About me

A committed innovator

This page answers the Who. Here’s my background and what I bring to the table.

My story really starts in 2004. I got a job working in Philly providing treatment to people with substance abuse and mental health disorders. The work was incredible. People would walk in with one problem, but really needed help with many domains of their life. I came to realize, though, that helping a person recover was insufficient if the community in which they live wasn’t supportive or conducive to their changes.

This spurred me to spend the next 5 years getting my PhD in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina, specializing in community-level change, with a focus on readiness and effective implementation. I then spent 16 months as a research fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.

I’m currently an Exeter-based business owner. I run two companies: the Dawn Chorus Group, which focuses on community research and evaluation, and PubTrawlr, a software that summarizes scientific literature. Through Dawn Chorus, I am involved in many projects of core relevance to serving as a school director, such as

  • A multi-year study in California focusing on drivers of school safety on individual, school, and the community levels.
  • A project in Rhode Island that focuses on improving equitable process in public health departments
  • An examination of key leverage points for change in Colorado schools, specifically around safety initiatives.
  • Providing technical support to nursing homes implementing best practice in COVID prevention.

My colleagues and I work internationally with many types of people in many different roles interested in improving wellbeing in our communities. I often seek out the expertise of those who know much, much more than me.

I’ve lived in Exeter since 2015. I’m the son of a grade school teacher with 40+ years of experience. My wife, Abby, graduated from Exeter High School back in the early 2000s, having grown up in the district. We have four young children: Oliver, Elliott, Amelia, and Eloise (just born!). I sometimes coach soccer for the kiddos. I think my record is 1-14.

And I’m always learning, and always improving.

If you want more of a bio, I’m pretty current on LinkedIn.