Journey / An annotated working life

Experience accumulates in sequence. Meaning appears in the connections.

The current chapter is the professional anchor. It brings payments, product delivery, risk, and controls together. Earlier chapters explain the judgment and working habits behind it.

Current chapter / Banking product and technology

CHR-001 / Working chronology

Move through the record.

Seven chapters arranged in sequence. Each opens into what happened, what I later understood, and—where public evidence exists—the record behind it.

Selected chapter 1 / 7

←→ navigate · HomeEnd jump

Parallel practice / Non-linear time The other work was happening too.

These practices do not replace the professional spine. They change how its patterns can be interpreted.

SND-001Sound / Adrian VEarlier—Now NOTE-001Writing & pattern workOngoing PRT-001Independent experiments2019—Now

These threads overlap the formal chronology. Individual releases and projects will enter the archive as their records are prepared.

CHR-012004—2009Origins

Banking made risk concrete before it became a design language.

As recorded

Began in financial services and private banking at SunTrust, Banco de Chile, BankBoston, and Santander, moving from client-facing work into KYC, CIP, and BSA/AML investigations.

As understood

The first chapter taught me that financial systems are shaped by customer behavior, evidence, rules, and the consequences of getting a judgment wrong.

CHR-022010—2014Systems

Leaving banking made technology visible from the user’s side.

As recorded

Supported digital communities at Blizzard, worked in Apple’s developer-support program, and then moved into information systems and web development at Greater Madison CVB.

As understood

Technology became real at the point where a person encountered it. User needs, business intent, and implementation constraints became layers of the same system.

CHR-032014—2016Return

The return to banking was a return with a different set of eyes.

As recorded

Returned through Citi’s Global Investigations Unit and subsequent BSA/AML consulting roles, reviewing activity, documenting findings, and escalating risk across regulated environments.

As understood

The years in technology changed how I read operational friction. I began asking what a control misses when it is designed too far from the people expected to use it.

CHR-042016—2019Control building

A requirement matters only when the organization can carry it out.

As recorded

As a Vice President, Project Lead and Senior Business Analyst at Citi IPB U.S., helped establish an In-Business AML function. Later, as a Vice President and Sanctions Officer at Seacoast, led control, training, and technology-enhancement work.

As understood

The work moved from evaluating controls to building the procedures, training, evidence, governance, and operating practices people needed to carry them out.

CHR-052019—2023Operator

Building and leading made every tradeoff real.

As recorded

Co-founded and operated Unicorn, later serving briefly as CEO, then directed project delivery across product, engineering, design, and business teams at Versus Interactive.

As understood

At Unicorn, constraints made priorities visible. At Versus, repeatable delivery standards showed how an operating rhythm can give fast-moving teams clearer decisions and more dependable execution.

CHR-062023—2025Treasury

Payments became a product experience as well as an operating system.

As recorded

Managed LATAM Global Treasury Management implementations and client-facing payment operations at Bank of America, including migrations from MT-based messaging to ISO 20022 MX standards.

As understood

Global payment delivery connected client needs, product capabilities, operational readiness, compliance, technology, and implementation dependencies in one view.

CHR-072025—NowConvergence

The present chapter brings payments, product delivery, risk, and controls together.

As recorded

Works with BankUnited as an IT Project Manager supporting payments and technology delivery across Treasury and Product stakeholders, application support, testing, operations, risk and compliance, and vendor dependencies.

As understood

This chapter draws on banking judgment, startup experience, technical delivery, and treasury implementation at the same time.

FLD-001 / Journey field

One record. Two readings.

The chronology preserves evidence and sequence. The systems map reveals the capabilities, questions, and instincts connecting the chapters.

Working record / chronology The order in which the work arrived.

Systems map / interpretation The forces that kept returning.

01 Risk & judgment

02 Product & delivery

03 Systems & repeatability

04 Creative authorship

2004-2009 Banking / AML

Banking and risk origins

Moved from client-facing financial services into KYC, CIP, and BSA/AML investigation work across private banking environments.

Evidence, rules, customer behavior, and consequences made risk concrete.

Carried forward Evidence before conclusion

2010-2014 Digital systems

Digital communities, developer support, and web systems

Worked across Blizzard’s digital communities, Apple’s developer-support program, and the systems and websites behind a public organization.

Connected user needs, technical constraints, and the structures nobody sees.

Carried forward Translation across layers

2014-2016 Investigations / AML

A return to banking through financial crime operations

Returned through Citi’s Global Investigations Unit and subsequent BSA/AML consulting roles across regulated banks.

Understand how a system can fail before deciding how it should change.

Carried forward Risk as a design input

2016-2019 Citi / Seacoast

Turning regulatory language into operating practice

Helped establish Citi’s In-Business AML function, then led sanctions control, training, and technology-enhancement work at Seacoast.

A control succeeds when people can understand, perform, measure, and improve it.

Carried forward Regulatory translation

2019-2023 Unicorn / Versus

Building a company and leading technology delivery

Co-founded and operated Unicorn, then directed delivery across product, engineering, design, and business teams at Versus.

Find the friction, shape the system, and improve the next iteration.

Carried forward Product thinking under constraint

2023-2025 Bank of America

Global treasury delivery and payment implementation

Managed LATAM treasury implementations, client-facing payment operations, and ISO 20022 MT-to-MX migrations.

Payment delivery joins product capability, client readiness, operations, compliance, technology, and implementation.

Carried forward Treasury product fluency

2025-Now BankUnited / current

Payments, product, risk, and controls

Supports payments and technology delivery across Treasury and Product, testing, operations, risk and compliance, and vendors.

This is where banking judgment, startup experience, technical delivery, and treasury implementation begin working together.

Current convergence Responsible product leadership

Ongoing Adrian V

Music and atmosphere

A musical identity and body of work developed alongside the formal work.

A parallel practice in iteration, atmosphere, authorship, and attention.

Practice Creative authorship

Ongoing Writing

Questions and pattern work

Notes, questions, and experiments accumulated between formal chapters.

Writing separates signal from inherited assumptions.

Practice Discernment in language

Now Independent practice

Systems, writing, and cultural experiments

Private technical studies, writing, and cultural experiments developed outside the professional spine.

Places to test private systems, human agency, authorship, and reusable tools.

Practice Applied experimentation

The record does not change. Resolution changes which relationships become visible.

CUR-001 / Current chapter

The present chapter is where the threads meet.

My work sits at the intersection of payments, product delivery, risk, and controls.

I connect business intent to the technical dependencies, control considerations, decisions, testing, and operating rhythm required to deliver responsibly.

The aim is dependable change: clear decisions, controls designed into delivery, and operating practices that can be repeated.