No Room for Fear

David was already beginning to feel the familiar signs of unease before giving his presentation to forty pastors and laymen from around the world at a Risk Management Conference for the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.  Shy by nature, he always felt anxious when asked to speak in front of a room full of people, but he had gotten in the habit of reminding himself he had done it hundreds of times, whether in running a board meeting, speaking at a town hall meeting, or reporting financials to his staff.

Just before he was to start speaking, however, he was informed that several other sessions that afternoon had been cancelled, so instead of speaking to forty people, he would be speaking to 500.  “Twenty years ago, I would have been scared to death.  I don’t know if I could have done it,” he says.  “I’m more comfortable now, probably because I have to do it all the time, but that day was the hardest by far.  I had a difficult time managing that stressful situation internally, but I didn’t let my fear take over.  Instead, I grew from it.”

At that time, David had been the Director of Human Resources at Washington Adventist Church for just under two years, so he was still finding his stride within his new leadership role.  Now the Chief Operating Officer of Lerch, Early, & Brewer, a commercial law firm based in Bethesda that represents entities of all sizes and practices around Washington D.C. and Montgomery County, he’s not only hit that stride, but truly taken off.

Because he is essentially responsible for keeping the distinguished firm on a thriving trajectory, David’s introverted nature has become more of an afterthought than a roadblock.  “I think my shyness defines me in terms of how I approach my work, but it certainly does not limit me,” he says.  “I’m grateful my position forces me to be out of my comfort zone all the time.  It’s all about the bigger picture; running a business is really a lot like sports.  You’re working with a group of people towards a common goal, so everyone has a role and a pattern to run to get the ball to advance.  If you let your own fears hold you back, you hold everyone else back.”

In alignment with David’s perspective, Lerch, Early, & Brewer was built on the same foundation of teamwork towards a common goal.  When Henry Wallis and Harry Lerch founded the firm in 1950, they created a unique culture of ease and practicality, such that even today, everyone is on a first-name basis, and clients can reach their attorneys directly, rather than having to navigate a cumbersome switchboard.  “We operate through team effort when solving problems, and in everything we do,” David affirms.  “It’s better than one individual working alone, and it distinguishes us from our competition. “

The firm’s main focus today is servicing the needs of businesses and business owners in the areas of family law, estates, trust administration, and some executives.  They have a large litigation practice, and most recently, they have a growing white-collar criminal practice that deals with Medicare fraud issues.  While the firm has grown exponentially over the past decades, they have adopted a trend more commonly seen in larger firms, in which non-attorney professionals like David manage the practice like a business.  “From this perspective, the lawyers can do what they do best and practice law, while the non-attorney professionals can keep the train running and the books balanced,” David explains.  “Attorneys are very skeptical people; they want to see the numbers and data before agreeing to anything, or they feel like they’re having the wool pulled over their eyes.  Fortunately, they really trust the CFO and me, so I find it to be a great system.”

David’s team mentality, which has led him to success so often in the business world, actually stems from a love of sports cultivated from an early age as a natural result of having two older brothers.  “I was big for my age, so I would tag along with them to play football, baseball, or whatever was going on that day,” he says.  “I could only play if I could keep up, so I developed a competitive edge right away.”

David was born in New Hampshire, where his father, a minister, ran three churches: two within the state, and one in Vermont.  When he was five years old, the family moved to Northern Ohio, just outside of Canton.  “Back in those days, ministers moved around quite frequently,” he explains.  “My father would get a calling to a new church every three to five years, and he would decide if he wanted to go.”  After seven years, they moved to Monroe, Ohio, a small town north of Cincinnati, where David spent his formative years becoming an avid Cincinnati Reds fan.  “I would listen to the Reds games every day on the radio after school,” he recalls.  “My school had a program where A-students got free tickets to the games, so I went from being a B or C student to straight A’s because I had suddenly had a reason.”

His love for baseball continued even when the family moved to Mount Vernon in Central Ohio for his final three years of high school.  “It was a nice place to live, but I realized the small town life wasn’t for me,” he says.  Part of this realization came from observing the connection between labor-intensive jobs and the small-town environment.  David attended a private boarding school, and while he was a day-student, the class schedule was set up so that students could work in the afternoons, so to make extra pocket change, he cut grass, drove laundry trucks, worked construction, and cleaned his father’s church.  “Those jobs really taught me the value of money,” he says.  “There was something enticing about the ability to go buy baseball cards with my earnings, so I took every opportunity I could to make extra money.”

While he had no complaints working labor-intensive jobs as a teenager, David aspired to work a job that utilized his analytical skills, even though he wasn’t quite sure what that might be.  Neither of his older brothers went to college, and while his father had started school, his calling to the ministry pulled him away before he could finish.  Many of his counterparts finished college, however, so David saw through their career paths that college would be the appropriate next step for him.

While he had little direction from his family about which college to attend, he was heavily recruited by Seventh-Day Adventist Colleges affiliated with his religious private school.  He received invitations for visits and interviews from local schools in Ohio as well, but he ultimately decided to continue on with his religion and attend one of the three most popular Adventist schools reaching out to him: Andrews University in Michigan, Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, and Columbia Union College in the suburbs of D.C.  “Most of my friends were going to Andrews or Southern, but I wanted to break away from the path I was on, so I needed something different,” he says.  “I was really intrigued by the D.C. area as well, so I picked Columbia Union.”

He began college in 1981, taking mostly general courses initially with a slight lean toward accounting.  After realizing that his childhood dreams of becoming a professional football or baseball player might not become a reality, he considered taking computer classes, since his brother had gone to trade school for computer programming and it seemed like a field rife with future opportunity.  He also considered the financial track since he was a strong math student, and his introverted nature made him adverse to public speaking, so he was unsure of a career in management.

During his freshman year, David was hired in the school’s bookstore, where he was formally introduced to the art and science of running a business.  “I was involved in ordering books and book buyback at the end of the year, as well as displaying supplies and marketing strategies,” he says.  “They taught me about natural mark-ups for profitability, so I had a huge lesson in retail essentially laid in my lap.”  During his time at the bookstore, personal laptop computers started to escalate in popularity, so the store’s manager decided to offer them for a significantly discounted price.  “With that philosophy, we picked up tremendous clients, including businesses, since they would come to us for our cheap prices over anyone else,” he says.  “During that period, I was averaging $100 thousand in sales each month, and since we kept a part of what we sold, I was making more than some of my professors.”

As soon as the administration learned of what was happening in the bookstore, they cut the program entirely.  David took that as his cue to find a new job on campus, so be began working as a student accountant while also serving as the RA to his dorm.  He was motivated to have his own spending money, but more so, he was paying for his tuition single-handedly, so between classes, baseball, and dating, he always made time to work, even if it meant selling microwavable burritos in his dorm’s late-night snack shop.

David only had nine credits to fill during his senior year, so he spent the majority of that time at his accounting job.  He enjoyed tax work, as well as the problem-solving strategies used in auditing, so he thought he might enjoy becoming a CPA.  He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Management and an Associate’s in accounting, but by that time, he was ready for a change.  “I can keep books, but it gets boring for me,” he explains.  “After one cycle, there are no more new challenges.  I didn’t want routine in my career, I need a lot of variety in my life and constant new challenges.”

Shortly before graduation, while David was involved in a softball game with another school, Andy Seidel, the Director of Human Resources at Washington Adventist Hospital, approached him with an opportunity for an entry-level HR candidate.  David accepted and worked in his entry-level position for four years, learning as much as he could about Human Resources, from recruitment to benefits and compensation.

When Andy left at the end of the four years, the hospital went through four massive reconstructions, which included many layoffs, so David began taking on new responsibilities at a rapid pace.  “What I really liked about HR was that every day was different.  Every person had a different problem that called for us to develop a unique set of solutions,” he says.  “I utilized my math skills when working with benefits and my sales skills for recruitment, and I developed my communication skills by leading an orientation every month for new employees.”

The department went through a series of active directors over several years until David was promoted to the position.  “I was suddenly the leader of a 1,500-employee facility, so my learning curve hugely escalated,” he says.  Fortunately, the Vice President at the time mentored him as he quickly took on more and more responsibility, so that in a short period, he went from Director to Chief Human Resources Officer and eventually to Vice President of Adventist HealthCare.  “It was a lot to take on at first,” he says.  “I’m the type of person that wants to be liked, but when you’re in a leadership position, you’re not going to be liked by everyone all the time, so you need to have conviction that what you’re doing is in the best interest of everyone, including the business.”

During his fifteen years in Human Resources, David had to close down a hospital, place 450 employees, and oversee a merger between Washington Adventist Hospital and Shady Grove Hospital.  “We merged all the benefits and policies between the two hospitals and remodeled the HR system under my tenure,” he explains.  “It was a wonderful experience for me because I was given a lot of latitude and support to do the things I thought we needed to do to accomplish the goals of the organization.”

In the wake of the merger, David was selected to implement a cost reduction initiative, which would measure the activity of the hospitals to analyze how they could streamline their processes for efficiency.  Although the program seemed very promising at its conception, it ended up failing when the CEO and CFO left and essentially deflated the project’s momentum.  The new leadership rewrote the project to focus on streamlining operational strategies between the two hospitals; however, it ended up attracting negative attention that questioned the quality of care being offered.  “We were able to defend ourselves, but once you get a bad reputation, it just snowballs out of control,” he explains.  “So we had to return to having separate presidents at the two hospitals, as well as frequent joint commission reviews, which can be very stressful.”

Over a three year period, David went through five reviews, all of which were extremely intense and caused him to begin feeling burned out in his role.  He and his wife had two young daughters at home, which made it even more difficult for him to spend fourteen-hour days at the hospital for six days a week.  “One day, I confided in a close friend that I really needed to try something else, because the hospital was taking its toll on me,” he says.

That friend decided to reach out to Robbie Brewer, a Principal Attorney at Lerch, Early & Brewer.  The hospital had worked closely with the law firm for years, so they were already familiar with David when his friend suggested they look into taking him on.  “I’d worked closely with the firm since I was 26 years old, and Rick Vernon had been my attorney, so we already had a strong relationship when this conversation was put on the table,” David says.

When the firm approached David, he jumped on the opportunity immediately.  “It sounded like interesting work that would continue to challenge me,” he says. “I also knew I enjoyed the people working there very much, so the rest was history.”  In May of 2001, David became the firm’s first COO, which has since doubled in size.  “The founders wanted the company to grow naturally by providing services to clients, and they recognized that to do so in an efficient and effective manner, they needed outside perspectives, which I was able to provide.”

Shortly after starting with the firm, David’s father-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of sixty.  “He seemed to be in perfect health,” David recalls.  “He had played tennis all that morning and was working on an extension on their house when it happened, so I realized that if that sort of thing could happen to him, I should get a physical.”

David went for a check-up shortly after his fortieth birthday, and to his shock, was diagnosed with a Mitral Valve Prolapse, a condition that would require open-heart surgery.  “I was completely taken aback, especially since my family had a strong record of longevity,” he says.  “I had the surgery two years later at the Cleveland Clinic, and it was one of the scariest moments of my life.  It was something I couldn’t beat or run away from—I just had to accept it and hope everything turned out alright.”

Fortunately, the surgery went well, and David made a full recovery, so that all that remains from his surgery is a mug from the Cleveland Clinic.  “I keep it in my office to remind me that every day is precious; every day is a gift I’ve been given back,” he remarks.  “I truly want to cherish every moment.”

While he is thankful for each day since his surgery, he is especially grateful for the time he can spend with his wife, Connie, and their two daughters.  The couple met in college and was married before Connie, who is two years younger, received her Bachelor’s.  She is a nurse who has worked in various roles at Washington Adventist Hospital, as well is currently at the American College of Cardiology, where she works as a consultant administering a registry to track the results of certain procedures so that hospitals can improve the quality of their service.  “She’s a vivacious, outgoing, fun-loving person, and exactly the opposite of me in that she’s extremely extroverted and always the center of attention,” he laughs.  “She drags me along to things I wouldn’t ordinarily do, but I always love it, because I love meeting new people.  She pushes me and really encourages me to challenge myself, which I’m very grateful for.”

His two daughters are currently 20 and 22 years old, both working towards careers in pharmacy and physical therapy, respectively.  As his own children enter their adulthood, and with it the business world, he offers them the same advice he would offer to all young people starting out.  “You are going to be judged on your character and on your work ethic, and if you stand out in those two things, you will do well at whatever you do,” he says.  “I’ve found through my career that those in a position of power always noticed when I worked hard, and with that came greater responsibility and compensation.  There’s an attitude circulating these days that if you are paid well, you will work hard, but that’s backwards.  Don’t focus on what you want, but what you’re doing, and do it well.”

David has found that he is the type of person that thrives from being involved in as much as he can, so when he’s not at work, he sits on the Board of Directors of Leadership Montgomery, where he served as Assistant Treasurer in 2011 and Vice President and Treasurer in 2012.  He also sits on the Board of Directors of Rebuilding Together Montgomery County in 2012 and has held high roles within his church’s infrastructure, where he remains an active member.  “I really feel that the greatest recognition I can receive is being elected to a leadership position,” he says.  “That indicates I have a skill that adds value to whatever it is I’m doing, which is important to me.”

At the end of the day, David’s story has coursed with such a strong pulse not in spite of his obstacles, but because of them.  “I have a horrible fear of heights, but my brother and sister-in-law gave my wife and me a hot air balloon ride for my fiftieth birthday,” he says.  “It was one of the scariest activities I’ve ever done, but my wife loved it, and I didn’t want to hold her, or myself, back because of fear.  Life isn’t about that—it’s about pushing through that fear to go beyond yourself.”  Whether it is sports or business, family life or a personal journey, pushing through obstacles and leaving no room for fear is a sure route to lifelong evolution, and lifelong success.

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