I have moved around a lot in my life, but I have had the good fortune of spending more years in Coppell than anywhere else. Growing up, I attended Lee Elementary (original building), Lakeside Elementary, Coppell Middle School East, and Coppell High School. I care deeply about Coppell ISD and public education in general, and it would be my honor to serve on the Board of Trustees to represent this community that I am deeply rooted in.

I know how valuable a quality education and passionate teachers can be. I can pinpoint with near perfect precision the moment that a teacher in Coppell ISD at Lakeside Elementary took me from a bit of a struggling student that just moved back to the district (and could have easily floundered) to being on the right track that ultimately allowed me to excel in math, study engineering at Texas A&M and then eventually get my MBA at Harvard. 

I met my wife, Holly (Stokes), here in Coppell during high school, and we have chosen Coppell as our home to raise our three young children, Jensen (10), Linken (5), and Taylen (10 months). I can assure you that my focus will be on making sure that Coppell ISD continues to be a great public school district for the long-term.

I have been passionate about public education for longer than I can remember, and I continually seek out opportunities to learn more about public education. While at Harvard Business School in 2012, I completed a course called Entrepreneurship in Education Reform. We had several very interesting guest speakers attend that spoke about the challenges in public education and how we could play a part in improving educational outcomes for students.

In 2015 I made it to the final round interviews for the Broad Residency, which plugs business executives into high level roles in education. I ultimately opted out when it became apparent that most of the opportunities were in charter schools, and I wanted to be in a public school district.

In 2019, I became a Leadership ISD Fellow focused on learning more about the inner workings of public school districts, including the challenges, and developing a network of like-minded individuals. I then was a participant in Leadership ISD’s first ever Ready To Lead Governance Academy in 2020, focused on developing the skills and understanding needed to be a better Board member.

I am continually seeking out opportunities to learn more so that I can have a positive impact on public education. If given the opportunity, I believe I will be able to have a positive impact as a Coppell ISD Board Trustee. 

I have a broad array of professional experiences including in operations, finance, data analytics, entrepreneurial ventures, and real estate development. I am currently the Co-President and CFO of Gold Medal Pools. GMP is a private equity backed pool company located in Lewisville, TX that builds, cleans, and repairs pools. Similar to Coppell ISD, in this role I have had to tackle several difficult challenges including reducing operating expenses through all means possible.

Prior to Gold Medal Pools, I led finance and data analytics efforts at two different real estate development firms, Sweetwater Companies, which focused on multi-family apartments, and Build To Stay, which focused on communities of luxury short-term rentals.

Prior to my time in real estate, I spent several years in finance roles, both in investment banking at Credit Suisse focused on Oil & Gas, and in corporate finance at Rexel USA. 

I started my career as an operations intern at a General Electric company, which was sold off to a private equity firm. That company became Gexpro Services, which I eventually became the Head of Global Operations.

 I believe that each of my roles has taught me a broad array of valuable skills that would allow me to bring a very unique perspective to the Board of Trustees.