-friendly fresh food program for a 3-day campout of 125 attendees and staff in a remote wilderness setting, managing all transport, purchasing, storage, and safety logistics.
2018 – 2020

Family Consultant

CRFW (Colin Richard Ferguson Ward) Fund

Denver, CO · Volunteer

  • Advised the use of income streams from an artist's intellectual estate, providing micro-grants supporting Denver-area artists.

Skills

Project management

  • Project Management (PMP)
  • Agile / Scrum
  • Process Improvement & Documentation
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Program Design
  • Budget Management
  • Data Analysis (SQL, R, Tableau)
  • People Development & Mentorship

Clinical

  • Clinical Intake & Assessment
  • Clinical Documentation (Epic, Avatar)
  • Case Management & Care Coordination
  • Harm Reduction Practice
  • Group Facilitation
  • Psychoeducation & Group Programming
  • Clinical Assessment Instruments (AOA-07 Domains, SDOH, ACE)
  • Crisis-Aware Communication

Health IT

  • Epic Superuser & Clinical Template Design
  • Medical Records Research & Retrieval
  • Billable Documentation & Reimbursement Compliance (Medi-Cal)
  • HIPAA & PHI Handling
  • Clinical Note Formats & Documentation Frameworks (SOAP, DAP, PIRP)

Tools

  • Project & Work Management Tools (Jira, Monday.com, Trello, TeamGantt, MS Project, Azure DevOps)
  • Workflow Automation & No-Code Integration (Zapier, Airtable, Slack)
  • LLM-Assisted System Design
  • Marketing & Analytics Stack (Tableau, Google Ads, Domo, Airtable, Zapier, Slack)
  • Microsoft 365 (Excel, Teams, Office Suite, Forms)
  • Adobe Creative Suite (incl. Audition)

Creative production

  • Event Production
  • Video Direction & Documentary Production
  • Sound Design & Composition
  • Choreography
  • Arts Administration
  • Grant Administration

Selected Projects

2019

The Arctic Refuge Experience: Step In, Step Up

Project Manager + Sound Design

Immersive experience incorporating mirror effects, projection, Kinect sensor integration, 14-channel sound, custom scent, and integrated wind and fog effects. Led participants through four seasons in the Arctic Refuge. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Covered by ABC and CBS News.

With Future Colossal, DoSomething Strategic, The Wilderness Society

Future Colossal — project pageCBS New YorkABC7 New York

2019

Windows 1.11

Project Manager

Promotional video game based on Microsoft's 1985 Windows 1 OS, cross-promoting Netflix's Stranger Things Season 3. Emulates a computer "infected" by the Upside Down. Managed QA testing, user testing with fans, and stakeholder feedback. Delivered within Netflix and Microsoft brand guidelines. 54,000+ unique users to date.

With Future Colossal, Wasserman, Netflix, Microsoft

Future Colossal — project page

2019

Megatrends

Event Producer

Interactive installation for EY's Innovation Realized conference in Boston. Used SICK lidar sensors and Unity game engine to create a graphic environment responding to passersby. Thousands of engagements; later inquired about for permanent installation at EY's NYC offices.

With Future Colossal, Ernst and Young

Future Colossal — EY Innovation Realized 2019

2017

The Institute of Memory (TIM)e

Video Director

Performance film for Lars Jan / Early Morning Opera at On the Boards, Seattle. Shot in one take on opening night, capturing a set built entirely of fluorescent lighting. Available for rent or purchase at Ontheboards.tv.

With Lars Jan, On the Boards TV

OntheBoards.tv — watch the film

2018

Material Deviance in Contemporary American Culture

Video Director

Cinematic performance document for Alice Gosti's dance theater work at On the Boards, Seattle. Directed a team of four on opening night; edited into a performance film and promotional piece that enabled Alice to tour the work to Cambridge, New York City, and the University of North Carolina.

With Alice Gosti, On the Boards

Alice Gosti — work page

2014

Worth My Salt

Sound Designer

Original sound score for Cherdonna's first solo work. Layered Swan Lake, noise recorded from distant stars, and 1990s television and film into a pastiche-driven show about self-worth. Sold out every night at Velocity Dance Center, Seattle; subsequently presented in Portland and New York.

With Jody Kuehner (Cherdonna)

Velocity Dance Center — Made in Seattle archiveSeattleDances review

2015

Simply Put

Director + Producer

Director and producer of a dance-film residency at Velocity Dance Center, sponsored by the Glen Kawasaki Foundation. Featuring talent from Portland's Northwest Dance Project and Seattle's Whim W'Him. Premiered at the Dance Waves Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2015.

With Northwest Dance Project, Whim W'Him

2023 – Present

Still Becoming (novel-in-progress)

Writer

Serialized science-fiction novel centered on the Tougen / Adam / Sebastien story arc, ~400k words, published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Chapters 1–7 plus additional episodes; Chapter 6.5 unpublished.

2023 – Present

Desert Mode — essay arc

Writer

Multi-part grief and process essay arc published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Explores loss, resilience, and reinvention.

Clinical

Intake and assessment, groups, clinical documentation, and harm reduction.

2024 – 2025

Intake Specialist and Residential Counselor

PRC Baker Places

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

  • Improved average bed utilization from ~62% to 78%+ (rolling 3 months) by digitizing internal intake and referral processes.
  • Completed AO-07 intake assessments through multi-provider records research: Epic first, then three to five outside providers per client by message, phone, and email, rebuilding social histories from fragmentary records. Assessment turnaround fell from about seven days to 24–72 hours.
  • Maintained and extended the agency's SQL referral database and built the digital intake workflow around it: online forms, Teams routing, email, and website updates across four houses, partner jails, and SF DPH. It replaced a fax-based manual process.
  • Named by the program manager as the site's Epic resource: formally trained three clinicians on documentation workflows and served as the standing escalation point for Epic questions across the residential program.
  • Built the program's utilization reporting: same-day census from Epic, longitudinal trends in Access and Excel, read by agency leadership and SF DPH.
  • Owned documentation compliance for intake — bringing AO-07 social-history assessments to completeness and notes to a billable standard under Medi-Cal medical-necessity requirements, and personally correcting the documentation that failed review.
  • Conducted in-person and virtual intake consultations at jails, hospitals, and inpatient clinics for dual-diagnosis clients; administered ANSA, AOA-07, SDOH, MSE, and ACE assessments, working from a stance of unconditional positive regard, and translated each assessment directly into a treatment plan.
2023 – Present

Harm Reduction Volunteer

Independent — multiple festivals (incl. BAAAHS)

San Francisco, CA / festival sites · Volunteer

  • Designed the harm reduction program for BAAAHS, a large-scale queer arts community at festivals of ~200–800 attendees, including protocols for risk recognition, supportive engagement, and referral-to-care.
  • Trained 3 volunteer "rangers" at BAAAHS in risk recognition, supportive engagement, and referral-to-care protocols for large-scale queer arts events.
  • Serve as a frontline harm-reduction ranger at festivals — sitting with people in altered states, providing psychological first aid and de-escalation, administering naloxone, and executing referral protocols.
  • Organize and run on-site psychopharmacoeducation workshops on drug safety (DanceSafe-style), giving festival attendees practical risk-reduction information.
  • Provide sexual harm reduction and referrals on-site — distributing condoms and connecting attendees to doxy-PEP and PrEP resources.
  • Provide environmental harm reduction at outdoor festivals — addressing cold, insects, dehydration and dryness, and basic first aid alongside substance and psychological support.
  • Advise and mentor emerging harm-reduction leaders, helping them develop programs and on-the-ground practice for their own events.
2007 – 2012

Onsite Outreach & Care Coordinator

Lifelong AIDS Alliance

Seattle, WA · Part-time

  • Ran late-night volunteer HIV/STI prevention outreach (10pm–2am, 1–2 nights/week over 5 years) in Seattle bathhouses and bars, distributing condoms, lube, and safer-sex materials and engaging ~20–50 men per night — roughly 2,000+ contacts per year sustained.
  • Collected nightly venue census and referral tally data and submitted it to Lifelong AIDS Alliance, feeding Public Health–Seattle & King County MSM sexual-health surveillance informing HIV/STI prevention and early PrEP research and recruitment.
  • Provided on-site resource navigation and referrals — ~5–10 per night — connecting men to STI testing, housing, and support services in queer community venues.
  • Provided 1:1 harm-reduction counseling on safer sex and substance use risk reduction in bathhouse and community settings, listening to client concerns and tailoring information to each conversation.

Systems work from other settings

2020 – 2021

Senior Project Manager

Jump450 Media

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Co-founded agency PMO with SPMs and CCO; documented and distributed best practices across the agency.
  • Built an automated, Slack-integrated approval pipeline between Wegmans and Jump450 using Zapier, Slack, and Airtable — assets submitted to a single Slack channel landed in an organized Airtable database for quick approvals, shortening asset time-to-market from 2–3 weeks to 3–4 days and giving the team granular data on each asset's social and digital ad performance. (Scope clarified by Dyl 2026-08-31: pipeline ran between the two orgs, and the per-asset performance visibility was part of the win.)
2021 – 2022

Senior Project Manager

Edelman DxI

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Coached account team on emceeing and running effective standups, reducing time spent in meetings by 30–50%.
  • Identified senior-labor utilization trending 10–15% above target and delivered quarterly staffing recommendations to the portfolio VP from actual-vs-expected hour analysis (Edelman's proprietary SQL platform and Tableau), bringing utilization back to target and advancing portfolio margin +10% YoY.
2021

Scrum Master (Consultant)

Anheuser-Busch

New York, NY · Contract

  • Led the Scrum transition for Anheuser-Busch's Beyond Beer division, consolidating its twelve brand teams into one operating unit. Shared agile routines were documented in Microsoft Project and Azure DevOps with the portfolio VPs.
  • Consolidated 7 independent team routines into 3 coordinated agile routines across the division and leaned heavily into Scrum, cutting the data-gathering-to-insight pipeline from ~3 days of email back-and-forth to under 24 hours.

Skills

Clinical

  • Clinical Intake & Assessment
  • Clinical Assessment Instruments (AOA-07 Domains, SDOH, ACE)
  • Clinical Documentation (Epic, Avatar)
  • Clinical Note Formats & Documentation Frameworks (SOAP, DAP, PIRP)
  • Case Management & Care Coordination
  • Harm Reduction Practice
  • Overdose Response (Naloxone)
  • Group Facilitation
  • Psychoeducation & Group Programming
  • Community & Street-Based Outreach
  • Crisis-Aware Communication

Systems & documentation

  • Epic Superuser & Clinical Template Design
  • Medical Records Research & Retrieval
  • Billable Documentation & Reimbursement Compliance (Medi-Cal)
  • HIPAA & PHI Handling
  • Process Improvement & Documentation
  • Data Analysis (SQL, R, Tableau)
  • Program Design
  • Project Management (PMP)
  • Microsoft 365 (Excel, Teams, Office Suite, Forms)

Writing

2023 – Present

Still Becoming (novel-in-progress)

Writer

Serialized science-fiction novel centered on the Tougen / Adam / Sebastien story arc, ~400k words, published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Chapters 1–7 plus additional episodes; Chapter 6.5 unpublished.

2023 – Present

Desert Mode — essay arc

Writer

Multi-part grief and process essay arc published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Explores loss, resilience, and reinvention.

Health IT & Data

EHR workflow, documentation compliance, utilization reporting, and referral pipelines.

Inside a behavioral-health program

2024 – 2025

Intake Specialist and Residential Counselor

PRC Baker Places

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

  • Improved average bed utilization from ~62% to 78%+ (rolling 3 months) by digitizing internal intake and referral processes.
  • Completed AO-07 intake assessments through multi-provider records research: Epic first, then three to five outside providers per client by message, phone, and email, rebuilding social histories from fragmentary records. Assessment turnaround fell from about seven days to 24–72 hours.
  • Maintained and extended the agency's SQL referral database and built the digital intake workflow around it: online forms, Teams routing, email, and website updates across four houses, partner jails, and SF DPH. It replaced a fax-based manual process.
  • Named by the program manager as the site's Epic resource: formally trained three clinicians on documentation workflows and served as the standing escalation point for Epic questions across the residential program.
  • Built the program's utilization reporting: same-day census from Epic, longitudinal trends in Access and Excel, read by agency leadership and SF DPH.
  • Owned documentation compliance for intake — bringing AO-07 social-history assessments to completeness and notes to a billable standard under Medi-Cal medical-necessity requirements, and personally correcting the documentation that failed review.

Agency project management

2021 – 2022

Senior Project Manager

Edelman DxI

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Captured requirements, estimated fees, and developed SOWs for creative, media, and measurement services valued up to $2.2M.
  • Coached account team on emceeing and running effective standups, reducing time spent in meetings by 30–50%.
  • Identified senior-labor utilization trending 10–15% above target and delivered quarterly staffing recommendations to the portfolio VP from actual-vs-expected hour analysis (Edelman's proprietary SQL platform and Tableau), bringing utilization back to target and advancing portfolio margin +10% YoY.
2021

Scrum Master (Consultant)

Anheuser-Busch

New York, NY · Contract

  • Led the Scrum transition for Anheuser-Busch's Beyond Beer division, consolidating its twelve brand teams into one operating unit. Shared agile routines were documented in Microsoft Project and Azure DevOps with the portfolio VPs.
  • Traveled nationally to train 6 teams of 5–7 people on agile methodology and effective agile ceremonies.
  • Consolidated 7 independent team routines into 3 coordinated agile routines across the division and leaned heavily into Scrum, cutting the data-gathering-to-insight pipeline from ~3 days of email back-and-forth to under 24 hours.
2020 – 2021

Senior Project Manager

Jump450 Media

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Co-founded agency PMO with SPMs and CCO; documented and distributed best practices across the agency.
  • Built an automated, Slack-integrated approval pipeline between Wegmans and Jump450 using Zapier, Slack, and Airtable — assets submitted to a single Slack channel landed in an organized Airtable database for quick approvals, shortening asset time-to-market from 2–3 weeks to 3–4 days and giving the team granular data on each asset's social and digital ad performance. (Scope clarified by Dyl 2026-08-31: pipeline ran between the two orgs, and the per-asset performance visibility was part of the win.)
  • Re-engineered analytics reporting on a Tableau stack fed from Airtable and all of Wegmans' social, Google, and ad-tracker data, shifting biweekly output to quick screenshots instead of manual report-gathering — saving each team member 4–6 hours per week and cutting media-team labor on the account by ~one third while maintaining or increasing productivity.
2023 – 2024

Business Development Consultant

Cafe Suspiro

San Francisco, CA · Contract

  • Analyzed 2023 sales (~$150k gross) for trends; developed strategic plan targeting 50%+ growth in 2024.
  • Identified menu items under 0.7 gross-profit margin and ran a profitability analysis of the owner's best-selling, most-focused items; recommended adjusting recipes, pricing, and sales mix toward comparable higher-margin items to lift overall profit margin from ~40% toward 60%.
2016 – 2019

Producer

Evia Events

Seattle, WA · Full-time

  • Led up to 17 junior editors producing blocks of 500 videos daily within 24-hour turnaround times for large-scale tech conferences.
  • Implemented onsite communication practices using Skype for Business, reducing average production time by 25% at large events.

Skills

Health IT

  • Epic Superuser & Clinical Template Design
  • Billable Documentation & Reimbursement Compliance (Medi-Cal)
  • HIPAA & PHI Handling
  • Medical Records Research & Retrieval
  • Clinical Note Formats & Documentation Frameworks (SOAP, DAP, PIRP)
  • Clinical Documentation (Epic, Avatar)

Project management

  • Project Management (PMP)
  • Agile / Scrum
  • Process Improvement & Documentation
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Budget Management
  • Data Analysis (SQL, R, Tableau)
  • Program Design
  • People Development & Mentorship

Tools

  • Project & Work Management Tools (Jira, Monday.com, Trello, TeamGantt, MS Project, Azure DevOps)
  • Workflow Automation & No-Code Integration (Zapier, Airtable, Slack)
  • LLM-Assisted System Design
  • Marketing & Analytics Stack (Tableau, Google Ads, Domo, Airtable, Zapier, Slack)
  • Microsoft 365 (Excel, Teams, Office Suite, Forms)

Selected Projects

2026 – Present

Curriculum Viatae — Structured CV Database & Agent Ingest Pipeline

Designer and sole builder

A structured YAML database of every role, accomplishment, project, and skill, with a closed tagging vocabulary that lets a résumé be reassembled for any audience. Includes a documented schema, an ingest contract that turns raw documents and spoken notes into draft entries, and a Jekyll site that renders the same database through switchable lenses.

2019

Windows 1.11

Project Manager

Promotional video game based on Microsoft's 1985 Windows 1 OS, cross-promoting Netflix's Stranger Things Season 3. Emulates a computer "infected" by the Upside Down. Managed QA testing, user testing with fans, and stakeholder feedback. Delivered within Netflix and Microsoft brand guidelines. 54,000+ unique users to date.

With Future Colossal, Wasserman, Netflix, Microsoft

Future Colossal — project page

2019

The Arctic Refuge Experience: Step In, Step Up

Project Manager + Sound Design

Immersive experience incorporating mirror effects, projection, Kinect sensor integration, 14-channel sound, custom scent, and integrated wind and fog effects. Led participants through four seasons in the Arctic Refuge. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Covered by ABC and CBS News.

With Future Colossal, DoSomething Strategic, The Wilderness Society

Future Colossal — project pageCBS New YorkABC7 New York

2019

Megatrends

Event Producer

Interactive installation for EY's Innovation Realized conference in Boston. Used SICK lidar sensors and Unity game engine to create a graphic environment responding to passersby. Thousands of engagements; later inquired about for permanent installation at EY's NYC offices.

With Future Colossal, Ernst and Young

Future Colossal — EY Innovation Realized 2019

Teaching

Psychoeducation and skills groups for dual-diagnosis clients. Drug-safety workshops at festivals. Training clinicians on documentation, and coaching twelve brand teams through an agile transition.

Groups & training in care settings

2024 – 2025

Intake Specialist and Residential Counselor

PRC Baker Places

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

  • Named by the program manager as the site's Epic resource: formally trained three clinicians on documentation workflows and served as the standing escalation point for Epic questions across the residential program.
  • Built weekly group programming schedules and operationalized 20+ groups per week across psychoeducation, ADLs, social skills, and mindfulness.
  • Led 5–6 groups per week for dual-diagnosis residential clients, spanning psychoeducation, activities of daily living (cooking, cleaning, hygiene, self-organization, scheduling, job search), DBT and interpersonal-effectiveness skills, and emotional process groups.
  • Authored process documentation for the new intake workflow and delivered training presentations to all four residential houses and senior staff.
2023 – Present

Harm Reduction Volunteer

Independent — multiple festivals (incl. BAAAHS)

San Francisco, CA / festival sites · Volunteer

  • Designed the harm reduction program for BAAAHS, a large-scale queer arts community at festivals of ~200–800 attendees, including protocols for risk recognition, supportive engagement, and referral-to-care.
  • Organize and run on-site psychopharmacoeducation workshops on drug safety (DanceSafe-style), giving festival attendees practical risk-reduction information.
  • Advise and mentor emerging harm-reduction leaders, helping them develop programs and on-the-ground practice for their own events.

Agile coaching

2021

Scrum Master (Consultant)

Anheuser-Busch

New York, NY · Contract

  • Led the Scrum transition for Anheuser-Busch's Beyond Beer division, consolidating its twelve brand teams into one operating unit. Shared agile routines were documented in Microsoft Project and Azure DevOps with the portfolio VPs.
  • Traveled nationally to train 6 teams of 5–7 people on agile methodology and effective agile ceremonies.
  • Consolidated 7 independent team routines into 3 coordinated agile routines across the division and leaned heavily into Scrum, cutting the data-gathering-to-insight pipeline from ~3 days of email back-and-forth to under 24 hours.
2021 – 2022

Senior Project Manager

Edelman DxI

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Coached account team on emceeing and running effective standups, reducing time spent in meetings by 30–50%.
2020 – 2021

Senior Project Manager

Jump450 Media

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Advised account teams on building client relationships; team improved commission revenue +115% YoY.

Arts workshops

2016 – 2017

Volunteer Event and Workshop Coordinator

BASE Art Space

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Made Countertechnique classes available to Seattle artists by inviting and hosting faculty from San Francisco; underwrote a scholarship and work-study program to subsidize enrollment.
2009 – 2023

Arts Producer & Grant Administrator

Self-Employed (Sleep Nod)

USA · Freelance

  • Obtained and administered public grants to produce performances, films, and workshops with local artists; reported on use of public and private grant funds.

Skills

Facilitation

  • Group Facilitation
  • Psychoeducation & Group Programming
  • Program Design
  • People Development & Mentorship
  • Agile / Scrum
  • Community & Street-Based Outreach
  • Crisis-Aware Communication
  • Harm Reduction Practice

Assessment & research

  • Clinical Assessment Instruments (AOA-07 Domains, SDOH, ACE)
  • Clinical Intake & Assessment
  • Data Analysis (SQL, R, Tableau)
  • Clinical Documentation (Epic, Avatar)
  • Microsoft 365 (Excel, Teams, Office Suite, Forms)

Writing

2023 – Present

Still Becoming (novel-in-progress)

Writer

Serialized science-fiction novel centered on the Tougen / Adam / Sebastien story arc, ~400k words, published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Chapters 1–7 plus additional episodes; Chapter 6.5 unpublished.

2023 – Present

Desert Mode — essay arc

Writer

Multi-part grief and process essay arc published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Explores loss, resilience, and reinvention.

Onsite Projects

Immersive installations, live events, touring crews, and vendors.

2019 – 2020

Creative Project Manager

Future Colossal

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Managed logistics, budget, and procurement for "The Arctic Refuge Experience," a two-story immersive installation simulating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before oil drilling, with a call-your-senator station for ANWR and the Gwich'in Nation. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC with Wallplay; project valued around $1.1–1.5M.
  • Traveled nationally to manage onsite staff and vendor installation of client exhibitions for Future Colossal.
  • Led vendors and nonprofit partners through SOWs up to $1.4M on projects budgeted $500K–$15M: two or three vendors per project, from fabrication contractors to remote QA technicians. Tracked proposed vs. actual spend weekly.
2016 – 2019

Producer

Evia Events

Seattle, WA · Full-time

  • Led up to 17 junior editors producing blocks of 500 videos daily within 24-hour turnaround times for large-scale tech conferences.
  • Implemented onsite communication practices using Skype for Business, reducing average production time by 25% at large events.
2023

Food Program Director and Event Lead

BAAAHS

San Francisco, CA / Mendocino, CA · Volunteer

  • Planned, marketed, and executed a fundraising event of 750 attendees, raising $14k for San Francisco artists.
  • Designed and led a vegan-friendly fresh food program for a 3-day campout of 125 attendees and staff in a remote wilderness setting, managing all transport, purchasing, storage, and safety logistics.
2013 – 2017

Event & A/V Production, Donor Relations

Velocity Dance Center

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Contributed to collaborative planning for fundraising galas raising up to $500k; partnered with Velocity to approach individual patrons to fund new production grants for emerging dance artists.
  • Produced multi-camera documentaries and sound design files on QLab for Velocity Dance Center's dance events.
2009 – 2018

Event Producer and Barista

Easy Street Records and Cafe

Seattle, WA · Part-time

  • Produced sold-out, site-specific theater pieces and concerts of 75–100 attendees with artists local to West Seattle.
2016 – 2017

Volunteer Event and Workshop Coordinator

BASE Art Space

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Made Countertechnique classes available to Seattle artists by inviting and hosting faculty from San Francisco; underwrote a scholarship and work-study program to subsidize enrollment.

Programming in a care setting

2024 – 2025

Intake Specialist and Residential Counselor

PRC Baker Places

San Francisco, CA · Full-time

  • Built weekly group programming schedules and operationalized 20+ groups per week across psychoeducation, ADLs, social skills, and mindfulness.

Skills

Production

  • Event Production
  • Project Management (PMP)
  • Budget Management
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Program Design
  • People Development & Mentorship

Craft & tools

  • Video Direction & Documentary Production
  • Sound Design & Composition
  • Arts Administration
  • Project & Work Management Tools (Jira, Monday.com, Trello, TeamGantt, MS Project, Azure DevOps)
  • Adobe Creative Suite (incl. Audition)

Selected Projects

2019

The Arctic Refuge Experience: Step In, Step Up

Project Manager + Sound Design

Immersive experience incorporating mirror effects, projection, Kinect sensor integration, 14-channel sound, custom scent, and integrated wind and fog effects. Led participants through four seasons in the Arctic Refuge. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Covered by ABC and CBS News.

With Future Colossal, DoSomething Strategic, The Wilderness Society

Future Colossal — project pageCBS New YorkABC7 New York

2019

Megatrends

Event Producer

Interactive installation for EY's Innovation Realized conference in Boston. Used SICK lidar sensors and Unity game engine to create a graphic environment responding to passersby. Thousands of engagements; later inquired about for permanent installation at EY's NYC offices.

With Future Colossal, Ernst and Young

Future Colossal — EY Innovation Realized 2019

2019

Windows 1.11

Project Manager

Promotional video game based on Microsoft's 1985 Windows 1 OS, cross-promoting Netflix's Stranger Things Season 3. Emulates a computer "infected" by the Upside Down. Managed QA testing, user testing with fans, and stakeholder feedback. Delivered within Netflix and Microsoft brand guidelines. 54,000+ unique users to date.

With Future Colossal, Wasserman, Netflix, Microsoft

Future Colossal — project page

2015

Simply Put

Director + Producer

Director and producer of a dance-film residency at Velocity Dance Center, sponsored by the Glen Kawasaki Foundation. Featuring talent from Portland's Northwest Dance Project and Seattle's Whim W'Him. Premiered at the Dance Waves Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2015.

With Northwest Dance Project, Whim W'Him

Arts

Choreography, sound score, and video direction, plus the producing and grant work behind them. Under the name Sleep Nod.

2009 – 2023

Arts Producer & Grant Administrator

Self-Employed (Sleep Nod)

USA · Freelance

  • Produced multi-camera documentaries of live performances for nationally touring artists to stream on OtBTV (On the Boards TV).
  • Obtained and administered public grants to produce performances, films, and workshops with local artists; reported on use of public and private grant funds.
2019 – 2020

Creative Project Manager

Future Colossal

New York, NY · Full-time

  • Managed logistics, budget, and procurement for "The Arctic Refuge Experience," a two-story immersive installation simulating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before oil drilling, with a call-your-senator station for ANWR and the Gwich'in Nation. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC with Wallplay; project valued around $1.1–1.5M.
  • Contributed sound design ideation to "The Arctic Refuge Experience," a multi-sensory immersive installation incorporating 14-channel audio, custom scent, wind, and fog effects.
2016 – 2019

Producer

Evia Events

Seattle, WA · Full-time

  • Led up to 17 junior editors producing blocks of 500 videos daily within 24-hour turnaround times for large-scale tech conferences.
  • Implemented onsite communication practices using Skype for Business, reducing average production time by 25% at large events.
2023

Food Program Director and Event Lead

BAAAHS

San Francisco, CA / Mendocino, CA · Volunteer

  • Planned, marketed, and executed a fundraising event of 750 attendees, raising $14k for San Francisco artists.
  • Designed and led a vegan-friendly fresh food program for a 3-day campout of 125 attendees and staff in a remote wilderness setting, managing all transport, purchasing, storage, and safety logistics.
2018 – 2020

Family Consultant

CRFW (Colin Richard Ferguson Ward) Fund

Denver, CO · Volunteer

  • Advised the use of income streams from an artist's intellectual estate, providing micro-grants supporting Denver-area artists.
2009 – 2018

Event Producer and Barista

Easy Street Records and Cafe

Seattle, WA · Part-time

  • Produced sold-out, site-specific theater pieces and concerts of 75–100 attendees with artists local to West Seattle.
2013 – 2017

Event & A/V Production, Donor Relations

Velocity Dance Center

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Contributed to collaborative planning for fundraising galas raising up to $500k; partnered with Velocity to approach individual patrons to fund new production grants for emerging dance artists.
  • Produced multi-camera documentaries and sound design files on QLab for Velocity Dance Center's dance events.
2016 – 2017

Volunteer Event and Workshop Coordinator

BASE Art Space

Seattle, WA · Volunteer

  • Made Countertechnique classes available to Seattle artists by inviting and hosting faculty from San Francisco; underwrote a scholarship and work-study program to subsidize enrollment.

Skills

Creative production

  • Event Production
  • Video Direction & Documentary Production
  • Sound Design & Composition
  • Choreography
  • Arts Administration
  • Grant Administration

Tools

  • Adobe Creative Suite (incl. Audition)
  • Project & Work Management Tools (Jira, Monday.com, Trello, TeamGantt, MS Project, Azure DevOps)

Selected Work

2017

The Institute of Memory (TIM)e

Video Director

Performance film for Lars Jan / Early Morning Opera at On the Boards, Seattle. Shot in one take on opening night, capturing a set built entirely of fluorescent lighting. Available for rent or purchase at Ontheboards.tv.

With Lars Jan, On the Boards TV

OntheBoards.tv — watch the film

2018

Material Deviance in Contemporary American Culture

Video Director

Cinematic performance document for Alice Gosti's dance theater work at On the Boards, Seattle. Directed a team of four on opening night; edited into a performance film and promotional piece that enabled Alice to tour the work to Cambridge, New York City, and the University of North Carolina.

With Alice Gosti, On the Boards

Alice Gosti — work page

2014

Worth My Salt

Sound Designer

Original sound score for Cherdonna's first solo work. Layered Swan Lake, noise recorded from distant stars, and 1990s television and film into a pastiche-driven show about self-worth. Sold out every night at Velocity Dance Center, Seattle; subsequently presented in Portland and New York.

With Jody Kuehner (Cherdonna)

Velocity Dance Center — Made in Seattle archiveSeattleDances review

2019

The Arctic Refuge Experience: Step In, Step Up

Project Manager + Sound Design

Immersive experience incorporating mirror effects, projection, Kinect sensor integration, 14-channel sound, custom scent, and integrated wind and fog effects. Led participants through four seasons in the Arctic Refuge. Toured New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Covered by ABC and CBS News.

With Future Colossal, DoSomething Strategic, The Wilderness Society

Future Colossal — project pageCBS New YorkABC7 New York

2015

Simply Put

Director + Producer

Director and producer of a dance-film residency at Velocity Dance Center, sponsored by the Glen Kawasaki Foundation. Featuring talent from Portland's Northwest Dance Project and Seattle's Whim W'Him. Premiered at the Dance Waves Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2015.

With Northwest Dance Project, Whim W'Him

2023 – Present

Still Becoming (novel-in-progress)

Writer

Serialized science-fiction novel centered on the Tougen / Adam / Sebastien story arc, ~400k words, published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Chapters 1–7 plus additional episodes; Chapter 6.5 unpublished.

2023 – Present

Desert Mode — essay arc

Writer

Multi-part grief and process essay arc published on Substack as Sleep Nod. Explores loss, resilience, and reinvention.

Education & Credentials

2024 – 2027

M.A., Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Palo Alto University

Remote / Palo Alto, CA

  • In progress; expected completion 2027.
2010 – 2013

B.A., Comparative History & Theater Production

University of Washington

Seattle, WA

  • Minor in Dance.
Certifications
  • PMP — Project Management Professional — Project Management Institute (PMI) · 2021 · Credential ID: #3151150
  • Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist (MHRS) / Case Management Credential — California Department of Health Care Services · 2024 · NPI registered
  • Google Data Analytics Certificate — Google / Coursera · 2023

Let's talk.

Available for part- or full-time work: behavioral-health operations, quality and utilization reporting, EHR and Avatar workflow support, program coordination, teaching or research assistance. Based in San Francisco; remote or Bay Area in person.

dyl@dylanward.work