Community Leader • DBA Researcher • Retired USPS Manager

I'm a Kansas native who put down roots in Missouri more than 30 years ago — and never looked back. My career began with the U.S. Postal Service in 1977, where I spent over a decade in industrial engineering support, analyzing data and building workload, staffing, and budget models. That analytical foundation carried into the next chapter of my career, ten years in postal management, where I learned to pair operational rigor with the human side of leadership: coaching, relationship-building, and getting the best out of people.

Along the way, I kept learning. I earned a Bachelor's degree in Human Resources in 1999 and a Master's in Management of Information Technology in 2000, both while working full-time.

When I retired from the Postal Service in 2010, I didn't slow down — I just redirected my energy toward community. As a Master Gardener, I learned to nurture plants, trees, and landscapes, eventually earning Emeritus status after ten years of volunteer service. For seven months each year during that same stretch, I lived on-site as a volunteer campground host, first for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and later for Missouri State Parks.

Around 2015, my focus shifted closer to home — literally. I got involved with my neighborhood association, eventually serving as board secretary and helping guide our neighborhood through the process of becoming a city-recognized association, a state-chartered organization, and ultimately an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit. That last piece drew directly on decades of navigating federal regulations at the Postal Service — turns out bureaucratic fluency is transferable.

That work led me to the City's Neighborhood Advisory Council, where I represent my neighborhood alongside 23 others and have developed training to help fellow neighborhoods achieve their own charters and nonprofit status.

Somewhere in all of this, I noticed a pattern: everyone wants a village, but far fewer people want to be a villager. That observation became a question — Why don't people get involved in their own neighborhoods? — and that question became a research interest. I'm now pursuing doctoral studies at Global Humanistic University, where I'm exploring the motivations behind volunteering and how that understanding can help small nonprofit neighborhood associations recruit and engage people more effectively.

Outside of work and research, I'm chasing a passion for travel and hoping to add a few new countries to my list. I stay curious — always open to new experiences, new cultures, and new ways of thinking.