I’m Justin Beaudry—a Toledo boomerang. After a decade building for startups and enterprises in the Bay Area and Austin, I returned during COVID to be near family and reconnect with my hometown. Toledo’s cost of living made staying practical, and it gave me room to pursue an aspiration: build a program that helps young people find their way into technology. Toledo Codes became the first step. Today that work is growing into mentorship, real community projects, and local career pathways—with Codex as a tool that can help it go further.
Codex needs more than event promotion. It needs someone who can teach the work, earn trust, and create a path from first use to real opportunity. That is already my day-to-day.
I lead engineering at Actual Reality Technologies and technology at EmpoweredAI, building generative AI systems, data platforms, and the teams that ship them. My experience runs from startups to United Airlines—and from code-level implementation to technical strategy.
15+ years / Director of Engineering / Director of TechnologyToledo Codes is the operating umbrella for this work. We run every event through Toledo Codes and its fiscal sponsor, while Toledo Codes handles logistics across our programs—including AI Collective Toledo. As we form a regional technology nonprofit and trade organization, that structure lets us convene students, working builders, businesses, and community partners around work they can do together.
Fiscal sponsor-backed operations / program logistics / local partnershipsToledo Codes connects university students with senior engineering veterans and local opportunities. Together with student groups at Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo, that work already reaches more than 200 students.
Mentorship / education → local employment / 200+ studentsToledo is the operating base. We run every event through Toledo Codes and its fiscal sponsor, while Toledo Codes handles logistics across programs including AI Collective Toledo. Active relationships in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton give the work a credible regional path.
Every event runs through Toledo Codes and its fiscal sponsor. Toledo Codes handles logistics across our programs, including AI Collective Toledo.
Bowling Green State University and University of Toledo student groups already connected to more than 200 students.
Work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio, local nonprofits, and civic collaborators ties technical learning to real community needs.
Relationships in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton form the current network.
A repeatable workshop format that teaches how strong builders think and work. Participants learn the process; Codex is incorporated where it helps that process move faster and become more rigorous.
Start with a challenge from a community partner, campus, or working team so every decision has a purpose and a real constraint.
Frame the problem, investigate it, break the work down, communicate intent, choose an approach, and define what a good result must do.
Use Codex to explore, execute, test, and critique while participants remain responsible for the reasoning. Defer the work—not the thinking.
Pair learners with experienced builders, review what worked, and turn the process into a reusable workshop kit for the next group.
Toledo Codes and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Ohio are partnering to shape a specialized technology track within BBBSNWO’s existing STEM Club. The first step is a focused beta: identify interested young people, pair them with qualified technical mentors, and test the curriculum before expanding.
BBBSNWO brings trusted youth programming, case management, and a long-term mentoring structure. I’m leading the technical mentorship and process-based curriculum—building critical thinking, leadership, and confidence through real projects, with Codex incorporated as a tool inside that process.
Hack for Humanity is a new workshop series we are starting with Sunshine Communities, the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Together, we are creating a place where participants can build and improve assistive technology alongside the people and organizations closest to the needs being addressed.
The series follows the same process-first model: understand the real constraints, build with experienced mentors, test with the community, and incorporate Codex where it helps move from idea to working technology without outsourcing judgment.
I bring technical depth, regional community infrastructure, campus access, and a repeatable format. OpenAI DevEx can help turn that operating base into practical Codex learning across Ohio and Michigan.
