I started attending college at night while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Upon being medically separated due to a broken back, I lived in Virginia while my wife was still on active duty. When my wife was discharged, we had our first child and moved to California, where I needed to return to the workforce to support the Family. I am blessed to have been married for 28 years and have 5 daughters in the home. I served in the United States Marine Corps for 6.5 Years, and my wife served for 4 years in the Marine Corps also. Today, we support many charities that provide transition and educational support for Post 9/11 Veterans. The USMC taught me more than I realized, and for the next 25 years of my life, I have been utilizing the leadership skills that were instilled in me during that period. For 4 years in the USMC, I attended night school with two goals: 1, To be the first in my family to graduate college, and two, to become an officer in the Marine Corps. I was accepted into the MCEP program to attend full-time and OCS. Upon going through the physical, I was medically disqualified for back surgery that was from an injury sustained during training, which caused a lot of nerve damage. This ended for the time being, both goals I had set out to achieve. For the following 25 years, I focused on my career and raising 5 lovely girls in the home. While supporting them and working with veterans, it has become clear to me that the leadership skills being taught are nothing like those that are instilled into veterans during their service. I have decided to re-enroll to finish my degree in Organizational Leadership to build the skills necessary to build leadership programs for this new generation. During my career, I was able to travel the world and meet individuals all over the globe. Through those relationships, it continued to become clear that continuing to learn and educate yourself is critically important. I have been in leadership most of my career and focused my team on achieving goals. My 3rd daughter is about to begin her college journey, and I felt it was time to set the example again and prove that it is never too late to achieve your dreams. This transition is not only checking the goal box but is being driven by needing a career change as my injury while serving in the Marine Corps has continued to deteriorate my back. I am excited for the next journey that life has to bring and for community members like yourself who have established scholarships like this to enable dreams to stay alive. With the information I am studying and learning, I am continually giving back to our veteran community through speaking and mentoring for organizations and retreats that help combat veterans transition back into the workforce. This degree will allow me to have a greater impact moving forward. I hope you will consider me for the scholarship so I can continue moving in a direction to provide more to my local and veteran community.

I served in the United States Marine Corps for 6.5 Years, and my wife served for 4 years in the Marine Corps also. Today, we support many charities that provide transition and educational support for Post 9/11 Veterans. The USMC taught me more than I realized, and for the next 25 years of my life, I have been utilizing the leadership skills that were instilled in me during that period. For 4 years in the USMC, I attended night school with two goals: 1, To be the first in my family to graduate college, and two, to become an officer in the Marine Corps. I was accepted into the MCEP program to attend full-time and OCS. Upon going through the physical, I was medically disqualified for back surgery that was from an injury sustained during training, which caused a lot of nerve damage. This ended for the time being, both goals I had set out to achieve. For the following 25 years, I focused on my career and raising 5 lovely girls in the home. While supporting them and working with veterans, it has become clear to me that the leadership skills being taught are nothing like those that are instilled into veterans during their service. I have decided to re-enroll to finish my degree in Organizational Leadership to build the skills necessary to build leadership programs for this new generation. During my career, I was able to travel the world and meet individuals all over the globe. Through those relationships, it continued to become clear that continuing to learn and educate yourself is critically important. I have been in leadership most of my career and focused my team on achieving goals. My 3rd daughter is about to begin her college journey, and I felt it was time to set the example again and prove that it is never too late to achieve your dreams. This transition is not only checking the goal box but is being driven by needing a career change as my injury while serving in the Marine Corps has continued to deteriorate my back. I am excited for the next journey that life has to bring and for community members like yourself who have established scholarships like this to enable dreams to stay alive. With the information I am studying and learning, I am continually giving back to our veteran community through speaking and mentoring for organizations and retreats that help combat veterans transition back into the workforce. This degree will allow me to have a greater impact moving forward. I hope you will consider me for the scholarship so I can continue moving in a direction to provide more to my local and veteran community.

I served in the United States Marine Corps for 6.5 Years, and my wife served for 4 years in the Marine Corps also. Today, we support many charities that provide transition and educational support for Post 9/11 Veterans. The USMC taught me more than I realized, and for the next 25 years of my life, I have been utilizing the leadership skills that were instilled in me during that period. For 4 years in the USMC, I attended night school with two goals: 1, To be the first in my family to graduate college, and two, to become an officer in the Marine Corps. I was accepted into the MCEP program to attend full-time and OCS. Upon going through the physical, I was medically disqualified for back surgery that was from an injury sustained during training, which caused a lot of nerve damage. This ended for the time being, both goals I had set out to achieve. For the following 25 years, I focused on my career and raising 5 lovely girls in the home. While supporting them and working with veterans, it has become clear to me that the leadership skills being taught are nothing like those that are instilled into veterans during their service. I have decided to re-enroll to finish my degree in Organizational Leadership to build the skills necessary to build leadership programs for this new generation. During my career, I was able to travel the world and meet individuals all over the globe. Through those relationships, it continued to become clear that continuing to learn and educate yourself is critically important. I have been in leadership most of my career and focused my team on achieving goals. My 3rd daughter is about to begin her college journey, and I felt it was time to set the example again and prove that it is never too late to achieve your dreams. This transition is not only checking the goal box but is being driven by needing a career change as my injury while serving in the Marine Corps has continued to deteriorate my back. I am excited for the next journey that life has to bring and for community members like yourself who have established scholarships like this to enable dreams to stay alive. With the information I am studying and learning, I am continually giving back to our veteran community through speaking and mentoring for organizations and retreats that help combat veterans transition back into the workforce. This degree will allow me to have a greater impact moving forward. I hope you will consider me for the scholarship so I can continue moving in a direction to provide more to my local and veteran community.

I started attending college at night while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Upon being medically separated due to a broken back, I lived in Virginia while my wife was still on active duty. When my wife was discharged, we had our first child and moved to California, where I needed to return to the workforce to support the Family. I am blessed to have been married for 28 years and have 5 daughters in the home. I have had a fantastic career in the technology industry and won numerous awards, including: Adobe Experience Maker Award – Culture 2023 Better Business Bureau – Torch “Ethics” Award 2017 Named Future 50 in St Louis 2015 Greater St Louis CFO of the Year 2014 Named #4 Fastest Growing Companies 2014 SBA Veteran Owned Business of the Year – St Louis 2013 Greater St Louis CEO of the Year During my career, I was able to travel the world and meet individuals all over the globe. Through those relationships, it continued to become clear that continuing to learn and educate yourself is critically important. I have been in leadership most of my career and focused my team on achieving goals. Getting my degree was one of the biggest goals I have left to achieve and would enable me to begin the next phase of my life by focusing my efforts on leadership training for the new generation. My 3rd daughter is about to begin her college journey, and I felt it was time to again set the example and prove that it is never too late to achieve your dreams. This transition is not only checking the goal box but is partially being driven by needing a career change as the injury I sustained while serving in the Marine Corps has continued to deteriorate my back. I am excited for the next journey that life has to bring and for community members like yourself who have established scholarships like this to enable dreams to stay alive. The information I am studying and learning, I am continually giving back to our veteran community through speaking and mentoring for organizations and retreats that help combat veterans transition back into the workforce. This degree will allow me to have a greater impact moving forward. I hope that you will consider me for the scholarship so I can continue moving in a direction to provide more to my local and veteran community.