Chris spent the last three years acting as a Retreat Project Manager for Operations Healing Forces, providing therapeutic retreats for our Special Operations community. With the expansion of programs and services offered at OHF, Chris was promoted to Chief Program Officer, overseeing both the retreat and SOAR programs.
Chris retired from the Marine Corps in 2016. He was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician, spending his twenty-four-year career either supporting, training, or being attached to SOF units during his seven deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and other points in the Middle East and Europe. Chris also spent a year on Capitol Hill as a wounded warrior fellow on the House Veterans Affairs’ committee, advocating for Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) reform. Chris spent his last two years on active duty directly serving SOF wounded, ill, and injured SOF members at Walter Reed as the Care Coalition SEA.
Chris has become a vocal advocate for Creative Art Therapies and runs a military and veteran glassblowing course in St. Petersburg, FL in his spare time, a result of his personal successes with the therapy modality in his own healing journey.
Chris’s personal awards include two Meritorious Service Medals, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V”, Army and Navy Achievement medals, two Combat Action Ribbons and the Purple Heart.
Chris has a BS in Environmental Science from American Military University, and an MFA in Writing from National University. Chris currently lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Brandy and their two children, Zac and Miranda.
