About Me
My journey towards my educational goals began just after high school, as I knew I needed to get an education, but did not set myself up for success after my secondary education. Just as many others have done who were denied financial assistance for education, I joined the Army with promises to earn a degree while serving. Weeks before I was set to start working towards my goals I was involved in a jet ski accident and not only shattered my leg but my opportunity to reach my goal of earning my post-secondary education.
After multiple surgeries, I was able to walk again and I saw an advertisement for a technical college to become an automotive technician. They promised everyone would be accepted and could defer payments until after graduation. Working nights and going to school during the day I graduated in the top 5% of my class and started my new career with Nissan.
Working in the automotive industry for several years, I knew I was not satisfied and my mentors advised that I needed to move away from working on cars and use my mind to make a living in order to live a longer healthier life. At the height of the economic crisis, the automotive industry was hurting while affecting me financially and causing me to work another part-time job just to pay my bills. One day a radio advertisement came on for a Fleet Management Call Center opening in my area, with tuition reimbursement!
As an Automotive Call Center Technician, I began using my knowledge to make a living with my mind and not my body. I was back on track to obtaining my goal of earning my post bachelor’s degree! I completed my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and was promoted to the technical trainer for the call center, followed by the Supervisor of Learning and Development shortly after. At this time I fell in love with education and have not looked back!
I noticed that the learning and development practices were not as strong as I believed that they could be and I wanted to change that. Knowing my extensive travel requirements, I had to search for an online school in education, which landed me at Michigan State University. My goals for my degree program was to learn as much as I could about education and technologies that I could implement into corporate adult learning. I stuck with these goals and with the support of my superiors I was able to implement many new technologies and new ways of learning into our department with high success rates. Staying focused on my goals for 16 years, I will soon be the first in my family to earn a master’s degree and have been able to bring my learning and development programs to the next level with a new network of people and programs to take us to the top of the corporate learning and development sector.
In my personal life, I am a dedicated husband to my amazing wife and father to my three strong-willed children, who all decided they want to play soccer with me as their coach. I have been coaching for several years and love how my educational passions transition right onto the field and how I can make a positive change in so many children’s lives. I am well under way to complete my licenses for coaching the next level of soccer in the United States and am currently assisting with FC Bayern Munich building a youth soccer club in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
