I am currently the Chief Research and Development Officer for the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), the national genetic evaluation center for the US dairy industry. In addition to my role at CDCB, I also hold academic appointments in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Florida, the Department of Animal Science at North Carolina State University, and the Department of Animal Biosciences at the University of Guelph. I've had a very successful career because of the many excellent scientists I've worked with, and I've been fortunate enough to receive some awards.

After leaving the federal service, I spent 3 years as the Senior Vice President, Research and Development, for PEAK Genetics, where I oversaw genetics and reproductive biology research for the largest producer of cattle genetics in the world.

For 17 years, I was a Research Geneticist (Animal) and Acting Research Leader in the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory and the Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory in Beltsville, MD, which are a part of the Department of Agriculture's in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research Service.

I received a PhD in animal breeding and genetics from Louisiana State University (LSU) under the supervision of Dr. Don Franke. My dissertation research was funded by The Seeing Eye, Inc., and focused on population genetic structure in a large colony of dog guides. I've also worked with discrete time survival analysis of longevity, and linear and threshold modeling of trainability.

Before joining AIPL, I was the data manager for the Southern Regional Climate Center (now located at Texas A&M University) and a computer analyst (webmaster) in the College of Education (now the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education). I also spent four years in the Department of Animal Science on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota.

In 1990, I graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) in Natchotoches, Louisiana. LSMSA is a public, residential high school for gited and talented students. To this day I'm not sure why the admissions committee selected me – there's a B.J. Barham lyric about seeing something in me I still can't see in myself, but so it goes. I'm very grateful I was given the opportunity to have that experience.