Craig McWherter
Chief Product & Technology Officer · Product & Engineering Executive
Cotati, CA|(205) 999-5171|craig@mcwherter.com|linkedin.com/in/craig-mcwherter
25+
Years building product & platforms
70+
Engineers, PMs, and Analysts in largest org built & led
15+
Major corps to which production systems were delivered
4
Consumer streaming brands shipped to millions of users
Global
Launches across NA, Europe, LatAm & ANZ
Product and engineering executive with 25+ years building consumer, enterprise, and platform software for Disney, Turner, HBO, Mattel, Riot Games, Microsoft, the NBA, the NFL, Mercedes, Honda, Verizon, McKesson, and Ascension St. Vincent's. Built and led distributed engineering teams of 70+ and delivered high-scale streaming, data, analytics, and interactive product platforms. Strong fit for founder-stage CPTO roles that require translating domain expertise into product strategy, platform architecture, AI-enabled workflows, integrations, and a disciplined delivery organization. Equally effective in architecture reviews, product strategy, executive communication, customer discovery, and hands-on prototyping.
Startup & Founder-Stage Relevance
Productize service-heavy operations — turn expert consulting and fragmented human workflows into repeatable software products.
Build integration-first platforms — across media, data, analytics, cloud, devices, partner APIs, and enterprise systems.
Lead product and engineering together — move from ambiguous opportunity to roadmap and delivery with cross-functional partners.
Operate in trust-sensitive domains — consumer platforms, enterprise consulting, healthcare-adjacent clients, data pipelines, and QA.
Use AI pragmatically — apply machine learning, automation, and workflow tooling where they improve personalization, support, operations, and decisions — without overbuilding.
Core Capabilities
Product & Technology Strategy  ·  Platform Architecture  ·  SaaS / Product Operating Models  ·  AI & Automation Strategy  ·  Data & Analytics Platforms  ·  Integration Strategy  ·  Security & Compliance-Aware Delivery  ·  Engineering Leadership  ·  Hiring, Mentorship & Org Design  ·  Customer & Stakeholder Discovery  ·  Executive Communication
Professional Experience
Thought-Stuff
Cotati, CA
Founder & Principal, Product and Engineering Strategy
2026–Present
  • Founded an independent product and software strategy practice focused on helping organizations convert ideas, workflows, and domain expertise into software products and scalable delivery systems.
  • Developed advisory positioning around product discovery, technical strategy, AI-assisted workflows, platform architecture, and founder/operator guidance.
  • Built internal agent-assisted product development workflows for research, specification, software delivery, and content / product operations.
The Walt Disney Company
San Francisco, CA
Senior Engineering Manager, Client Product Experience & Interaction
2022–2026
  • Led applied R&D and product incubation for interactive experiences within Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ playback, including Disney eXperience Engine initiatives.
  • Managed and hired distributed teams of 40 full-time and contract employees across North America and Europe.
  • Partnered with Product, Design, and Client Engineering to clarify opportunities, define requirements, create roadmaps, prototype solutions, and transition successful concepts toward production.
  • Drove decision-making across streaming playback delivery, acting as a senior technical and organizational leader for cross-brand platform work.
  • Conceived, designed, and implemented prototypes to test product and architecture feasibility inside existing consumer applications.
  • Led delivery of packaged playback and interactive renderer components for web, mobile, and living-room platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, Smart TVs, Roku, and tvOS.
  • Directed research into hosted and streamed interactivity, AR / VR, game engines, and machine-learning personalization for consumer experiences.
Senior Engineering Manager, Client Playback Experience
2017–2022
  • Founded and grew the client streaming engineering organization from 11 engineers, delivering the Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star+ apps to a global subscriber base that grew past 160M (Disney+) — from pre-launch through peak.
  • Created and evolved the technical vision for a multi-tenant codebase serving multiple streaming brands across diverse device platforms.
  • Served as architectural authority for patterns, practices, quality, reliability, and delivery across client engineering.
  • Collaborated with Product to create roadmaps, triage backlogs, resolve delivery risks, and align engineering output with business priorities.
  • Reported risks, quality issues, status, technical challenges, and delivery impediments to executive stakeholders.
  • Launched Disney+ on PlayStation in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand; launched Star+ in Latin America across PlayStation and partner set-top platforms.
Thought-Stuff
Atlanta, GA / San Francisco, CA
Software Architect, Engagement Lead — Product & Engineering Strategy
2015–2017
  • Specified, designed, and implemented a content management system and sports-data ETL pipeline using Go, GCP, Kubernetes, and Cloud SQL.
  • Designed and implemented an analytics application for major sports-league franchises using Node.js, Angular, ElasticSearch, PostgreSQL, and AWS.
  • Converted data, content, and operational requirements into scalable application architecture for media and sports organizations.
Vertigo Software
Point Richmond, CA
Development Manager, Director
2011–2015
  • Conceived, implemented, and led the Program Management function.
  • Led consulting delivery teams building consumer software across video-game, streaming-media, sports, entertainment, and cross-platform application domains.
  • Delivered products and engagements for Mattel, Riot Games, Microsoft, HBO, Cartoon Network, Turner Sports, and the NBA.
  • Managed client expectations, team delivery, architecture decisions, implementation quality, and release execution across high-visibility brands including League of Legends, HBO Go, March Madness Live, and NBA GameTime.
ComFrame Software
Birmingham, AL / Nashville, TN / Beijing, CN
Engagement Lead / Software Architect / GM & VP, Beijing Studio
2001–2011
  • Led enterprise software consulting engagements for clients including Mercedes, Honda Motor Corporation, Verizon Wireless, McKesson, and St. Vincent's Hospital System.
  • Partnered with clients across industries to define requirements, architect solutions, lead delivery teams, and deliver production enterprise systems.
  • Developed the business plan for a 70+ engineer offshore software development center and relocated to Beijing (2007–2009) to implement the plan.
  • Delivered web, Java / Spring, C# / .NET, messaging, database, and integration systems across complex enterprise environments.
Early Career — Software Engineer, Southern Company · Atlanta, GA
1997–2001
Career Highlights
Selected Technical Background
TypeScript / JavaScript, Node.js, Angular, HTML / CSS, C#, .NET, Java, Spring, Go, SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, ElasticSearch, AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Cloud SQL, CI/CD, Unity, and web / mobile / living-room device platforms.
Education
B.S. Business, Management Information Systems
University of Phoenix · 2001
Stanford LEAD Certificate (coursework)
Stanford Graduate School of Business · 2013–2015
M.S. Computer Science (OMSCS), Interactive Intelligence (coursework)
Georgia Tech · 2024–2025