I am English, originally from the great industrial city of Birmingham. I came to the United States in 2013 after living with my family in Moscow, Russia, and Lausanne, Switzerland. My adult daughter is an alum of McLean.
My first career was as an attorney in a large international law firm, where I was first a partner in the firm’s Moscow office and then later in its Geneva office. A love of history brought me to a mid-life Master’s Degree in History and then a change of career when I trained to be a teacher. I have been teaching languages and humanities in schools in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States since 2011 and have been a happy and fulfilled Upper School humanities teacher at McLean since 2016. I have taught several courses here including Foundations in Literature and Senior Humanities, and now teach Modern World History and AP Human Geography.My favorite Professional Development was several years ago and was an afternoon-long simulation of what it is like to learn with dyslexia. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the session. As a result of this training, dyslexia became much less of an academic concept; the challenges many of my students faced became much clearer to me. This has made me more empathetic and, therefore a better teacher.
I live nearby in Potomac with my wife. I am a “fair weather” skier and hiker, but you will never catch me overnight in a tent. I also enjoy theater and reading. My big passion is traveling, and having visited over 50 countries, I have also lived in 5. China and South America are high on my bucket list for future adventures.