Chad Boudreaux
Before becoming Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer of the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, Chad Boudreaux served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he advised Secretary Michael Chertoff on almost all significant matters facing the newly established department. Before working for Homeland Security, Boudreaux served in several high-ranking positions at the U.S. Justice Department, where he was hired the night before the September 11, 2001 attacks. During his time at the Justice Department, Boudreaux focused most of his time on matters relating to terrorism and homeland security. Boudreaux graduated from Baylor University in Texas in 1995 and from the University of Memphis School of Law in 1998, where he was Managing Editor of the law review.
Chad lives in Hampton Roads, Virginia, with his wife and four children.
Instagram: @ChadBoudreaux.Author
Facebook: @ChadBoudreauxAuthor
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I love all kinds of music from classical to classic rock to outlaw country to gospel hip-hop. I even take my daughter to see Harry Styles every year at Madison Square Garden. Music influences my writing in different ways depending on the genre and my mood. I exercise with headphones on, listening to fast-paced music. This inspires story creation and helps craft my action scenes. I listen to familiar music when I'm staring at a blank page. It gives me a productive rhythm, and I'm not distracted by new lyrics. Not surprisingly, I listen to love songs when writing romantic scenes. Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam usually carry me through final edits. I'm listening to Underground Garage (Sirius XM Channel 21) while answering these fantastic questions. Memorable guitar licks and forgettable lyrics get the neurons firing.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Savory. "If you don't like tacos, then I'm nacho type," says the towel in my kitchen. My best cooking is BBQ brisket and pork ribs on a direct flow smoker with oak (Aaron Franklin-style), but my true love is Tex-Mex. Cheese enchiladas, tamales, crunchy tacos, rice, and beans. When cooked right, these dishes are to die for. And the ultimate food item is a breakfast taco from South Texas. Elva's in Corpus Christi served the best breakfast tacos in history prior to Ms. Elva's passing. Now, the title goes to Pete's Takos (spelling correct) in San Antonio. Tex-Mex is so good that, yes, it inspires my writing. In fact, one of the main characters in my second novel (draft just completed) cooks breakfast tacos for a living.
Do you collect anything? If so, what, why, and for how long?
I collected baseball cards when I was a kid. My family didn't have much money, so I would spend hours choosing just the right purchase at the local baseball card shop. Later in life, I started a sportscards company with a former Wall Street trader. It was called Mike DeNero's Vintage Sportscards, and it had a successful ten-year run with loads of incredible stories. We sold high-end cards from the 1880s to the 1950s. As a kid, I could've never afforded any of the Mike DeNero cards. We didn't have customers, we had clients! One other thing. Since I was twelve, I have collected every ticket stub from every concert, movie, or other event I've attended. My first concert: Beastie Boys in Corpus Christi! They were banned for spewing beer on the audience. Hey, you have to fight for your right...
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I'm a fireside guitarist. My oldest son and I used "Moneyball" theory (i.e., sabermetrics) to win our fantasy football leagues. We used our winnings to purchase Taylor acoustic guitars, so that's my go-to instrument. I can't read music (yet), and I don't have a musical ear. But I can read tablature and mimic the pros on YouTube. Strumming a six-string guitar and singing like a homesick hound often stirs up my creative thinking for adventurous thrillers.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Sports with my kids (playing and watching). My boys love baseball, and my daughter loves hopping from one sport to another. What's more, I love taking all of them to Yankee Stadium and Steinbrenner Field (in Tampa Bay for Spring Training). Even though I grew up in Texas near the Mexican border, I grew up a Yankees fan. And I'm passionate about it. My kids have spent many hours hanging out with the rough, raucous Bleacher Creatures at the Stadium. Watching the game in the bleachers always requires a little pre-game coaching: "Kids, there are some words you will hear today that you should never, EVER repeat..." We recently attended a game where my kids were on the Yankee Stadium jumbotron. That was cooler than any story I can write.
