1. You are a former Senior Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service and have more than two decades of law enforcement experience. Can you share the journey that led you to the U.S. Secret Service, and what initially drew you to federal law enforcement?
My journey began in 5th grade from an interest in “Encyclopedia Brown” (child detective) books to watching the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 7th grade. But I didn’t know this would remain my interest until later. While selling dress shirts and ties at Dayton’s, I used to love watching the undercover “loss prevention” investigators chase and arrest shoplifters. I pursued that position and was hired, serving in multiple positions between Donaldson’s/Carson Pirie Scott and then Dayton’s in St. Paul and Rosedale and ultimately on to Bachman’s over approx. 9 years. During this time, while putting myself through the Carlson School (U of MN), I planned to go into business/ marketing- but, chasing shoplifters, fraudsters, and check forgers was a blast for a college kid. After a short stint doing inside sales out of college, I realized I needed action. I put in an application with the U.S. Secret Service in 1992 because I loved their “dual-mission” of protection and investigations involving fraud crimes. After 4 years of waiting for an opening, I was offered a position in the Chicago Field Office in 1996, and there began my official law enforcement career. I ultimately did 2 years in Chicago, and briefly left for personal/family reasons, coming back to Minnesota to be a St. Paul Police Officer on the East Side, before returning to the Secret Service in 2000 that brought me from Minnesota to Washington D.C., and back to Minnesota where I retired from the government in 2018.

2. While the U.S. Secret Service is widely recognized for protecting the President, its mandate extends beyond this role. Could you elaborate on the broader responsibilities of the Secret Service? Additionally, how have these responsibilities evolved over the past decade in response to technological advancements?
The Secret Service was officially and ironically signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, as a department within the U.S. Treasury on April 14, 1865, as an investigative agency to fight a significant counterfeit currency problem in the United States. The ironic portion was that President Lincoln was assassinated later that night at the Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C., by John Wilkes Booth, but presidential protection was not yet a mandate or official mission of the Secret Service. This didn’t happen until many years and many assassinations later when the Secret Service was mandated with both missions of protecting the nation’s financial infrastructure and its leaders.

Because of emerging and evolving technology, especially since the 2000’s, the Secret Service has had to adapt to not only elaborate financial threats to our nation’s payment systems but also due to the threats posed to protected persons by cyber and social media threats.

To sum it up, the Secret Service has gone from chasing counterfeiters on horseback during the Civil War to protecting U.S. and visiting world leaders, safeguarding U.S. elections through protection of candidates, and ensuring the security of key facilities and major national-level events and investigating the most significant cybercrime organizations that exploit and undermine critical U.S. infrastructure and financial payment systems. Part of its investigative goals are to identify, disrupt, and permanently dismantle financially-motivated transnational cybercrime networks.

3. Were there any pivotal operations, investigations, or moments during your service that had a lasting impact on your perspective or approach to security?
 Much like a sports team, the Secret Service relies on subject-matter-experts inside and outside of the Agency that work together as a “cohesive team” toward its protection and investigative missions.

Serving as the “#1 Whip” of the Vice President’s Operation Section gave me a front-row role of the complex coordination, relationships, logistics, communications, required within the White House operations to protect both people and places, while keeping them publicly accessible. That experience now shapes how I build trusted relationships and design security strategies as a private consultant.

My work in the Secret Service’s Special Counterfeit Operations Section and in leading the Minnesota Financial and Electronic Crimes Task Force revealed how today’s threats are global, borderless, and often tied to organized crime. Leading and managing investigations like the Falodun case, Operation Starburst, and the Mustafa Family Crime Ring, among others, underscored the power of collaboration—across agencies, regulators, and the private sector—in combating complex trans-national organized financial crime, and cyber threats.

4. After such a high-stakes career in the Secret Service, what inspired you to transition into the private sector and launch 360 Security Services?
After seeing firsthand how security and risk were perceived as cost centers as well as all the individuals and organizations negatively impacted by fraud and threats, I envisioned a firm that embeds safety and security into its organizational culture. My Secret Service experience, combined with my Carlson education and other private sector security background, fueled my ambition to build a business that blends protection, investigations, and cybersecurity into a cohesive risk management model, especially for organizations that can’t afford full-time security services- and 360 Security Services was born.

5. 360 Security Services offers a wide range of protection solutions—can you highlight the key services you provide and what sets them apart in today’s security landscape?
360 Security Services was built to meet the growing demand for scalable, high-trust security solutions that integrate both digital and physical risk domains. We act as a trusted partner, delivering fractional and fully managed services in cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, insider threat response, investigations, and security operations. Key areas of services include, but are not limited to:
• Cybersecurity/ IT/ compliance, and vulnerability management
• Risk management and protective services
• Cyber, forensic accounting, and complex investigations
• Workplace violence and/or organizational threat management
• Internal theft investigations
• Managed physical security, and anonymous-capable incident reporting and case management
• Training and awareness presentations on cybersecurity and fraud among others

Our differentiator is depth. We're not salespeople—we're seasoned professionals: former federal agents, IT and cyber experts, forensic specialists, and military leaders who approach each client with a real-world, mission-driven mindset. As a firm licensed in MN and WI, we also prioritize social responsibility by donating 10% of our net profits to community initiatives.

6. Where did you grow up, and were you involved in any sports during your childhood? Do you have a favorite sports memory from that time?
I grew up in Apple Valley, Minnesota. I was involved in “association” level baseball, track, and soccer and even did a very short stint in wrestling. I enjoyed playing sports and finished mostly in organized soccer in my youth as well as backyard baseball in the park almost every day in the summer with my neighborhood friends. I actually found my way into band in high school and between marching band and pep band loved attending and supporting a wide variety of Apple Valley Eagle sports, especially in their 1980’s “heyday” of wrestling, basketball, and hockey!!

7. We hear you’ve been a longtime Hockey Dad—can you tell us more about your kids’ involvement in sports and what that experience has been like for your family?
My first son came home from kindergarten in Crofton, Maryland with an information flyer about trying hockey and “learn to skate” at the local rink in Piney Orchard. This started the adventure of what was 3 boys who played hockey, with two of them playing high school hockey and the third playing through his second year of bantams. We heard it would be a “way-of-life” and it truly was. My daughter grew up a rink rat as a newborn from Maryland to Minnesota and supported her brothers all the way. My boys all tried baseball and/or soccer and enjoyed it…but it was all hockey for them. My daughter tried a few sports including lacrosse for a while but ultimately found her love as a competitive dancer.

I would not trade any of the time we had traveling around the northeast in the early years and then moving back to Minnesota to experience Minnesota hockey for many many years all year round. It led to many great family trips and experiences, leading my kids to become “foodies” along the way.

8. Do you have a favorite sports team? If so, what draws you to them?
 I would say if I had to pick one team it would be the Minnesota Wild. I grew up remembering attending some North Star games at the old Met Center and was sad when the North Stars left. However, it has been great moving back to Minnesota and getting behind the Wild and watching games in person and on TV. While living in Maryland, my kids became heavily invested in the Washington Capitals, especially when Alex Ovechkin signed with the team. Because of our many years in hockey it remains our family sport of choice to watch and our family loves trying to watch Wild v. Caps games in-person or on TV whenever we can.

9. If you could meet any athlete, past or present, who would it be and why?
 I would choose Alex Ovechkin- his powerhouse style on the ice, relentless scoring, and leadership skills make him a hockey icon I have admired for years. Not to mention my kids latched on to him from his start in 2005 with the Capitals and they have watched him with awe since. It is great for them to see what hard work and determination gets you.

10. What is your favorite sports moment, whether as a spectator or participant?
 In 1997, while assigned to the Chicago Field Office of the Secret Service, I was given the chance to go locate a suspect involved in selling counterfeit NBA merchandise across the United States. I and another agent were assigned to partner with an off-duty Chicago Police officer who worked security for the Chicago Bulls. Before one of the final games, we went hunting for the counterfeiter among all the vendors working around the streets during the NBA Championship series. We did not locate him before the game. Our contact brought us into the game for a tour and courtside to watch the Bulls and the Utah Jazz warm-up. He then brought us up to an area we could watch some of the game before going back outside after the game to hunt for the counterfeiter. It was an awesome memory to have participated in all of that during the legendary days of the Chicago Bulls and their Championship run in 1997.

A close back-up was driving an armored Secret Service vehicle with the Vice President inside around the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, FL before the start of the 2006 Pepsi 400 NASCAR race

11. What motivated you to become a member of the MNSE Champions Council?
 I first connected with MNSE while providing security for the Big10 Commissioner during the 2024 Big Ten Basketball Championships in Minnesota during a 360 assignment. Impressed by MNSE’s mission- and drawing on my security background- I joined the Champions Council in early 2024 wanting to bring my perspective to any initiatives. I believe positive differences are made when you get involved. It’s been rewarding to network and collaborate with other passionate leaders to help bring major events to our state and ensure Minnesota remains a destination for all kinds of events to include sports!