I am a native New Yorker, born and raised in Inwood, Manhattan and like many other males of Irish decent, I chose to become a civil servant.  I am proud to have served for 19 years with the US National Park Service where I managed both the General Grant and Hamilton Grange National Memorials.  As a National Park Ranger, I worked in various potions including law enforcement, historical interpretation, park management and was a historical weapons safety officer and instructor.  I was both fortunate and honored to have served my country as a protector of our national treasures.  

In 2007, I left federal service to accept an appointment with the State of Connecticut as a Park and Forest Manager. Unfortunately, I misused my position of authority and was terminated for theft of public funds.  I made some very poor choices, and take full responsibility for my actions.  So, at the midpoint of my life, I plead guilty to a class A misdemeanor and I lost my job, my home, and I thought, my reason to live.  However, it was through the wise words of my wife and our parish priest that I found a new direction to my life.  While I thought I lost everything, in reality, all I needed was all around me in the form of my faith, my family, and those who forgave me.  Forgiveness and humility were the most powerful lessons I learned.  

When visiting our oldest daughter in Washington DC, I found Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning in the gift shop of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. From that point forward, I have chosen the new path to follow and have dedicated my life to helping others who, like myself, thought my life was hopeless.  Thus I started my career in Human Services as a youth worker in 2014 all the way to being promoted to a Program Director in July 2022.  Today I am proud to say I work with those whom others have turned from; poor, addicts, criminals, homeless, the mentally ill.  I truly feel that I am blessed and I am pulled to the purpose to help those who have made mistakes in their life.  We have all made mistakes, lets not be judged by those mistakes but how we correct them.