Q+A Interview

What drew you to MANTECH?

MANTECH acquired Elder Research in December 2025, so my path here is a little different. I already had a lot of friends at MANTECH, including people I’ve known who have been with the company for decades, so I was excited when I learned we were joining the team.

What really excites me now is being able to continue the work we were doing at Elder but on a much bigger scale. We have a broader mission, more capabilities and a much larger organization behind us. There are a lot of opportunities to take what we’ve built and apply it to a larger mission and scope.

What do you like most about MANTECH?

For me, it’s the passion for the mission. I work closely with the Defense & Space Sector, and everyone I’ve met is incredibly passionate about what they’re doing, serving the country and accomplishing the mission. Coming from the Marine Corps, that resonates with me. I like being around people who understand why the work matters and genuinely want to support the mission.

What is or has been the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

If I had to choose one experience that really stands out, it would be my deployment to Afghanistan as an intelligence systems officer. That was a point in my career where everything I had learned came together. I was able to take my education from the Naval Postgraduate School and my experience at Marine Corps Systems Command and put them to work building out an intelligence operations center for the Marine Corps in Afghanistan.

I was at the point of the spear, working on something with an immediate mission impact. I also had an incredible team around me. Nothing like that is ever an individual effort, and I had some outstanding people supporting me and working alongside me to make it happen. It’s an experience I’m still very proud of.

What advice do you have for those looking to start a career in Data and AI?

Build a strong technical foundation, but don’t assume there’s only one path into data and AI. People come to this field from all kinds of backgrounds. I’ve worked with people who started in weather, business, finance and plenty of other fields. All of those areas work with data.

What matters is having that drive to look at the numbers, understand the data and ask questions about what it’s telling you. From there, you have to build the skills behind that curiosity. Being excited about data and AI is one thing. Having the discipline to sit down and truly learn how to work with data, including the math and science behind it, is what makes you effective.

What do you wish people understood about Data and AI?

At the end of the day, AI is a tool. There can be a lot of mysticism around artificial intelligence and machine learning because you can’t necessarily see or touch what’s happening behind the scenes.

What is different is the scale of the change it can create. It’s hard to find a perfect historical comparison for how dramatically AI could change the way we work and even our culture. But I don’t think the takeaway should be that AI is going to take your job. The bigger risk is that if you don’t understand how to use AI in your job, then you’re going to become irrelevant.

That means we all need to educate ourselves. What are the rules, regulations and policies? What can you use AI for and what can’t you use it for? AI isn’t going away, so we need to understand it, use it responsibly and learn how to make it part of the way we work.

What’s your favorite place in the world?

Wherever I am with my family. Without a doubt. But if it’s just me, there are two places I’m probably happiest: in my wood shop building something, or standing almost waist-deep in a river with a fly rod trying to catch trout. Either one is a pretty good place to be.