THANKS!
You could have spent five minutes anywhere. Thanks for spending it with me!
I love people, that’s the first thing you should know about me, so you already know how I feel about you. I am a follower of Jesus, Kelly’s husband, Jaden and Elliot’s dad, a leader of people and a brother to more humans than I ever thought I’d be blessed to know.
Though we may be different, I know that far more connects us than divides us. I hope you know that too.
Most people describe me as a passionate leader who lives faith forward with energy, candor, discipline, commitment and an unshakeable positivity. My mind routinely bounces between the creative, enthusiastic, action-oriented me and my drive for structure, order and achievement. It can be a bit exhausting at times. Kelly deserves a medal.
Like all of us, my childhood certainly shaped the man I’d become. I was raised by a single mother in the San Francisco Bay Area. The youngest of three, I learned much about grit, adversity and hard work from my mom. She worked four jobs to keep our family fed, housed and clothed. I developed a strong sense of justice in those formative years and learned to invest in the power of community and relationships, a theme that has carried me far in life.
I joined the US Army at the age of 18, immediately after graduating high school. When Basic Training, Infantry School and Airborne school ended, I took a shot at the Ranger Indoctrination Program, and graduated earning the storied black beret (at the time, tan beret since 2001). It was an honor to walk amongst the elite of the 2nd Ranger Battalion and I felt belonging and purpose while honing my leadership skills at the tip of the spear. I remained in the 75th Ranger Regiment for nearly a decade, and leaving was very difficult for me. You can read more about that here.
Though exiting the Rangers was hard, my family was worth fighting for, and we had a lot of healing to do after our difficult start.
Kelly and I married six days after the towers fell on 9-11, her mother died two days later of cancer and eight days later I deployed to the Middle East. Nine months later, I missed the birth of our son, Jaden during my first tour to Afghanistan. In total, I did 4 rotations to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I was present for my daughter, Elli’s birth in 2004 and it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I knew our situation had to change.
I departed the Army in 2009, hoping to create a better life for my family after our rocky start.
I spent the next few years cutting my teeth in the healthcare sector, as a Territory Sales Manager for Quest Diagnostics. These transition years were particularly difficult for us. We didn’t know how to come home together and made so many mistakes along the way. In 2011, we relocated from Georgia to Colorado, a door that was opened by providence and a decision that Kelly and I made in five minutes. I spent the next four years honing my business acumen, inspiring and transforming our business unit into one of the most profitable in the country and navigating my team through a $7B restructure.
Candidly, I went into business to make money, but I discovered that leading people in the real world brought me to life, professionally, in a new and exciting way. I come most alive uniting diverse groups of people to solve really hard problems that create value for everyone.
For Kelly, Jaden, Elli and I, our lives were transformed when we came into a relationship with Jesus Christ in 2012. Though imperfect, life has come into focus one subsequent leap of faith at a time. Walking in my Christian Faith, it didn’t take long before I felt called elsewhere. Like so many other veterans struggling to reintegrate post military service, something was missing. I left corporate America in 2014 and became the first Director of Development for Team Red, White and Blue. The partnerships we built for America's veterans and the lives we enriched feed my soul to this day.
Leaving Team RWB was one more step closer to home. After 20 years of traveling, I accepted the role as Chief Advancement Officer for the Tennyson Center for Children, Colorado’s oldest and most respected non profit organizations delivering hope to abused, neglected and traumatized children. The assignment was a gift in so many ways; the children are inspiring world-changers and I came home for the first time in my life.
On December 22, 2018, Kelly and I reclaimed what was to have been our initial wedding date and our covenant, remarrying at Mission Hills Church with our children standing beside us and surrounded by our community.
At this stage, you should know that I love making people laugh and my heart beats to encourage others. One of my greatest accomplishments is making my wife and children laugh (mostly) whenever I try.
All this brings us to today. Inspired by a call to people and the growing need in America, Blayne and I Co-Founded Applied Leadership Partners in 2020 and I continue to sharpen my leadership instincts pursuing a Masters of Divinity in Leadership (2023) at Denver Seminary. In all of these experiences, people, purpose, hope, resilience and faith remain my driving engine of success.
Having been given the gift to serve and lead teams through change, growth and adversity, we hope to offer some of our wisdom exceeding difficult goals while never giving up or leaving a teammate behind. The world needs authentic servant leaders to solve big problems and we’d be happy to take a fresh look at the challenges you're traversing. If we can serve you, please let us know.