I grew up as a Navy brat — mostly Virginia and Pennsylvania, with deep family roots in the upper northeast corner of the state. After studying Communication Arts and Broadcasting in Ohio, I marriage my college sweetheart and we moved to the desert of Arizona.

My wife Naomi grew up in the Amazon but has Pacific Northwest heritage. We started a family in Phoenix — and then spent the better part of the next decade and a half living and working in the Philippines, Malawi, and Mozambique, doing hands-on international development and missions work.

Our kids were born on three continents. We learned what it means to lead a team with limited resources, communicate across cultures, and keep showing up when the well runs dry — sometimes quite literally. (We once spent our final weeks in Mozambique hauling swamp water by bucket just to keep the laundry going. You learn a lot about priorities in moments like that.)

We returned to the U.S. in 2016 and landed in Portland, Oregon. That chapter reshaped everything about how I work — my patience, my resourcefulness, my ability to stay steady when things get complicated. I wouldn't trade a day of it.

My passion for storytelling through media started long before Cowley Visuals. I've been producing video since 1992. In Africa, I founded Ajambule Media — "ajambule" means "take a picture" in the language of Ciyawo — which became my early effort to document life, culture, and the human stories around me. That work led to documenting life, love, loss and largely local efforts to improve the world around me. As my calling and understanding grew, I embarked on a Masters of Arts in Digital Storytelling study program that led to an ongoing documentary project called Sick in Africa.

But it was the organizational work — managing teams, navigating logistics, building communications from scratch in remote places with no template to follow — that rounded out who I am professionally.

Once in Portland, I built Cowley Visuals LLC to bring all of that together: media production, communications, and the operational know-how to help organizations actually function well. Today I work with nonprofits, churches, ministries, and mission-driven small businesses who need a skilled, trustworthy partner — whether that's producing a documentary film, managing their communications, or stepping in as a fractional leader to take things off their plate.

A significant part of my client base is faith-based — Christian nonprofits, churches, missions agencies, refugee resettlement ministries, international NGOs. That's not accidental. I've lived and worked inside that world for most of my adult life. I know its rhythms, its culture, its budget pressures, and the way it holds together through relationships more than systems.

I approach every engagement as more than a transaction. When you trust me with your organization's story or your operations, I take that seriously. Whether or not we share the same faith background, you can count on me to show up with that kind of care — and to stay honest with you when something isn't working.

I'm married to my best friend. Naomi is remarkable — equal parts grounded and adventurous, the kind of person who (intentionally and nearly singlehandedly) educates all four of our kids with curriculums steeped in classic literature. Mika, Emily, Gabe, and Tessa have grown up on multiple continents and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

When I'm not working, I'm outside. Trail running, biking, hiking, kayaking, paddle boarding, adventure racing… chasing the kind of landscapes that remind you the world is bigger than your inbox. The Pacific Northwest is picture postcard perfect for these kinds of things!

I'm also genuinely outgoing. I love meeting people, hearing about their work, and connecting folks who should know each other. If you ever want to just grab coffee and think out loud about what your organization is navigating, I mean it when I say: I'm in.