I am a business practitioner with a passion for teaching. I have tremendous respect for the academic enterprise, and the researcher-teachers who form its core, as well as for leaders in the corporate world. Whether at Linbeck or as an educator, I help create general business frameworks and give future leaders practical application, and then teach others to do the same.

My belief is that the problems of business are the problems of life. The classroom is a special environment where those problems can be explored, simulated, probed, understood, and then used as a basis for real actions in real situations.

I serve as the President and CEO of Aquinas Companies, LLC, the parent company of seven values-driven enterprises: construction management, stone and masonry specialty contracting, turnkey concrete structures, patented products for the highway construction industry, medical products manufacturing, life science preventure technology development and real estate development.

Since I joined the leadership team at the company, our annual revenues have grown from $40 million to over $500+ million. Aquinas' unusual structure and business practices have inspired tremendous employee loyalty, with an average tenure among senior managers of more than 20 years, as well as making a significant community impact through an annual tithe of its net income.

I teach MBA candidates as an adjunct professor at both the Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business and Stanford's Graduate School of Business where I serve as Lecturer and MBA Class of 1979 Lecturer for 2008-2009. I graduated from University of Notre Dame with bachelor degrees in Civil Engineering and the Program of Liberal Studies (Notre Dame's Great Books program). I went on to graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin with a Master's Degree in Structural Engineering. Some years later, I entered Stanford's MBA program where I was Chair of the Academic Committee and founder of the Global Management Program.

I am passionate about K-12 education reform, especially the expansion of high-performing charter schools serving low-income communities. I have a working relationship with KIPP (the Knowledge Is Power Program) in Houston where I have helped to formulate a plan for growth through innovative teaching and management. I also helped create REEP (the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program), a business-school-based program for developing school leaders.

I serve on the board of Advocates for Choice Schools, Chantal Cookware, Free Enterprise Institute, Holocaust Museum Houston, the Methodist Hospital Research Institute, and Young Presidents Organization, Houston Chapter. I am a member of the University of Texas Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department External Advisory Committee, the Positive Coaching Alliance National Advisory Board, the Advisory Council of the Greater Houston Community Foundation (GHCF), and the Rice University Centennial Campaign Cabinet.

I am a husband and father of five.

I've worked for Linbeck most of my life on a range of projects learning the trades from my grandfather and father. Through my role as Chairman, I'm able to apply lessons learned and perspectives from construction and other fascinating ventures to our business.