Chris and his wife Char are proud to call Jacksonville home. A small-town guy from rural Pennsylvania, Chris started saving money for college while still a teenager by working three jobs, but he found himself in need of funding to finish college after his first year. His father, Robert, was a hard-working factory employee who previously served in the Army Air Corps. His mother was a nurse and homemaker raising three boys and one girl, volunteering her time to community causes, including politics, and her church. 

Chris’ sister Charlotte was pivotal to his love of education and higher learning, and she was her baby brother’s biggest fan. Determined to finish his education and make his family proud, Chris accepted an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program three-year scholarship based on his first-year grades to fund his remaining college education. This required a six-year commitment post-graduation with the United States Army. Little did Chris know his service to our great nation would span 30 years and 18 days. Thanks to the Army, Chris was able to pursue future higher learning opportunities in the fields of business, strategic studies, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Senior Officer studies, something he could never have imagined as a boy growing up in a one stop sign town, mowing many yards, raising chickens and rabbits, busing tables and washing dishes at the truck stop, pumping gas at gas stations and bailing hay for local farmers. 

Early in his career in the 1980s, Chris was assigned to Jacksonville, Florida, to lead the recruiting efforts for the Army. While here, he fell in love with the city, was heavily involved in the community, and made lifelong friendships. He was a member of Esprit de Corps, the fundraising arm of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida. He lived in Mandarin and was an active member of Christian Family Chapel, helping to lead a youth mission trip to Jamaica. He remembers when he could hop on his road bike and never see a car for miles between Mandarin and St Augustine. At the time, he didn’t know how an Army guy could get back to Jacksonville, a Navy town, but he was determined to make that happen.

Chris joined the Army and saw the world, moving every few years (sixteen total moves) and answering the call of duty. Key positions included working at the Pentagon on the Army staff, helping plan the first U.S. operation in Bosnia and then deploying with the 1st Armored Division to carry out that plan to enforce the Dayton Peace Accord, serving as the city mayor and city manager for 17 Army bases managing a $333M budget over a 4,000 square mile area of Germany, and serving as the Inspector General for U.S. forces throughout Europe and Israel on behalf of the U.S. European Command Commander/Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. 

When it came time for Chris to request his last assignment, he asked his four-star Admiral about an opportunity near where he always wanted to return, Jacksonville. As God would have it, Chris’ last position with the United States Army placed him in St. Augustine as the Inspector General for the state of Florida with the Florida National Guard. 

Upon his retirement after 30 years and 18 days, Chris and his wife Char chose to make Jacksonville their permanent home. Chris’ day job is that of District Director for U.S. Representative John Rutherford, Jacksonville’s former Sheriff, while Char works for the parent company of Community Hospice & Palliative Care (formerly Community Hospice of Northeast Florida), Alivia Care, Inc. Chris, and Char live in the Riverside area with their two pups and are members of Aspire Church of San Marco, formerly Southside Baptist Church.