Credentials
Professional History
Marketing Director — Foreclosure Defense Law Firm
Leads marketing for a Washington State foreclosure defense practice. Daily exposure to early-stage distress data — why homeowners fall behind, which programs work, and what the pipeline looks like before it reaches official statistics. American Default grew directly out of this work.
American Distress Index — Founded
Created the American Distress Index to fill the gap left by the CredAbility Consumer Distress Index, which ceased publication in 2013. The ADI combines five statistically independent dimensions of household financial distress into a quarterly composite score. Full methodology published and open to scrutiny.
CEO — Ark Law Group
Founded and led a multi-state law group representing distressed homeowners in foreclosure, short sales, loan modifications, and bankruptcy across five states. Twice named to the Puget Sound Business Journal Fast 50. Published The Ark Law Group Complete Guide to Short Sales (Auroch Press, 2013).
Founder — Seattle Short Sales
Founded Seattle Short Sales at the onset of the 2008 crisis. Negotiated over 1,000 short sales between distressed homeowners and their mortgage servicers during the Great Recession — direct exposure to the mechanics of household financial collapse at scale.
Founder — Washington Foreclosure Assistance
Property preservation on foreclosed homes during the early-2000s housing run-up — the first of two decades spent inside the machinery of American household financial distress.
Why American Default Exists
The CredAbility Consumer Distress Index was the only public composite measure of U.S. household financial health from 1980 through 2013. When it ceased publication, the gap was never filled. For 13 years — through expansion, COVID-19, post-pandemic inflation, and the current cycle — no independent, transparent composite tracked whether American households were stable or falling behind.
American Default fills that gap. Built entirely from federal data sources (FRED, BLS, Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Courts, NY Fed), with full methodology published and calculations open to independent verification. The project updates automatically as long as federal data sources remain available.
Contact
For media inquiries, methodology questions, or data collaboration, email: contact@americandefault.org