About me

I’m a visual news designer with 30+ years of experience in both magazines and newspapers.

I grew up in the small, western Kansas town of Palco and attended Fort Hays State University. I've worked at newspapers in Omaha, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Ardmore, Okla. (along with a now-defunct Big 12 sports magazine in Kansas City, Mo.).

During my 12 years in Omaha, I worked with an incredible staff of designers, photographers and editors to create print pages that were lively, engaging and informative. I spent a lot of time staring at the ceiling or surfing design books and the Internet, looking for that spark of inspiration. My co-workers discovered that sometimes my crazy ideas (like theming an entire 30+ page college football special section around food) weren't so crazy. I gained valuable experience in managing and supervising a team of designers, graphic artists and illustrators while promoting collaboration throughout the newsroom.

In 2018, my wife’s job brought us to Washington, D.C. where I first I worked at the Washington Post’s Express magazine, a now-defunct daily news magazine. A few months into that role, I got the opportunity of a lifetime to work as a designer at National Geographic – the magazine I grew up reading on the living room floor in Palco. In the six years since I joined National Geographic, I’ve worked on stories ranging from caves to carbon removal. Working with some of the world’s best cartographers and graphics editors has allowed me to hone my art direction skills, and working with some of the world’s best photographers and photo editors has allowed me to focus in on how to tell the most powerful visual story possible. In addition to the print work, I produced the stories for publication on nationalgeographic.com.

I continue to push to improve and expand my skills while adapting to the changes in the industry.

In my spare time, you can usually find me binge watching the latest true-crime docuseries with my wife, Katie, watching sports or playing with our three cats.