About

Michael Allan “Coaya”

I was born in Mexico and grew up in Cumming, Georgia, in a town where I was among the first Mexican families to move in. It was a great place to grow up—and an early lesson in two things: how to make a connection with anyone, and how many creative ways people have pronounced my last name. That part never bothered me, though. What actually matters is what your name represents—your reputation, your standards, and the work you’re willing to stand behind.

Planes, Trains, and a Lot of Walking

After graduating from high school, with savings from my first job, I moved to Spain. What started as a gap-year decision turned into years of living and traveling across Europe—Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, and Iceland. I traveled alone and met people everywhere I went. Even when there was a language gap, whether traveling or later during my studies, I always found a way to connect and learn something new.

That chapter also taught me how to stretch a budget: overnight trains to combine travel and lodging, negotiating with hostels, and, for a while, running on whole milk, bread, and ham from the grocery store.

The Long Way Around

I have lived in Salamanca, Berlin, and Frankfurt, and chose to attend university in Germany to gain an international perspective and pursue a rigorous program that would translate my travel experiences into practical skills. I later studied as a visiting student at Emory University and remained in Georgia. In 2022, I married my wife, Sydney, and we now live in Braselton, Georgia, with our dog, Biscuit.

Operator + Analyst

I’m motivated by delivering measurable, clear value. If my name is attached to something, I want it to reflect the best of what I can contribute. My background spans both ownership and analytics. I bought and operated a commercial services business end-to-end, and the accountability was real. When payroll hit, it was on me. When a client was unhappy, it was on me. When equipment failed or inclement weather blew up the schedule, it was on me. Entrepreneurship made the work honest. A lot of the progress happened after-hours, and the results were earned the hard way. Before that, I built analytics and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tooling at Dover Food Retail to help quality and product teams extract signals from messy contractor notes and make faster, cleaner decisions. What connects the two is a simple habit; I take a complicated situation, get to what matters, and turn it into a system that holds up in real life.

How I Operate

• Owning and operating a business taught me that a focused and calm mindset is essential. I won’t pretend that I “thrive under pressure,” but I am experienced operating in it and have learned to stay composed, define problems clearly, and address the most impactful tasks first.
• I’m a diplomat at heart. I look for win-wins because every decision has trade-offs that affect real people.
• I have learned that culture and trust are established in the small, often unseen moments. I strive to lead with personal accountability and integrity, especially when there is no immediate consequence for doing less.
• I aim to be recognized for 1) my diligence and follow-through, ensuring no detail is overlooked, and 2) building systems that deliver scalable, repeatable, and sustainable value for all.