Download my full resume (2023)

early

Born in Berkeley, California, in 1967. Dad worked at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the field of nuclear physics, and Mom was a teacher and later member of the school board.

When I was 5 years old, the family moved to Maryland so Dad could work at the National Bureau of Standards. Living in Maryland also gave us close contact with our family in Virginia and allowed us to visit the “Bowman Homestead” in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia regularly. I grew up picking apples, feeding cattle, and assisting with the innumerable farm chores.

I joined the elementary school band in the fourth grade and learned to play the trumpet. This was a start that eventually became a real passion. In my college years, I began learning to play classical guitar, and by my mid-20s, I was performing regularly.

Just prior to entering high school, the family moved again, this time to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where Dad was the lead on a project to design a new nuclear facility for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos was a good place to spend my early teen years. After graduating from high school, I attained a bachelor’s degree in an education field from the University of New Mexico. I had explored a degree in computer science, and then in clinical psychology, but the education system finally won out.

teaching and public education

For the next 8 years, I was a teacher for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (now the Bureau of Indian Education) at a boarding school near Gallup, New Mexico. Subjects included English Language Arts, Communications, Basic Technology Skills, and Guitar. I assisted in developing an evening study hall for math and science. I loved being a teacher, but I also began to explore larger education initiatives. I designed and directed a regional teacher mentoring program for the Eastern Navajo Agency and helped write and direct a federal technology project at the school.

Through my work in education technology, I worked on a state committee to design technology competencies for teachers and then became a member of the New Mexico Council on Technology in Education, which had just been created. Work on the NMCTE introduced me to a variety of education leaders in the state, and I was asked to join the Bureau of Educational Technology at the Public Education Department. That office became a part of Office of Curriculum and Instruction (as it should be), and I was involved in re-developing the state content standards. After several years, I became the state director Advanced Placement, director of the first New Mexico Virtual School, and acting director of the Instructional Material Bureau. I also completed my first Master’s degree, in English, while at the department.

the for-profit years

The Public Education Department was undergoing a major transformation, and I left to pursue other options, importantly the design and leadership of a large-scale after school intervention program in reading and mathematics for a private consulting company. After 4 or 5 years, the company owners dissolved the company, and I left to start my own private business in document editing and communications. I also instructed classes for the University of New Mexico and provided contracted education services, including teacher professional development, federal project design, grant-writing, and evaluation (including 2.5 years serving as the evaluator for a large, multi-agency education project in central Alaska).

For the next 12 years or so, I was fully self-employed, and I loved it. I had one employee, and I seemed to work non-stop, but the work was satisfying and valuable. During this time, I received my Executive Master’s of Business Administration.

I began services as the evaluator for a major federal award assisting students in central Alaska, which was one of the most interesting experiences in my career. I spent a lot of time in rural tribal villages and ate a lot of dried salmon.

I published my first books during these years: writing guides and resources for a variety of audiences. I also began making jewelry, mostly to give myself a “brain break” from the intense work building my company and serving clients. I still make jewelry and have won first place at the New Mexico State Fair for eight years in a row.

the non-profit years

Eventually, my contract work led me to provide services for the Three Rivers Education Foundation, and when a position became open, I was offered the position. One thing led to another, and the Board of Directors appointed me as the Executive Director in 2012.

Our work at the Foundation was deeply satisfying. We designed and directed several large-scale education initiatives, worked with some of the best people I have known, and improved outcomes for teachers and students across four states. We have helped teachers receive administrator licenses, provided counseling services to elementary children, developed special education specialists, enhanced students’ health and fitness, worked with communities to offer G.E.D. coursework and university placement for migrant farm workers, and helped more than 80,000 students improve their reading skills.

Drawing from our work in the Foundation’s literacy initiative and my broad background in reading instruction, I wrote Roadmap for Reading Instruction to help teachers understand what reading research looks like in practice and what they can do to improve reading instruction. I am in the midst of creating a teachers’ workbook to accompany Roadmap.

While at the Foundation, I served for 1.5 years as the Executive Director for the International Mentoring Association. This was a new world for me, and it was very exciting to work with forward thinking leaders from a variety of organizations. Among other accomplishments, we doubled the size of the membership through initiating a variety of membership benefits, including a monthly newsletter featuring practical advice, a publishing branch, and an accreditation process for mentoring programs and consultants.

With several major Foundation projects either coming to a close or reaching the “maintenance” phase, I resigned from the Foundation to assist school districts with setting up their local community literacy projects.

After leaving the Foundation, I accepted a position to assist a school district to start up a district-wide literacy initiative funded by the New Mexico Public Education Department. After about 6 months, when staffing issues at the NM PED seriously disrupted the success of the program, I left that position early in 2019 to pursue a teacher placement service full time.

I also served as the evaluator for a federally funded large-scale reading intervention program and a federally funded program to assist rural and migrant workers receive their high school graduation credentials. (This evaluation service continues to today.)

But one thing led to another…

In 2019, a group of school districts petitioned the state to re-open Regional Education Cooperative # 1 (REC-1), an independent education service agency that helped districts meet specific needs as well as assist in implementing state-level initiatives in the region. I was asked to take the position of executive director for the REC and get it functioning again, start bringing critical education programs and professional development to the districts, and assist in navigating NM PED directives and programs.

We started the REC by implementing a career readiness program, and soon started two new projects: a Kellogg Foundation-funded project to develop a K-12 dual language program for Navajo students, and a computer science project to create after school coding clubs for middle school students. Since then, I have served as the director additional Kellogg Foundation awards, one medium federal grant and one large federal research grant, as well as a host of other projects on behalf of the State of New Mexico and our member districts.

Along the way, I took and passed the state test to get my reading endorsement, which adds to endorsements in language arts, business education, and technology education.

other businesses

Along with my work at the Foundation, I was part owner of Thermal Imaging of the Southwest, which provided medical diagnostic imaging services, and part owner of Total Teaching Solutions International, which brings international teachers to high-need school districts with teacher shortages. I was also a “silent partner” in Accelerated Driven Neutron Applications, and assist with reactor design and operational processes as the company develops new techniques to produce bio-diesel fuels.

personal life

On April 29, 2019, I married Geralyn Francisco, and we set up a home together. She had a teenage daughter, Sheryne, from a long-past relationship, who came to live with us in late 2019. Sheryne, for all intents and purposes, became my daughter, and I was very happy to take on the role and relationship as father to her. The three of us made a happy family, which was made larger and happier when Geralyn gave birth to our son, Josephus, in April 2020. In 2024, I adopted Sheryne to make legal the relationship we had in practice. I could not be prouder of my two children or more in love with my wife.

upcoming years

Eventually, I will likely return to the family place in Virginia (where all the Bowman men seem to end up upon retiring).

Mid-term goal: Finally get my PhD in curriculum and instruction. With my interests and experience in education research, I may also seek a position as an education researcher for one of the national education laboratories.