My family is my greatest joy and priority. But serving my country in battle and the Carmel community in peace are among my proudest accomplishments.
Growing Up
Tony grew up in northwestern Ohio, where his mother was an elementary public school teacher and his father was a public high school English teacher and coach of various high school sports.
At the end of high school, he left home to attend the United States Air Force Academy. After graduating from the Academy, Tony entered the United States Air Force, graduated from Pilot Training, and spent most of his eleven years on active duty as a pilot. He left the active duty Air Force in 2000 to enter law school, and eventually moved his family to Carmel in 2004.
Family
Tony is married with three children – a daughter who is a life skills specialist and finishing up her Masters’ Degree in Mental Health Counseling, a son who recently graduated from Indiana University and is serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force, and a daughter at Carmel High School. Tony has been very active in the community having been a Carmel Dad’s Club Basketball Commissioner and coach of all of his children’s basketball teams in the CDC and CYO leagues at one time or another.
Professional Life
Tony currently serves as Deputy Executive Director for the Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS) having previously served as the INPRS’s Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. Prior to serving in his current capacity, Tony practiced law as an attorney for Barnes and Thornburg, LLP. In addition to his duties at INPRS, Tony is an adjunct Professor of Law at Indiana University Law School at Indianapolis where he teaches courses on Military Law, National Security and Foreign Policy, and Counterterrorism.
Military Service
Tony’s public service career also includes an extensive military background with the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Indiana Air Guard as a Judge Advocate, an instructor pilot, and an aircraft commander, among several posts he has held.
He currently holds the rank of Colonel and is the State Judge Advocate for the Indiana Air Guard. During his service history, Tony received five air medals for combat and combat support missions and twenty-one military decorations and awards while serving on eight deployments flying combat and combat support missions.
His last deployment occurred when Tony was activated while in law school. For over a year, he flew 33 combat missions into Afghanistan.
One of Tony’s air medals was awarded to him in 1997 for a heroic life-saving act after saving an aircraft and eight lives. He was also honored for the heroic act by being the 1998 Air Mobility Command’s Nominee for the Mackay Trophy (Outstanding Aerial Achievement by Air Force member) and the Jabara Award (Outstanding Aerial Achievement by Academy Graduate).