Husband, father of two, and Programer Analyst at Regional Justice Information Service in St. Louis, MO.
I have lived in the St. Louis area all my life, graduated high school in 1997 at Triad High School. That fall I started
a computer science major at SIU Edwardsville. The following summer I was diagnosed with an advanced stage of Hodgkins Lymphoma.
I spent 1998-2000 battling cancer. I underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and finally a stem-cell transplant
in August of 2000 where I spent 21 days at the Siteman Cancer center.
After my first round of cancer I began attending school at Southwestern Illinois College in their Criminal Justice program. I was also working for Lewis & Clark Library System as a part-time
technician. When I had the recurrence in the spring of 2000 I stopped attending SWIC after the spring semester. Following my stem-cell
transplant I spent several months trying to find a direction. I had moved to a full-time position as the Webmaster for LCLS and decided to
continue pursuing a degree in Information Technology.
In the summer of 2004 I graduated SIUE with a Bachelor's in Computer Management Information Systems.
On December 18, 2004 I married my longtime sweet heart Rachel. We had met in my early days at LCLS and she was by my side
during my stem-cell transplant which was the most difficult point in my battle with cancer. She married me knowing that our chances of
having children were zero.
In the summer of 2005 we learned that Rachel was pregnant. It turns out that telling me the odds apparently doesn't mean too much.
Excited that we would be able to have the kids we had dreamed of we were blessed with Tess Isabel born in March of 2006. Tess is very
much the sweet daughter we always wanted but she has a little sour to her too.
Our son, Abram James was born in May 2008.
Many other wonderful experiences were had between my youth and now. The most rewarding has definitely been starting a family. I have been
fortunate to have wonderful parents who supported me during some difficult times as well as friends and family. In my career I have had the
fortune of serving under two very excellent exectutive directors at LCLS who coached and mentored me and provided me opportunities to really
spread my wings. I also had excellent coworkers who treated me like one of their own. I still am actively involved with many of those co-workers
at LCLS both personally and in my role as an external consultant.
I also am fortunate to have the opportunity to blend an interest in Criminal Justice with my background in IT. As a member of REJIS
Law Enforcement group I work on projects that support the needs of law enforcement and justice agencies at all levels. I work with an
excellent team of developers and we are led by an extraordinary manager who tries to provide all of us opportunities to use our talents.
Through REJIS I am currently attending The Dooley Group's Leadership Legacy Forum. The forum has been an outstanding growth opportunity for me
both personally and professionally. With the guidance of Dick Dooley and the participants I have learned alot of lessons that I apply to all facets of my life.
My life has not been some extraordinary series of events. I believe all of us have opportunities to really find out who we are and we are all
challenged in ways unique to who we are. That is, perhaps,
a big focus of my life. Learning who I am and how I change and how I impact those around me. It is my sincere wish that I can impact
people in the way others have impacted me.
-Chris
Lincolnshire, IL June 18 2008