Career Profiles
In weighing and determining potential majors as an incoming student at Messiah, Kevin fused his interests and passions with his prayer life. “I thought about what I was interested in, what I really enjoyed reading, studying, and thinking about,” he says. “The first step is thinking about what is interesting to me, what I like doing. The second step after that was prayer, asking that I be guided to where God wanted me. And through various ways, I was led to do what I ended up doing.” For Kevin, this process guided him to a major in political science.
Kevin illustrates the significant bond between his college experience and his career by stating, “I don’t know if I really separate the two in my head.” He asserts that the positions he held and the extracurricular activities in which he participated at Messiah continue to play a significant role in his professional life: “My vocation is part of who I am, but there’s a lot more too. Activities are good for making you into a person that God can use in all sorts of ways, not just in your vocation or job.” As an RA, a college tour guide, the editor-in-chief of The Swinging Bridge, and the Falcon sports mascot, Kevin threw himself wholeheartedly into the activities offered by the school. He acknowledges that his job as an RA, assisting the students on his floor in a variety of situations, provided him with invaluable experience as a leader among his peers.
After his four years at Messiah, Kevin continued his academic career by earning a master's degree in politics, and he subsequently advanced toward his academic and professional goals by entering law school.
Kevin recognizes how his course knowledge from Messiah has not only influenced his professional life but also impacted him on a personal level. He does not find it difficult to bridge the gap between the courses he took as an undergraduate and his current occupation. “The emphasis on writing and the ability to lay out an argument and give evidence and support your conclusion, certainly that…was very relevant to law school,” he asserts. He also notes that learning the intricacies of government and its functioning have obviously contributed to his study and practice of law. Moreover, he illustrates a connection between his academic work and his personal life: “In studying and talking and writing and thinking about politics from a Christian perspective, you learn to do that in many other areas of your life as well. It’s certainly a big part of who I am generally.”
REMEMBER...
• "Pray. Earnestly seek God’s direction and will for your life. Be attentive, through prayer, to His leading."
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Before acquring his current job, Kevin was an associate at the limited liability partnership Drinker, Biddle, & Reath, where he practiced securities law and assisted clients with mergers and acquisitions. He was then employed by software company CB Technologies as Senior Counsel and the only in-house lawyer on staff.
Kevin’s connections at Messiah provided a network of contacts through which he discovered a job opportunity at SafeNet., Inc., an association that specializes in encryption and digital information security. Looking to fill the first in-house legal position at SafeNet, Inc, another Messiah alumnus remembered Kevin's qualifications and alerted him to the position's availability.
As General Counsel and Vice President of SafeNet, Kevin fulfills an incredible amount of responsibilities on a daily basis. He is generally responsible for addressing the company's legal matters, and his duties include facilitating the contract process for sales, protecting the company's intellectual property, working with human resources on employment law matters, overseeing litigation matters, and supervising the company’s growing legal department.
Kevin maintains that personal integrity is at the core of the service he is intricately involved in at SafeNet. “In my particular vocation, I try to behave and to make decisions and to treat people according to Christian love,” he says. “Having integrity in what I’m doing; treating fellow employees, customers, lawyers on the opposite side of the table from me, treating everybody as God’s children, and realizing that I may be spending eternity with these people and to treat them accordingly…. Law is one of God’s tools to protect people, to make their lives less precarious, not so uncertain or difficult, to keep the strong from running over the weak,” he explains, “and every person who plays a part in that and who does it with integrity has a part in preserving the good parts of this gift that God gives to us.”
Kevin's current career goal is to continue to be a valuable asset to his company, completing his tasks to the best of his ability. He also plans to persistently exhibit personal integrity in his service to God and others in the workplace. While these goals hold a place of prominence in his professional life, Kevin is mostly living one day at a time, soaking up the opportunities each day brings. “I actually don’t tend to think in terms of goals,” he clarifies. “I tend to think in terms of being open and alert to opportunities that God is presenting -- other ways to serve Him, other ways to serve others, being open to feeling that God is pushing me in another direction…I sort of take each day on its own terms.”
Profile by Angela Kriebel and Brianna Davidson, July 2005
