Meet Jack

Leadership Executive Coach

Howdy, let me tell you about me...I am a husband, a girl dad, a grandfather, a Fightin' Texas Aggie, a follower of Jesus, and a leader who is still learning what it means to lead well. Joni and I have been married for almost 30 years. She is better than I am, and she makes me better. I am a girl dad through and through, and now I have a granddaughter who is one of the great joys of my life—and proof there is a reward for raising your kids without killing them.

I grew up in a small farm and ranch community in the Texas Panhandle, where I learned both the value of hard work and how to work hard. Small-town life also taught me to figure things out. When something breaks, somebody has to fix it. When there's work to be done, somebody has to do it.

After graduating from Texas A&M University, Class of '94, I eventually landed at Frito-Lay. I started at the bottom—slinging chips onto store shelves. I moved into the operation side of the organization and transportation leadership, eventually managing a vital transportation center within the Frito-Lay supply chain. Later, I spent three years traveling the country leading change management for a major supply-chain initiative, working alongside local leaders to implement change and create buy-in.

Then God changed the direction of our lives.

After several short-term trips to East Asia, Joni and I believed the Lord was calling our family into full-time overseas ministry. With daughters who were four and seven, we sold nearly everything, packed 13 Action Packers, and moved to East Asia.

For six years, we learned language and culture, shared our faith, hosted and led teams, mentored others, and learned what it meant to live and lead in a place where almost everything familiar had been stripped away.

Eventually, God led us back to the United States and to Southcrest Baptist Church, where I have served for more than a decade, most of that time as Executive Pastor of Operations and Ministry Services.

Southcrest had grown significantly, but many of its structures and systems had not grown with it. Ministries operated in silos, responsibilities weren't always clear, and good people were spending time doing things outside their strengths. We changed that.

Along the way, I've learned a lot. And I've gotten plenty wrong.

Twenty years ago, I was more likely to walk into the room believing I already had the answer. Experience has taught me to listen longer, ask better questions, and recognize that sometimes the best idea in the room isn't mine!

I'm still learning. And that is one of the reasons I coach.

My Life

What Jack Brings to the Table

Experience

I don't coach leadership because I've figured leadership out.

I coach because I've spent decades practicing it.

I've led in corporate America, operations, organizational change, cross-cultural ministry, and executive church leadership. I've built teams and systems, led through growth and uncertainty, made difficult decisions, made some wrong ones, and learned from both.

The Lord has allowed me to develop skills and experience that not everyone gets the opportunity to develop. I believe part of my responsibility is to use those experiences to help other leaders.

I understand the struggle of leadership because I'm still in the fight myself.

And I don't believe leaders need another person standing on the sidelines telling them how easy it should be.

Sometimes they need someone in their corner who understands how hard it actually is.

Clarity & Empowerment

Bad leadership bothers me because bad leadership ultimately impacts the people being led.

Sometimes it looks like micromanagement—a leader controlling every decision and suffocating the people around them.

Sometimes it's the opposite. The leader is absent, nobody knows what they're responsible for, and nobody knows what winning even looks like.

Neither is leadership.

People need clarity. They need to understand their role, their responsibilities, and the guardrails within which they can operate. They need to understand the mission and why their contribution matters.

Then they need to be trusted to do their job.

Leadership isn't proving you're the smartest person in the room.

It's creating an environment where good people can do great work—and having enough humility to recognize when someone else's idea is better than yours.

Perspective

Several years ago, I chose one word for the year: BETTER.

It stuck.

I believe we should work every day to get better—and we should work to make the people around us better.

That's what I want coaching with me to accomplish.

I'm not interested in giving you warm fuzzies. I want you to leave encouraged in the struggle of leadership, but also challenged to go do something about it.

We'll talk honestly. We'll ask hard questions. We'll identify things that need to change. We'll find practical tools that work in your context. And then I'll expect you to do the work.

I'm looking for leaders who are still hungry to learn. Leaders who know they don't have everything figured out. High achievers who may have lost a little edge, momentum, or clarity and want someone alongside them as they find it again.

My goal isn't for you to finish coaching thinking, Jack had all the answers.

I want you to know that you weren't alone in the fight—and leave better equipped to lead the people who are counting on you.

Because ultimately, this isn't just about making you better.

Better leaders make other people better.

Ready to cultivate your presence?

Book a Discovery Call