I was born and raised in a town in southeast Missouri called Cape Girardeau, where I graduated from high school in 2000. Working on my grandfather's farm with my dad taught me at an early age that nothing replaces hard work. I carried that frame of mind with me to college at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now called the Missouri University of Science and Technology), where I graduated with a BS degree in Engineering Management in December 2004. After college, I moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas to work as a pricing analyst for a trucking company. After a year in Arkansas, I moved to Columbia, Missouri in order to marry my wife and start a job as a manufacturing engineer for a company that makes transformers.

Although working in manufacturing was rewarding, I wanted to have a career that helped people on a more regular basis. When I got the opportunity to work for VUHL early in 2011, I jumped at the chance and I have been enjoying my time here ever since. Working with veterans is especially satisfying because of the sacrifices that they have made to keep