About Me
My Story
In 2005, I spent two weeks volunteering with EMS professionals at the Hurricane Katrina evacuee shelter in Houston. After this experience, I enrolled in an EMT-Basic class and discovered the best imaginable profession. I started out working as a paramedic in East Texas, before moving to the Houston area and continuing to work as a 911 paramedic in a busy, urban/suburban setting. Early in my career, I started teaching skills labs and continuing education courses on the side.
On the side, I pursued my interest in technology, software development, and data, launching a failed SaaS startup and taking statistics courses.
In 2014, I was given the opportunity to combine the two interests and moved into a full-time administrative role focused on data analytics, research, and quality management. I was able to continue working as a paramedic and field supervisor, and branched out into initial EMS education, teaching EMT and paramedic classes.
I promoted up through several different leadership positions, culminating in a senior-level position overseeing our agency’s quality of care, compliance, data analytics, field training programs, and clinical practice guidelines. In this role, I also led our disaster response and emergency management efforts. Additionally, I served as the program director and advanced course coordinator for our EMS continuing education, EMT-Basic, and Paramedic education programs, handling state licensing, ABHES institutional accreditation, and CAAHEP/CoAEMSP program accreditation.
Since 2023, I’ve led the Quality Management Division of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Office of the Medical Director and served as the EMS Quality Manager with the Parkland Health/BioTel EMS system.
I love living life as an adventure. I am married to a wonderful woman and together we are foster and adoptive parents. I love being a dad to our three youngsters and our border collie/great pyrenees dog. This doesn’t leave a lot of room for hobbies, but I am a voracious reader (see my Goodreads) and when I have time, I enjoy cooking, tinkering with electronics, building things, and backpacking.
I am driven by my core values
I approach everything I do through the lens of my core values:
Live with excellence (αρετή)
The greek word αρετή (arete) means goodness, excellence, valour, and virtue. Living with αρετή means living up to my full potential and achieving great results. This also means living a morally upright life, one characterized by integrity, discipline, and courage.
Do justice
I actively seek to treat people fairly and to do the right thing. As a leader, colleague, and human being, I respect the fundamental dignity of others and seek to treat people decently and without bias.
Love mercy
Justice must be balanced by compassion. I seek to be kind and forgiving, giving people the benefit of the doubt and striving to show empathy and grace.
Walk humbly coram Deo (before the face of God)
Walking connates always making steady forward progress. I’ve not arrived, I can’t settle, and I must continue to seek consistent growth.
On my journey, I strive to push down my ego and embrace humility.
coram Deo is a Latin phrase meaning “before the face of God” and is a reminder to live my life with the perspective that my words and actions will be judged by a higher power.
