Who I Am

I live in Salisbury with the most beautiful campaign treasurer on the planet, my wife Kristin. We’re both sort of retired. That means we’re doing something every day. We just don’t get paid for it anymore. We love our home on the Wicomico River. Our happy times are on our bikes or in our kayaks, in our "biyaking" group. 

We have four grown children – a biochemist, a CPA like her mother, a personnel manager, and a soldier like his dad.

I’m a small business owner, I was a classroom teacher, a long-time Habitat for Humanity volunteer – leading a church youth group every Summer, a youth sports coach with over 30 seasons working with kids. I volunteered at a clinic when I was off-duty in Iraq. I started a charity to get soccer balls to kids there, too.

I was Regional Director for Senator Van Hollen, doing constituent service work – helping people whose problems got too big for them to handle.

As you may know, I’m also a retired Army Colonel … but it occurs to me that I haven’t done a great job explaining why my Army experience matters. I think everyone gets the service part, but not the other important aspects. Let me explain.

When I say I was the Headquarters Battalion Commander at Fort Meade – that means I was the City Manager. VA Secretary Ed Rothstein was the Mayor, and I was in charge of everything from law enforcement to event planning to legislative liaison, to administrative support for 90 different organizations on the Army’s 3rd largest base.

When I was a Deputy Brigade Commander, I was in charge of the administration, logistics, legal services, legislative liaison, budgeting and resource management, facilities management and security, with a worldwide mission – I was the Chief of Staff for a Multinational Corporation.

When I say I was a Company Commander, that means I was responsible to our stakeholders for leading and training a group of 300 people, and fighting for and managing resources. I was the CEO of a medium-sized company. I won the MacArthur Leadership Award for that role. I’m not just proud of winning the award given to the best leaders in the Army, but also because I won it in front of my dad, just a few months before he died.

I had a great 30+ years in the Army. It wasn’t just about service to country, it actually gave me a set of experiences and skills that will enable me to better represent the Shore.