My History

Born and raised in the Oklahoma Panhandle, I went to school in a very small community. I graduated in a class of 11 in 1992. I attended 2 years at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Oklahoma and transferred out to Liberal Area Vocational School, where I studied Drafting Technology. I was originally trained on AutoCad 10, but eventually migrated over to Bentley Microstation. These were the tools that we used to draw plans and engineering sets for different clients.

In 1995 while attending school, I met my future wife Melanie, while auditioning for a drumming gig with a local country band. At the time, I did not know that her father and my father played music together back in the day. We were married in May of 1996 and have been happily married ever since. In September of 1997, my son was born. My son, now 17, loves music, and science. I cannot wait to see what he does for this world that we live in.

In 1996 I landed a job with a local engineering firm and spent the next 13 years working as a drafting technician. While attaining my tenure at the engineering firm, I was thrust into the Information Technology world. Being the young guy in the firm, I was tasked with learning everything there was to know about servers, clients and networking. I pretty much fell in love with the tech world. In 2003 the firm was sold to another engineering firm, Earles Engineering, and I worked with that company till July of 2008.

In 2008, I accepted a Supervisor position with the City of Liberal in Liberal, Kansas. I currently manage over 150 workstations and servers. This position has allowed me to further my knowledge in network design, long range wireless implementation, video production, video editing etc. Being the tech guy doesn't stop at the computer. Knowing a bit of photography, videography and various other things allows the job to be much more than just IT.

In 2014, I decided to make the leap and go back to school and get my B.S. in Information Technology, specifically in Network Administration. In the summer of 2018, I graduated from Western Governors University with my B.S. in Information Technology. Going back to school, if anything made me realize that one is never too old to go back to school and enhance your knowledge.

Current Employment

Currently I am employed as the Director of Information Technology for The City of Liberal in Liberal, Kansas. I currently have one employee that I supervise and we maintain an infrastructure containing over 150 workstations and servers. This municipality services a population of approximately 20,000 people.

I am the owner of a small IT Business based out of the Oklahoma Panhandle, High-Plains Multimedia & Technology. We provide IT services to the Tri-State area.

Professional Experience

For more information on my professional experience, please click here.

My Passions

What are my passions? Well I have a few. My family is my number one passion. Without them, I am nothing but a shell of what I am with them.

I love playing music. I think that is probably the passion I love the most, outside of family that is. I love my tech stuff, but playing music, allows me to forget about everything for just a bit and participate in something that is much more than just, me. I am privileged to be able to play and say I have played with, some of (whom I consider) the best musicians I have ever been around. We have played many shows together and continue to do still to this day. I have been honored to be able to share this passion with my wife, as she sings and plays keyboards in the same band I am in. That to me is a privilege.

One of my most recent hobbies envolves cameras and rc aircraft. The multi-rotor (drone as some news agencies have so poorly dubbed) craze has taken the world by storm. You can read more about these cool machines here.

School Board

I currently serve as the president of the school board at the same school I attended many years ago. I have been on the board for 6 years. I feel that being on the board allows me to give back to the school that gave me so much.