Our leadership team

Kasa’s experts span four countries and 14 states. Our team might be out of sight, but as a partner, you are never out of mind.

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  Roman Pedan

  Founder & CEO

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  Roman Pedan

  Founder & CEO

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  Bio

  Roman founded Kasa Living, Inc. in August 2016. He brings a unique blend of real estate, hospitality, and technology experience to the business that makes him well-positioned to lead it into the future.

  Hospitality: Over his career, Roman was part of 2-3 person teams that purchased $1.2bn of hotel assets across the US. He was involved in every hotel transaction that KKR closed during his tenure. Hotel assets that have had liquidity events (all but 3) have generated a >2.5x equity multiple.

  Technology: Roman holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania (Tau Beta Pi, top 1/8th of class). In 2009, Roman founded book.ly, a vertical e-commerce website. Roman was also an early team member at Juniper Square, a market-leading investment management platform.

  Real Estate: While at Wharton, Roman concentrated in Real Estate (Magna Cum Laude). He was an investor at Walton Street Capital & KKR where he spent significant time working in the hospitality and multifamily asset classes.

  Outside of Kasa, Roman is an avid skier, traveler, and reader. He recently finished Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, an inspiring book on building a world class hospitality organization.

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  Austin Murtland

  Chief of Staff

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  Austin Murtland

  Chief of Staff

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  Austin joined Kasa in 2019 after finishing his MBA at the Stanford GSB. His past experience blends operations and strategy while cultivating strong relationships with those around him.

  Austin attended the University of Michigan and was one of six students in Michigan’s history to complete a mechanical engineering & business administration dual degree. He was captain of the Club Ice Hockey team and VP of Recruitment for Delta Sigma Pi Professional Fraternity. He studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain and minored in Spanish. 

  After undergrad, Austin joined Shell in New Orleans as a drilling engineer. He supported offshore operations by designing oil wells and managing two $100M+ projects. He spent one year living on the Mars A TLP in the Gulf of Mexico (traveling to and from work in an S-92 Helicopter). 

  At the Stanford GSB, Austin led the Admit Weekend Committee, was co-president of the Management Consulting Club, and was an active member of GSB Pride. He spent his summer at Bain & Company working on an automotive client’s digital strategy. 

  Outside of work, Austin loves traveling (has visited 65+ countries), enjoys recreational sports, and occasionally competes in extreme races (3 half marathons & 1 Olympic-distance triathlon).

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  Brianna Kohr

  Compliance

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  Brianna Kohr

  Compliance

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  Brianna joined Kasa in 2019 as the second member of its in-house legal team. With her prior experience as both an intellectual property and real estate attorney, Brianna is well-suited to her role as legal counsel to a technology enabled real estate company. 

  After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2014, Brianna joined the internet strategy and intellectual property litigation group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.  She represented major technology companies in trade secret, trademark, general commercial and  technology law disputes, and also counseled clients in these areas. 

  Brianna has always had a strong interest in real estate, and in 2017, she joined the respected real estate boutique firm Miller Starr Regalia in order to foster that interest and gain industry exposure. While at Miller Starr, Brianna represented clients in a variety  of real property disputes, with a primary focus on commercial leasing litigation. 

  Outside of Kasa, Brianna enjoys swimming, photography, working on her travel blog and planning her next big trip.

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  Craig Minoff

  Product & Ops

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  Craig Minoff

  Product & Ops

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  Craig joined Kasa in February 2019 to lead Product and Operations. His professional experiences include companies large and small, with a common thread of rapid growth, trusted brands and great customer service. 

  While studying Economics at Yale he began his career in Sales & Trading at JPMorgan. Next, Craig spent 2+ years at BCG as a management consultant with a focus on Consumer and Strategy work. He transitioned into an operator role as the 10th employee at a Y-Combinator backed dating startup in NYC, leading Growth and Business Intelligence. 

  Craig next joined Airbnb in 2014, spending two years in Product Strategy before transitioning into Product Management. As a PM, Craig focused on converting the marketplace to Instant Book and growing the global Host Community. 

  Outside of work, Craig is traveling somewhere new or training for his next outdoor adventure.

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  Elena Goldblatt

  Guest Experience

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  Elena Goldblatt

  Guest Experience

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  Elena joined Kasa in 2019 as the Director of Guest Experience.  She has been innovating in hospitality for the past decade, focused on providing excellent service at scale in a virtual context.

  After graduating from Yale (with distinction), Elena’s career has focused on curating exceptional guest experiences within the food, travel and hotel industries in both Europe and the United States. She has curated and led luxury  trips around the world with Conley & Silvers and is a published cookbook author and travel writer.

  Since graduating first in her class with an MBA in Hospitality Administration from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland (rated best hospitality program in the world) in 2017, Elena has worked in the short-term rental space. She joined AvantStay as an early team member overseeing business operations and guest experience for group travel.

  Outside of Kasa, Elena enjoys traveling, sourdough baking, and seeking out the greatest afternoon tea service.

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  Elliott Lui

  Technology

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  Elliott Lui

  Technology

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  Elliott joined Kasa in 2018 to lead Kasa’s technology efforts. He spent his professional career at the intersection of his two passions: technology & hospitality. At Kasa, he architects its key systems, recruits new engineers, and builds out core functionality.

  Elliott’s first job was at the bell desk of his parents’ hotel. Growing up around his family’s hotel business sparked his love for the hospitality industry. 

  While studying Computer Science at Stanford, he built out a product for hotel booking engines that improved booking conversion by >20%. He and his co-founders productized this creating Travelnuts where he led technology, raised $2mm, and grew the team to 10 people. 

  After Travelnuts, Elliott joined Duetto where Elliott worked for Craig Weissman (ex-CTO of Salesforce) and became a key lieutenant building out the highest performing revenue management platform in the hospitality industry.

  Outside of Kasa, Elliott is an avid skier and scuba diver, willing to travel to great lengths for amazing powder and water alike.

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  Kevin Walker

  Legal

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  Kevin Walker

  Legal

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  Kevin joined Kasa in 2018 to lead legal and corporate development. He manages a team of outside and in-house professionals with a collaborative approach to navigating risks and propelling growth.

  Previously, Kevin practiced corporate law at Paul Hastings, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, including buy-side and sell-side transactions for public and private clients. He also served as outside counsel to technology companies and private equity firms, advising on governance and general corporate matters.

  Born and raised in San Francisco, Kevin received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. During law school, he spent half a year working in Hong Kong at a leading international arbitration center. He earned his B.A. from UCLA, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

  In his free time, Kevin enjoys outdoor adventures and kayaking the rugged California coast.

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  Mara Jones

  People Ops

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  Mara Jones

  People Ops

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  Mara joined Kasa in 2020 to lead the People Operations team. The initiatives she oversees are centered around compliance, recruiting, training, and employee engagement. 

  Mara’s passion for hospitality and entrepreneurship started at a young age when she assisted her parents with their water purifying and retail businesses in her hometown in Mexico.

  While studying at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, Mara was responsible for diversity and inclusion initiatives by serving as the President of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality. She complemented her studies while working as a Student Manager at the Statler Hotel. During the summers she spent time working at Marriott hotels and Wolfgang Puck restaurants. 

  Upon graduation, she joined Hillstone Restaurant Group to help manage and train leaders in one of their flagship restaurants in NYC. She left Hillstone to join The Bay Club Company in California where she spearheaded a number of transformational initiatives, including launching an industry-first member loyalty points program and building an employee communications & training platform now used across the 6,000+ employee organization.

  Outside of Kasa, she plans events to help industry leaders network while raising funds for future hospitality students. She enjoys exploring restaurants in the bay area, playing tennis, and designing any residential space her family and friends give her access to.

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  Megan Bencen

  Training and Engagement

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  Megan Bencen

  Training and Engagement

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  Megan joined Kasa in 2018. She was responsible for laying the training and operations groundwork for the Guest Experience department and grew the team from four to thirteen within a few months. 

  In 2019, Megan began building the Property Operations department which aims to deliver high quality solutions to housekeeping, maintenance, and other on-site operations across the Kasa portfolio. In just 18 months, "PropOps" grew to support ~50 field representatives and introduced a critical task management tool, Breezeway, for cross-departmental use. Megan's current focus at Kasa is on company-wide training, development, and engagement initiatives as a leader on the People Operations team.

  Megan attended the University of Miami on a full academic scholarship and graduated with a dual degree in Psychology and Public Relations. Her experience in the natural lifestyle sector at both Kashi and Whole Foods Market allowed her to become an expert in marketing and event planning which fostered her love for logistics and operations. Megan has also worked for several small businesses where she piloted new roles that contributed to significant growth.

  When she’s not working, Megan enjoys exploring Austin hiking trails with her dogs Emmylou and Murphy, as well as preparing healthy gourmet meals at home with her husband Adam.

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  Michael Millas

  Financial Strategy

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  Michael Millas

  Financial Strategy

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  Mike joined Kasa in 2018. He focuses on forming partnerships with real estate owners, investors, and lenders, as well as managing Kasa’s ongoing financial performance and liquidity initiatives. He brings a blend of real estate, corporate finance and capital markets expertise to ensure Kasa’s financial success amid rapid growth.

  Real Estate: Mike was one of the early members of Apollo’s real estate private equity acquisitions team, helping scale AUM from $5bn to $15bn. He has acquired and managed over $2bn of hotels, office, retail and residential real estate.

  Corporate Finance: Mike was on a two-person team managing a $1.5bn, long/short real estate securities portfolio at Citadel Global Equities. He analyzed and managed active positions in over 50 gaming, leisure, lodging and real estate companies, including the multifamily and lodging REITs. 

  Capital Markets: As an investment banker, Mike advised REIT clients on structured debt initiatives (CMBS, private placements), as well as M&A advisory for REIT and lodging clients. 

  Outside of work, Mike is an avid skier and hiker who enjoys exploring new destinations across the globe.

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  Mike Marando

  Business Operations

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  Mike Marando

  Business Operations

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  Mike joined Kasa in 2020 as the Director of Business Operations. He has spent the majority of his career helping build and scale operations and strategy programs at several high-growth companies.

  After graduating from The Ohio State University, Mike began his career in Technology Consulting with Accenture. In 2014, Mike joined Uber Technologies to help build out the Ridesharing operations in the Midwest United States. At Uber, Mike helped grow several lines of business within the US Ridesharing business, the Uber China Ridesharing business, and the Uber Freight line of business. After several years at Uber, he joined a smaller consumer-tech startup in the micro-mobility space, JUMP Mobility. As the Director of Operations, Mike led the operational and fundraising strategy. In 2018, JUMP was acquired by Uber Technologies, starting his second stint with the company, where he stepped into the Chief of Staff role for this new line of business.

  In 2020, Mike began his own advisory and consulting business, helping startups with their overall business strategy and growth.

  Outside of Kasa, Mike loves staying active, cheering on his favorite sports teams, and spending time with his wife, Heidi, and daughter, Emma.

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  Noah Wisnia

  Talent Acquisition

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  Noah Wisnia

  Talent Acquisition

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  Noah joined Kasa in 2020 to lead the Talent Acquisition team and expand as well as retain Kasa's most vital resource: top-talent, like you!

  He spent the first half of his career in Product Management before finding a deep calling as a Relationship driven Recruiter. A multifaceted career, he's gone from architecting multimillion-dollar financial platforms to growing startup teams 300%+ YoY through seamless tech-enabled hiring.

  With happy hires at over 550 startups, he considers himself especially fortunate to have experienced being the 2nd and 14th hire at startups backed by Y Combinator and Forerunner Ventures, respectively.

  Outside of Kasa, Noah can be found volunteering his time as a speaker at conferences, mentoring/career coaching people in pursuit of lofty professional goals, giving product feedback to startup founders, and outdoors wither skiing or grilling up a meal with his family.

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  Norbert Pap

  Product Design

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  Norbert Pap

  Product Design

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  Norbert joined Kasa in 2018 to lead Kasa’s Technology and Design department. His background in tech, UX design, accessibility, and project management makes him uniquely situated to tackle complex and multifaceted issues, while his prior experience working and building teams remotely helps Kasa to be a global brand.

  In the first semester of his studies as a Software Engineer at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, he started his digital creative agency, providing tech and design services for European companies for nine years. His first step into the hospitality business came after winning a tender to be Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts’ external web design & development partner.

  After a transitional period working for US-based startups as a tech consultant (and traveling constantly), his passion for travel and complex processes found the perfect opportunity in Roman’s vision for Kasa.

  In his free time, Norbert is an avid board gamer, powerlifter, and traveler.

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  Richard Lou

  Partner Success

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  Richard Lou

  Partner Success

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  Richy joined Kasa in 2020 as the Director of Partner Success, responsible for overseeing a team focused on fostering relationships with real estate partners. The team’s mission is to ensure that Kasa maximizes value for our partners by providing best-in-class support, continually improving operations, and maximizing financial performance.

  Prior to Kasa, Richy founded the LCRE Group, a family-owned and operated hotel real estate investment company where he oversaw development, acquisitions, and asset management. He executed over $450M of real estate transactions and garnered over 25% returns on exited investments.

  Previously, he was with Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Operations practice where he worked with C-suite executives on mergers and acquisitions, operational strategy, and customer experience in the retail, healthcare, real estate, and hospitality industries. Additional experiences include Tishman Hotels & Realty where he was a development and asset management analyst.

  Richy graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. 

  Outside of work, Richy serves on the board for APICHA, a community clinic focusing on LGTBQ healthcare. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling the world, karaoking, and taking care of his Frenchie puppy.

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  Ruben Ortega

  Real Estate

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  Ruben Ortega

  Real Estate

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  Ruben joined Kasa in 2018. He leads the Real Estate team, responsible for overseeing a team whose focus is to grow Kasa's unit footprint. Ruben's professional experience spans finance, real estate, and hospitality management. 

  Ruben began his journey studying real estate and hospitality at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. At Cornell, he served in a management role at the on-site Statler Hotel, developing a deep understanding of hotel operations.

  Upon graduation, Ruben joined the Investment Management Division at Goldman Sachs, as part of a team that invested $6.7B AUM for endowments, foundations, and ultra-high net worth clients. In addition to helping secure new business, Ruben was responsible for implementing investment strategies across a wide array of products, including equities, fixed income, and real estate.

  After Goldman, Ruben pursued his MBA at the Harvard Business School, during which time he joined Hersha Hospitality as a Summer Associate on the Real Estate Acquisitions team.

  Outside of work, Ruben serves as Treasurer for the Cornell Latino Alumni Association and is involved with the Point Foundation, a national LGBT scholarship fund. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family in Texas and traveling the world on points.

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  Tomek Nowinski

  Brand & Marketing

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  Tomek Nowinski

  Brand & Marketing

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  Tomek joined Kasa in 2020 to lead brand and marketing. His focus is to build a strong global accommodations brand, develop Kasa’s direct booking channel, and drive guest loyalty. He has a decade of experience in performance marketing and online travel. 

  Tomek’s first job was running eBay’s affiliate program in Eastern Europe. After hours he won the Google Online Marketing Challenge for EMEA. He was on the global performance marketing team at Groupon when it was named ‘the fastest-growing company ever’ by Forbes magazine. After that, he built Groupon’s Getaways vertical for Eastern Europe from scratch, which grew to represent Groupon’s 2nd largest booking revenue globally.

  He pivoted to entrepreneurship founding the most popular Polish hotel booking platform Travelist.pl, and the second-largest performance marketing agency in Poland. Before his MBA, he sold the two companies to Secret Escapes and iProspect, respectively.

  He still owns shares in his three kids, determined to help them achieve product-market fit. He loves endurance sports and traveling.

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  Yvette Romero

  Product & Ops

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  Yvette Romero

  Product & Ops

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  Yvette joined Kasa in 2020 to deploy strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing quality, efficiency, and profitability. She is experienced in delivering nascent concepts from ideation to POC as well as growing into new markets within Fintech, enterprise SaaS, and marketplaces.

  As a consultant with Deloitte, she led process identification and technical design to deliver a CRM platform for sales enablement and the first pricing B2C portal for a healthcare provider. As a Sr. consultant with Fannie Mae, she oversaw the integration of Desktop Underwriter -  SaaS credit&risk scoring engine handling US$trillions in mortgage originations. Prior to entering Harvard Business School, she interned at the UBS Investment Bank TMT group.

  She pivoted to entrepreneurship and product, as a co-founder of Property Management company Khidmah or “service” in the UAE that was later acquired. Next, she helped set up an investment fund with the Qatar Foundation and advised in the acquisition of hotel properties for investors based in Dubai. 

  She led product and founded a food delivery company in Dubai, built lending products for Lendinghome, and most recently served as Director of Product at blockchain platform BitCasas.io, which delivered a Real Estate-backed security token platform. 

  Yvette was born in Los Angeles, has traveled to over 23 countries and 32 US states.

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  Ben Levick

  Operations

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  Ben Levick

  Operations

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  Ben joined Kasa in 2020 to lead the company’s Operations team.  Ben will apply his mix of technical, operational, and strategic experience  to ensuring Kasa’s operations are world class.

  Ben comes most recently from vertical farming startup Bowery Farming, which he joined pre-revenue and where he built and led several operational teams including the company’s farm design, construction, and supply chain orgs.  Ben oversaw growth in the company’s supply chain as the company added multiple new farms, hundreds of employees, hundreds of new customers, and raised over $200M in venture funding.

  Prior to Bowery Ben was a Senior Manager at Bain & Company where he led management consulting teams across a variety of business and private equity clients, including in the hospitality industry.  While at Bain he was highly involved in recruiting, global training, and mentorship programs

  Ben received dual BS degrees in Computer Science & Engineering and Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the MIT Sloan School of Management.  He has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.  

  Ben lives with his wife, daughter, and dog in Brooklyn, NY.  Outside of work he enjoys travel, performing live music, running, and completing the New York Times daily crossword puzzle.

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  John (JD) Modrak

  Property Operations

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  John (JD) Modrak

  Property Operations

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  JD joined Kasa in 2020, coming from Sonder as an Operations Manager to run Kasa’s Property Operations. 

  JD has been running Short Term Rentals since launching his own private STR operation as part of a Small RE Syndication in 2015 in Chicago. This passion led to his departure from the corporate world at United Airlines to launch a city for then Series B company, Sonder. 

  Immediately after Business School JD took a role in the Revenue Strategy department at United Airlines. Working on projects ranging from Basic Economy, to eventually Fleet strategy and aircraft layouts. JD left United after having led a project team across marketing, engineering, network and operations to overhaul and retrofit the entire widebody and large portions of United’s narrowbody fleets.

  Prior to Business school, JD was a Surface Warfare Office in the US Navy, qualifying to drive 2 different Marine Corps Aircraft Carriers, the BOXER and PELELIU. JD deployed 3 times on ships, spending nearly 30 months at sea during his first 4.5 years in the Navy. His last two tours with the Navy ranged from running a strategy and planning team for NATO with the Afghan Police Department in Kabul, and a brief stint overhauling the Navy’s training, dashboarding and tracking systems, FLTMPS. 

  JD fulfilled a lifelong dream in 2007 of attending the Naval Academy, and now lives in Minneapolis, MN with his wife, and is expecting for the first time in the Summer of 2021. 40 Countries down, maybe time for another 20 if he’s lucky.

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