The Foundation: Real-World Experience Over Boardroom Theory
If you want to know why Results ROI operates the way it does, you don’t look at corporate textbooks—you look at real life. Built on a foundation of mentorship from industry legends like Dexter Yeager and Jack Welch (whom I simply called “Grandpa Jack” back in college—the rest of the world knew who he was, but I didn’t, figuring he was just an elevator salesman), Results ROI is anchored by ground-truth execution. That perspective came from a lifetime of hanging out with folks who lived at the tip of the spear or behind the scenes—whether sitting around with sports broadcaster Tim Foley before a football game and teaching him how to pronounce Yazoo City, or coordinating with Delta operators for tactical background on military fiction and hearing stories most people will never hear, like training bats with tiny cameras to fly into caves in Afghanistan to track insurgents.
The Crucible & The Pivot Life changed in an instant from a car wreck that didn’t even look that bad at first—nobody thought it was a big deal, and the doctors didn’t think much of it either, since the truck had transferred all the force straight into my neck. But in the end, it was rough, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury that landed me in a wheelchair. Before that, I had already conquered the commercial building world as a former commercial builder and tradesperson holding structural compliance qualifications under CABO and the IRC; dominated Gannett media sales as #1 in NIE sales and top in circulation; earned a Civilian Award of Excellence from the Navy; executed high-level consulting work; and built a multi-decade legacy.
When the spinal injury took away my physical mobility, the world changed overnight. Told by doctors to accept losing all feeling from the shoulders down, my response was absolute:
“I will walk again, you’re not in control, God is, you don’t know.”
It took months just to wiggle my right big toe—a massive milestone—and years later, I was walking eight feet without aids, defying every prognosis.
Living in a chair brought its own relentless gauntlet. Transported everywhere by Hoyer lift, I survived the lift snapping in the Outback Steakhouse parking lot and dropping me until a group of men stepped in to load me into the van, and another terrifying fall from the lift under the house straight onto the concrete slab, hitting my head and hearing every bone in my body pop like they were breaking. I battled through West Nile virus—the most painful experience imaginable, where every joint hurt and every bone felt like it was on fire—endured early COVID when it was still misdiagnosed as a bad flu, and faced a septic infection in the ER while Houston and Jean sat by my side. When the doctors walked in and I asked, “How are you doing?” Their deadpan response: “Better than you.”
Even when subsequent wheelchair accidents and physical setbacks tested my limits, my mindset never flinched. Hospital psychiatrists repeatedly told me that my situation meant I had to be depressed. My answer to them defines my entire existence:
“No, that is a choice. I do not have to be depressed. Look around, I’ve still got my legs, I have a chance to walk, I see people that lost theirs.”
The Next Generation: Results ROI When physical mobility changes, you adapt and master the intellectual game. From a wheelchair, I went back to school and stacked credentials to out-think any boardroom: an MBA, a Master of Science in Marketing (MSMK), a Master of Accountancy (MAcc), and a Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB)—backing it all up with professional credentials and structural compliance expertise.
After losing my beloved wife of 34 and a half years, Jean, the mission clarified completely. Results ROI isn’t about chasing corporate status or empty metrics. It is about honoring the past, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the little guy, and passing down real-world, hard-earned business acumen to the next generation of builders.