I’m Nebraska-born, raised, and educated at the state university in my hometown, Lincoln. What does that even mean and why bring it up? Nebraska could be a complete unknown or just a flyover abstraction to most folks, which is understandable. It’s an agricultural state that sits in the middle of the U.S., halfway between the coasts but oriented towards the west, away from what is and towards what could be. I have a sense of place and a shared identity with independent, self-managed people who aren’t far removed from farm and ranch. People who work until the work is done and who really can’t fake the results. It means having an openness to strangers, humor in adversity, resilience through drought and storm, seeing potential in an empty field, and being comfortable with big skies and far horizons. Places can define you as much as your experience.
I’m a continuous learner. I’m a dreamer and a planner. I’ll look for inspiration and put it into motion. I like leaving things better than they were, doing it smarter, and making it easier where it makes sense. I grew up wanting to be a geologist, a Disney Imagineer, an architect, a lawyer, and a pilot. I chose to become a Naval Aviator.
In the Navy, I spent six weeks submerged on a submarine. I’ve circled the globe aboard ships. I’ve launched, landed, and lived aboard aircraft carriers, logging more than a 1400 flight hours and two years at sea. In flight emergencies? I’ve had a few. Shipmates lost? Same. I’ve visited dozens of international ports, lived in three countries outside the U.S. and served as an accredited diplomat in two of them. I’ve moved 14 times to 12 cities over 27 years.
I enjoy the challenge of new roles, new places, new missions. I know the danger of complacency and inaction. I can lead teams, small and large. I can be part of a team, small and large. I bring a global perspective and collaborative approach. Local actions have global consequences and global trends have local impact. I work at these intersections. Hooked on aviation early, I wanted to fly in the military. I was commissioned into the United States Navy, earning my Naval Flight Officer wings in the E-2C Hawkeye, the Navy’s ‘quarterback of the skies.’ I deployed four times aboard aircraft carriers to the Middle East and Western Pacific and visiting a dozen countries on port visits. Staff duty in Germany and a National Security Affairs Fellowship at the Hoover Institution reignited my interest in international relations and motivated me to transfer from aviation into the Navy’s start-up Foreign Area Officer career field. After serving in The Netherlands and the Republic of Turkey as a diplomat and security cooperation officer, my final assignment was as a military and policy advisor at the State Department.
After the Navy, I continued to support defense security assistance efforts for a handful of European countries in a contract role. Beyond government, I had the opportunity to help stand up a risk and cyber strategy consultancy inside a global IT services leader and later, a strategic opportunity and risk advisory at a start-up, women-owned investment bank.