30+ years in the presidential history & museum/library business!

• Archivist – Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives, Los Angeles and Simi Valley, CA – 1989-1992
• Director of Operations – Office of Presidential Libraries, National Archives, Washington, D.C., and College Park, MD – 1992-2003
• Acting Director – Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives, Hyde Park, NY – 1998-1999
• Executive Director – Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee – 2003-2009
• Director – George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum – Dallas, TX – 2009-2016
• Executive Director – Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL – 2016-2019
• Podcast Co-Host/Chief Historian - American POTUS, American SCOTUS
• Executive Director – American Museum of Science and Energy, and The K-25 History Center, Oak Ridge, TN – 2019-present

Other Positions, Appointments, and Awards

• Survey Participant - C-Span Presidential Historian Survey - 2021
• President – William Blount Mansion Association – 2007-2008
• President – Association of Centers for the Study of Congress – 2008-2009
• Majority Leader’s Appointee – Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress – 2003-2006
• Commissioner – Illinois Bicentennial Commission 
• Trustee – Lincoln Academy
• Hall of Fame - University of Kentucky Alumni, 2021
• Board member – William Blount Mansion Association; Association of Centers for the Study of Congress; WUOT; East Tennessee Economic Council; SMU Libraries; Central Illinois Food Bank; Illinois Association of Museums; Illinois Humanities; Childhelp Tennessee.
• Advisory Committee member – University of Kentucky Department of History; University of Kentucky Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues; University of Tennessee Honors Program; Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center; SMU Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility;  Organization Committee on NARA’s Transformation Launch Team.
• Ad Hoc Committee member – Downtown Oak Ridge Development
• Graduate - Leadership Knoxville 2007
• Member - Leadership Knoxville Curriculum Committee 2007-2009
• Leadership Oak Ridge – class of 2022
• East Tennessee Regional Leadership Association class of 2023
• Adjunct faculty – SMU Cultural Institute in Taos, New Mexico; Brookhaven College (Dallas Community College System)
• Public Service Award by Federal Executive Board – 2014
• US Army War College Graduate, 53rd Annual National Security Seminar – 2007
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Robert Lunde Award from Phi Alpha Theta
• Consultant work for Senate Majority Leader William Frist; Senator Robert Corker; Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library; National Museum of American Presidents; University of South Carolina.
• BA – University of Kentucky – 1986 – History with minor in Political Science
• MA – University of Kentucky – 1988 - History