Crosswalk Mentors

My career has been anything but conventional: I’ve shifted from leading small teams of US Navy sailors to running nuclear power plants and most recently to leading national security discussions with some of the best national security thinkers. I bring to bear an innately interdisciplinary and systems thinking approach to problem solving that enables me to better mentor and guide up and coming leaders, one of my favorite roles when I was a naval officer. This same drive to help “train my replacement” as we’d say in the navy is what led me to offer my services to those who also want to make a difference and see education as the starting point for their journey. 

I completed my masters at American University with an emphasis on conflict prevention and post conflict transition where I was honored to receive the Louis Goodman award for academic excellence. Prior to that I completed the US Navy’s nuclear engineering training program, certifying as a nuclear engineer, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor’s of science in international relations and a Spanish minor. 

During my time in the navy I have traveled the world, gaining valuable experience in navigating different cultures, operating in high stress scenarios, and executing US national tasking while leading teams ranging from 30 personnel to just over 200. I brought those experiences to DC after serving and have been active in track 1.5 and 2.0 discussions on national security around the world while also serving as the Associate Director of a leading national security think tank. This has given me the opportunity to publish widely, such as War on the Rocks and The National Interest, and to be interviewed for outlets such as Newsweek and Foreign Policy. 

Throughout all these experiences, I’ve found not only great joy in supporting my sailors, and now interns, in finding their unique paths to success but that I excel in identifying how they can best achieve their goals. This is what led me to co-founding Crosswalk Mentors, the drive to leverage all my experiences to continue helping others make the leap from ideas to reality. 

I leverage my 21 years of experience across national security, public policy, and the private sector to offer highly strategic approaches to problem solving, deep analysis, and delivering practical solutions. I am driven by discovery and care deeply about enhancing the public good, which I achieve by serving as an education consultant and mentor to students who are future leaders.

Most recently, I completed a Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School on a full scholarship awarded by the Ramsay Centre in Australia, focusing on the intersection of national security and technology. This program provided new tools to synthesize my experience and drive meaningful policy change.

I am an established subject matter expert on security, defense, and foreign policy. My work has included testifying before the Australian Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, briefing senior U.S. and allied diplomats, and speaking at Track 1.5/Track II events across countries on topics including deterrence, emerging and critical technologies, and security partnerships such as AUKUS and the Quad. My work has been published in leading outlets such as The Strategist, The National Interest, War on The Rocks, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, The Nikkei and others. I am frequently interviewed and quoted in the media such as in The Washington Post, South China Morning Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian.

While completing my PhD at the Australian Defence Force Academy (University of New South Wales) on political solutions to enduring conflicts, I maintained a parallel career in Afghanistan. My work involved policy research, election monitoring, and crafting high-stakes strategic advisories for senior leaders on regional security, countering violent extremism, and political challenges. This experience sharpened my ability to work in high-pressure and high-risk environments and successfully deliver actionable policy recommendations.