Story
The short version
I’m a veteran, organizer, author, sailor, public servant. Now The Board, in public.
01
Cadet
United States Air Force Academy, class of 2009. Economics. A top cadet leadership post. I was already learning how to hold two lives at once.
02
JD Smith
Under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I organized in secret. As “JD Smith” I cofounded OutServe, connected thousands of LGBT service members, appeared in shadow on national television, and liaised with the Pentagon and White House. I was an invited guest at the presidential signing of the repeal.
03
Our Time
When the policy fell, I dropped the mask. Penguin published Our Time: Breaking the Silence of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Service members, in their own names, telling the truth. In 2012 I became a chair of OutServe SLDN, then the youngest chair of a major LGBT organization.
04
Sailor
After the uniform I went to the water. Yachtlife Cruises. Trekr Adventures. Sailo. Weeks at sea in the BVI, Sweden, Thailand, Croatia, Greece. Captain, host, operator. The second life was never a hobby.
05
Federal tech
Then I went back to service, this time in systems. External lead for IT strategic communications at VA. Assistant CIO for Digital Business Operations at HUD. The work is the work: veterans, housing, the unglamorous machinery of government.
06
The Board
Three items, in public. I completed Iceland. The days from my posts are how a finished item reads. Next I sail the Atlantic, and I’ll be a mascot at a major sports game.