Prior to his appointment as District Director for Louisiana, Mr. Ricks has served as District Director in Alabama for 4 years. Prior to his appointment with the Small Business Administration, Mr. Ricks served as Program Manager for Advanced Technology and Production Readiness projects for the United States Marine Corps in Washington DC. In addition, Mr. Ricks served as a Defense Acquisition Officer in early Program Concept Development for the Army Infantry Center at Ft. Benning, GA. Mr. Ricks is a former Small Business Entrepreneur and operated a software development, business process and information systems consulting business in Central Florida for three years. Mr. Ricks is a former infantry officer and served on active duty and in the reserves on numerous overseas combat and hazardous duty deployments. Mr. Ricks was medically retired from active service and is a life member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Mr. Ricks received his Bachelors Degree from the University of Houston in Technology, a graduate degree in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, CA, and an MBA from Troy University in Troy AL. Mr. Ricks was born and grew up in New Orleans, LA where much of his extended family still resides.