I grew up running around school hallways and vacuuming field houses. My father coached me and my mother taught me and I always knew education was going to be my passion. I entered the teaching field in 1997, working as a physical education teacher and middle school coach in Abilene, Texas. Over the next 11 years, I moved around the area, moving up the coaching ladder. I also entered the classroom and taught every level of high school English that exists. In 2008, I achieved what I thought was my biggest career goal and become an Athletic Director. I roamed the sidelines as a head coach at four different public schools before becoming an administrator in 2019.
I never envisioned myself as an administrator, but it quickly proved to give me the most joy yet. I worked as an assistant principal at both the elementary level and the secondary level. I quickly was promoted and repeated that process as a principal. In 2022, I reached a goal that I honestly never set out to reach, and that was to become a superintendent, which I still am today.
In 2019, I began having opportunities to speak to different school districts, staffs, and other leadership organizations. My message is simple. Every single day, we are either making the world around us better or worse. Nothing every stays the same. What kind of impact are you making? And if that answer is not the one that it needs to be, we work hard to get it there.
Beyond speaking, my team and I lead small teams of stakeholders on journeys of impactful discovery. This can look a lot of different ways and one group never fully resembles the other. That is the beauty of what we do. I don’t want anyone to be like me. I simply want everyone to be the best version of who they genuinely are.
Once we meet, we are allies on this journey of life the rest of the way. Working together to make sure that we have no regrets when our jobs in this world are done.
Beyond my leadership work, I am the proud father of two amazing young men, Hayden and Logan Ritchey. I love to run and lift weights (the older I get, the running is becoming less love and more pain.) I will watch any scary movie any place anywhere. My love for college football and the Florida State Seminoles is unrivaled. More than anything, I love building relationships and working through impactful interactions together.
