Father· Veteran· Leader
I'm Teddy Galloway. I'm a man of faith first. Without God, none of this exists. My relationship with God is the foundation everything else stands on.
My family, my children, and my community mean everything to me. I served in the United States Marine Corps, and the lessons from that experience never left me: show up, hold the line, take care of your people.
I build things. I lead from the front. And I stay in fights that matter, even the ones nobody's watching.
Love and Family
Being a father is the most important thing I do. I have two sons, and everything I build is ultimately for them and the world they'll inherit. Fatherhood sharpened my purpose. It taught me what leadership really means: showing up every single day, not when it's convenient, not when it's noticed. Every day.
I owe more than I can express to my own parents. They were remarkable to me. They raised me with discipline, love, and a deep sense of values.
I have an early memory of Haines Point: just me, my mom, my dad, and my little brother when he was still a baby, watching airplanes fly overhead. Years later, I was playing flag football at that same spot in Alexandria, and the memory came rushing back. Those moments stay with you.
My mom used to tell me I remind her of my dad. Those early years had a huge impact on me. I learned what to do from my parents. I learned what not to do. And I learned forgiveness, grace, peace, and love. They gave me the foundation everything else stands on.
The people around me growing up were equally remarkable. My teachers gave me a safe place to indulge my curiosities. I was reading Thoreau at twelve, devouring philosophy, asking questions most adults wouldn't entertain. That environment shaped who I became.
Coming of Age
I grew up playing football. I loved the game, and I was good at it. By senior year, the plan was set. Play in college, earn a scholarship, see where it takes me. That was the trajectory, and I was all in.
Then September 11th happened.
I was in my morning class. We watched the towers get hit on the television, and the room went quiet. We were eighteen. Our football game that week got canceled. Even the next week, nothing felt right. At that age, you can feel the shift of times even when you can't fully name it. Something had changed permanently, and we all knew it.
I couldn't fathom playing college football when the world had just changed overnight. The country was at war, and I knew I had something to offer beyond the field. So I set football aside and joined the United States Marine Corps right after graduation.
I was the guide at Marine Combat Training School and at my Chemical Biological school. I was assigned to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF), inspired by their response to the anthrax attacks. I became one of the responders to the ricin incident in 2004 and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
I served on active duty, then transitioned to the Reserves, where I was recalled to the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion. In total, I served from 2002 to 2010.
The Corps taught me everything that matters about leadership: eat last, speak last, hold the standard, especially when no one is watching. Those lessons never left me.
Life of Service
After the Marine Corps, I spent years in government contracting focused on national security and WMD defense. I worked at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and JPEO-CBD, training military and civilian personnel on chemical and biological threat response. I traveled to Bahrain and Jordan to train military and police on the ground.
I'm a certified HAZMAT Train the Trainer (TTT) with CBRN defense certifications and over twenty years of training experience. The work was demanding, often classified, and always consequential. It shaped how I think about risk and what it really means to protect people.
The Work Right Now
Today, I manage the training strategy at Oracle for the VA's Electronic Health Record Modernization Program, one of the largest federal IT initiatives in the country. It connects everything I've built my career around: training, organizational development, and moving large systems forward.
I also run two businesses. Visionary Productions develops digital content for entrepreneurs and business owners. Visionary Solutions is an organizational development and IT consulting firm. I've been building businesses alongside my career for years, hustling through restaurant jobs and full-time positions while in school and serving. That work ethic never left.
A Life Well Traveled
Travel shaped who I am. My first trip abroad was Germany: winter, the culture, the architecture, the weight of a place that carries so much history. That trip lit something in me that never went out.
I lived in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for three years, working in international relations and knowledge management. Those years in the Middle East deepened my understanding of faith, culture, and the bonds that connect people across vastly different worlds.
Paris holds a special place in my heart. I finished my degree at George Mason during a month-long trip there. But Paris kept calling me back. I spent multiple New Year's Eves under the Eiffel Tower, watching the lights cascade down at midnight. That stays with you.
I visited Normandy, where I attended a Renaissance fair in a real castle setting. Not a parking lot with costumes. You could feel the history in the ground beneath your feet.
I've also traveled to Istanbul, Finland, the UK, Amsterdam, Canada, and Mexico. I've driven across the entire United States. Every place taught me something about people and what connects us across borders.
Personal and Professional Education
I hold a B.A. in Global Affairs and International Relations from George Mason University, with a focus on the Middle East and comparative religion. Those interests weren't just academic. They led me to organize Christian-Muslim dialogue groups and interfaith conversations in the D.C. area.
I'm certified in SAFe 5 Program Consulting, Agile, and Prosci Change Management. But credentials are just proof of what you've studied. What matters more is staying curious and sharing what you've found.
Community Engagement
I founded Frederick Civic Works, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings people together across generations to solve problems that matter. Through programs like the Future Civic Leaders Program, Fred Talks, Civic Lessons and Brews, and Civics University, we develop the next generation of community leaders.
I also serve as Board President of SafeRide Foundation, preventing drunk driving in Frederick County since 2015. I sit on the boards of Keep Still Cares, the Community Veterans Engagement Board, and the Programs Committee for Amplified Change.
This work didn't start in Frederick. In the D.C. area, I ran meetup groups, led a flag football team called the X-Men in Alexandria, and organized interfaith dialogue conversations. Building community has been at the center of everything I do. It's not a chapter of my life. It's the throughline.
Civic Engagement and Politics
In 2016, I ran for U.S. Congress in Maryland's 6th Congressional District. I didn't win the seat, but I gained something more lasting: a real education in grassroots organizing and what it takes to move people toward a shared vision.
Today, I serve as a Board Member of the Maryland Forward Party and founded the Frederick Forward Club. I intend to run for office again because I believe public service is exactly that. Service. Not Left. Not Right. Forward. Together.
Sometimes I Write
In 2015, I published You Are A Diamond, a personal development guide rooted in my life experiences, faith, and leadership philosophy. The book is currently being rewritten and expanded.
I write regularly on Substack about philosophy, civics, leadership, and faith. Writing is how I process the world. If even one person reads something I wrote and sees their situation differently, that's enough.
What Drives Me
At the center of everything is God. Not religion as an institution. My personal, daily relationship with God. That's why I get up in the morning. It's why I serve. It's why I build things that outlast me. I believe I was put here for a purpose, and I believe the clock is running. Not panic. Purpose.
I feel a deep need to sacrifice. Not in a way that diminishes, but in the way that fills. To give my time, my energy, my presence to the people and work that need it most. I answer to God and I answer to my children, and both deserve my best.
The love that drives me isn't romantic love, though I value that too. It's agape. A love for the innocence in the people of the world. The children playing and chasing each other in the streets. The smell of ocean air. The hum of electricity from all the people in a beautiful town. The warm breeze that comes off a San Diego evening, or the first snowfall when it's just brisk enough. Your first kiss after a first date and it's a perfect night. That feeling. That is the love I'm talking about. A daily, conscious gratitude for the life I've been given, the people in it, and the chance to do something meaningful with the time I have.
I love my children. I love motorcycles and long rides that clear my head. I love reading, philosophy, deep conversations about the ideas that shape the world. But above all of it is the simple belief that we're here to serve, to love well, and to leave the world better than we found it.
That's what drives me. That's what all of this is for.