PRESIDENT & FOUNDER

Dylan’s commitment to this mission is rooted in lived experience. After a turbulent childhood in Portland, Oregon he was placed at age 15 in a three-month, 200-mile wilderness trek designed to build resilience and survival skills. That experience introduced him to the transformative force of nature, learning leadership, self-reliance, and that while pain is inevitable, suffering is a choice. Following the trek, he lived at a transition ranch in Crane, Oregon under the guidance of Zo and Warren Matthews, where he worked the land, cared for livestock, and learned responsibility and compassion through daily service. During this time, he sustained a neck injury from a horse accident, resulting in lifelong chronic pain from occipital neuralgia, an experience that has fueled his commitment to improving pain care access.

He earned his degree in Outdoor Leadership from OSU–Cascades and built a career as a professional river guide and expedition leader around the world in Oregon, Alaska, Nepal, and Costa Rica. Guiding people outdoors showed him how connection, challenge, and nature can rapidly improve mental well-being and restore a sense of purpose.

Driven to address the opioid epidemic after the loss of a close friend, Dylan transitioned into advanced medical technology and neuromodulation. He became a nationally respected leader in pain management with Upstream Rehabilitation, Zynex, and Curonix, earning credentialing as a Neuromodulation Clinical Specialist and working directly with neurosurgeons in the operating room to deliver life-changing therapies to patients in need. Through this work, he has witnessed both the potential of innovative medicine and the systemic barriers that prevent access for those who need it most.

Dylan leads from the field, rafting beside veterans, advocating with physicians and partners, and building systems where connection itself is medicine. His guiding belief is simple: Every tributary leads to purpose.

Outside his work, Dylan remains grounded in the outdoors; rafting, fishing, snowboarding, and spending time on the land that shaped his story. His life reflects the mission of The Tributary Foundation: to restore access, rebuild belonging, and renew purpose for those who have been overlooked.