I have owned a successful lighting design consulting company for eighteen years and am an expert on global automotive lighting design and implementation. I have presented, designed, and implemented advanced concepts for LED lighting for the global automotive OEM and Tier markets, completing over forty-five concept vehicles since 1997 and more than six hundred smaller lighting activities for interior and exterior designs. My work has greatly influenced the automotive market’s growth with LEDs and helped to create technology for their vehicles of the future. I have visited nearly every OEM and Tier supplier in the United States, Europe, India, Brazil and Asia to consult OEMs on emerging automotive lighting designs. I have succeeded at building rapport with the design studios and gained a strong understanding of the future direction that OEMs and Tiers are taking with lighting.

My background is in advance lighting design with my core experience in sales and marketing management with both Fortune 500 and medium-size businesses. I am action-oriented, with excellent organizational skills, and I am capable of setting objectives, building support, coordinating details, and implementing plans to completion.

I am available as a lighting design consultant for concept vehicles and for production for all OEMs globally. My expertise is building what I design, and ALL designs are generally able to be mass produced.

Mine has been a truly remarkable journey, beginning with the introduction of my first book, Finding My Father’s War, in October 2009 (republished as Hidden Hell by Patton Publishing in June, 2011). Since then, I have spent much time in Europe promoting my book and meeting new people from all walks of life. Many are veterans with harrowing stories of survival from the wars in which they served. I have been fortunate to meet veterans from many wars, heads of state from four countries, and mayors and dignitaries from sleepy little towns in France, England, and Germany. Every World War II story I have heard has left an indelible impression on me. I will remember all of them forever.
On June 5, 2009, I had the great good luck of meeting Helen Patton on Utah Beach in Normandy, France, during the sixty-fifth anniversary commemoration of D-Day. Helen is the granddaughter of the iconic World War II general George S. Patton, and she has spent most of her adult life carrying forward the concerns for soldiers and veterans that her father, George S. Patton IV (also an army general), and grandfather shared. I humbly shook her hand on that day and instantly knew she was someone very special. Helen’s caring, confidence, and passion clearly radiate from her heart. Her deep concern for and commitment to veterans of all wars is unwavering—part of her core DNA. I believe to this day that our meeting was not a chance encounter, but destiny.
Because of Helen’s efforts the name “Patton” still rings strong throughout Europe. After visiting her Stiftung Foundation in Germany on numerous occasions, attending several veterans’ memorial celebrations in France, and making one special trip to visit with the entire Patton family at their Green Meadows Farm north of Boston, I now find myself immersed in and committed to the newly formed Patton Foundation here in America.
I have been named its first executive director, and I am deeply honored and grateful to have been asked by Helen Patton to represent and lead her foundation. I know the task ahead of me is a daunting one, but I look forward to putting into practice General George S. Patton’s concern for the welfare of American soldiers and their families. I also anticipate with excitement meeting many more veterans.
My association with Helen Patton has also resulted in my meeting Andrew Wakeford, who serves as the project manager at Patton Stiftung. Andrew and I are both seasoned professional photographers, and it did not take long for us to establish a strong friendship. Within months, driven by a shared passion and a burning desire to make a difference, we came up with the idea of photographing veterans from all recent wars. Combining our shared interests in photography and writing, we set as our goal the creation of a book centering on veterans. Portraits of Service: Looking into the Faces of Veterans will be the result of our combined efforts, and I am very proud to have embarked on this project with Andrew.
In conclusion, I am honored to walk in the shadows of all the veterans in the world. War is an unfortunate by-product of human disagreement. It is fortunate, though, that at times of war men and women have responded and been willing to make the personal sacrifices necessary for all of us to live in freedom. Our book takes a cross section of veterans from many countries and gives them the opportunity to express themselves as they wish. Although it is not possible to photograph every veteran, it is our hope to capture the thoughts and feelings of those we do photograph and convey the importance of what they have done on behalf of humanity.