Greg is originally from the Boston area. He studied media arts at Emerson College and focused on audio production, film, video, photography, and design. After college, he immersed himself in the local Boston music scene. He played in a band, worked as a sound engineer, and sold audio equipment.

Eventually, he returned to school to become a special education teacher. After completing his master's program, he moved to Portland and started his teaching career with PPS. He taught as a special ed teacher for several years. Then, he became a classroom teacher and was honored as Teacher of the Year.

While teaching with PPS, he operated Activate, which offered arts-based summer camps and private dyslexia tutoring. After 15 years with PPS, he resigned to pursue Activate full-time. When COVID hit, Activate transitioned into a microschool.

When he's not teaching or running camps, he records music under the name ‘gbtn.’ He also enjoys collecting records, hiking, swimming, cycling, studying orthography, plant-based cooking, and reading about radical approaches to education.