It is a great privilege to serve St. Martin’s Episcopal School, and I am most grateful for the trust and confidence expressed by the Board of Trustees in asking me to serve as Interim Headmaster.

Many of you don’t yet know me, and I’d like to give you some brief information about my background. A native of Wisconsin, I have been in Louisiana since 1985 and in New Orleans since 2003. I have an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and attended Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary in Wisconsin, having been ordained deacon and priest in 1985. I have served as Middle School Chaplain at St. Martin’s since 2008. In my previous position as Assistant Rector and Day School Chaplain at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Shreveport LA, I was heavily involved in the administration of St. Mark’s pre-K through 8^th grade school, which served 400 students. I am currently completing a Doctorate in Gospel and Culture at Columbia Theological Seminary, and I have two grown children. My daughter Kate, who will be married in June, is a graduate of Colorado College ’06 and is an archeologist resident in the Four Corners region of the Southwest U.S.  My son Eric is completing a degree in Computer Science in Iowa while working at the IT director for a small company. On Sundays, you can find me serving at the Chapel of the Holy Comforter, the Episcopal chaplaincy at UNO and SUNO.

My leadership style is collaborative, and my door is always open for any with concerns, or advice, or reflections, or even angry outbursts. Yet when called upon, I am able to make the decisions and choices that only the person in my position is able to make.  Please feel free to contact me whenever you need to do so, or stop me in the hall, or stop by my office.

The Episcopal Church has consistently had a deep commitment to the education of young people for the entire history of this country, extending even to the colonial period. In Britain, this tradition goes back for over a millennium. This unbroken commitment is to the highest quality education for persons from all backgrounds and the desire to form these young people to be the future servant leaders in all fields of endeavor. Our schools and colleges have always been among the best respected in the country. St. Martin’s motto is and always will be Faith, Scholarship, Service, and those three pillars will serve us well as we move forward.

My aim in the next few months is to be open to the concerns of all, while attempting to steer this great ship in on its journey in the coming year. It is time to move forward into the future that lies before us. To me, one of the most comforting phrases in the Book of Common Prayer is in the old post-communion prayer in which we ask the Almighty that we might “do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.” May we walk in this path as we go forward together.