personal quirks
I have tried to kick coffee twice and failed; it's too good. No matter their age or size I refuse to call canines "dogs"; they are always puppies. Growing up on the west coast has made me realize I need more hustle-and-bustle than the west coast has to offer. I love to jump off things even if it means a chipped tooth or two (don't worry they’re fixed). Black cats have never been a sign of bad luck for me. I love a good glass of whiskey and the sound of water in nature.
Why I love what I do
I am passionate about growing. Not just personal growth; but community growth. My first jobs in high school and college always centered around three traits: organization, showing command, and making people love where they are. As a video store clerk, a soccer referee, and a bellhop I learned that those three traits can be combined to create great programs and events that help people and communities grow. When a person leaves an event or program with more than they expected when they walked in, they leave with personal growth and a desire to give back to their community.
I have organized small events and HUGE events. All sizes have their stresses and are exhausting. During events I have felt maybe "this is the last one", but then I have that one conversation with the attendee that was blown away and I am hooked again. I will continue to push myself for that one person that grows from a program or is in awe of an event.
What Brought me here
When I was a kid I joked that I wanted to take over the world. I didn't think I would have an opportunity to do that. I finished school at the University of Oregon with a degree in political science a little quicker than normal. Instead of going straight into grad school I decided to spend the year I earned after graduating early in D.C. learning more about working inside politics. I threw all my belongings into my truck and drove from Oregon City to D.C. After a few months working on The Hill I decided working inside politics wasn't for me.
I began working to organize economic town-halls for congressmen. That led to developing programs for a youth entrepreneurship campaign. With the success of a US campaign encouraging youth entrepreneurship we went global and created Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). For the six years after we started GEW I traveled the world working with entrepreneurs and organizations helping them to grow the global startup community. I built small workshops for community leaders, large conferences that brought the entire ecosystem together, and various programs that any person could produce in their community to encourage innovation locally.
After seven years growing the global startup movement I decided it was time to tackle one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face - early stage capital. I met two great people that were building a company to help educate those with money about how to invest that capital in startups. That led to working with investors, community leaders and wealth managers building programs large and small helping people understand the ins-and-outs of angel investing.
Following the stumbles that every startup faces we had to shift the focus of the company to something that wasn’t in my wheel-house. I then found an amazing events company that allowed me to bring my more detailed event expertise out. There I was able to work with a number of Fortune 500 tech companies building events for them of all sizes. I learned the ins and outs of experiential marketing for companies like Facebook, Slack, LinkedIn, and Uber by working directly with them to plan and execute their events.
In 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit us all those of us in the live events industry were hit especially hard. Our clients pulled back their contracts and due to a lack of events to plan I was let-go. That provided me an opportunity to re-evaluate what I was going to do. I learned as much as I could about ever evolving virtual and hybrid events and realized that wherever I chose to work next I would like to keep it close to home for a while so that I could be around my young twins as they navigate their early lives.
I found my way to The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University who were opening a new site in DC. The opportunity was a great mashup of everything I loved from my past experiences. I was able to be around more policy and political science topics - the topic I got my degree in. Since it was a brand new site it truly felt like working at a startup again. And I was able to stay close to home with my family.
The rest of the story
I love music. I can't play music - my wife can, which makes me jealous. I am a true music appreciator. In my free time I will go to whatever local show I can. If I am not at a show, I used to be running. I used to run long distances and have a few marathons under my belt. Nowadays I am a father of three year old twins so if I can get in a two mile run (or go see a show) it’s a great day.
