About Us

Troy Fry is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and co-author of Essential for Living. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Clinical Officer, providing overall clinical leadership, strategic direction, and stewardship of the Essential for Living curriculum.

Troy has spent decades working with individuals with moderate to severe disabilities across educational, residential, and community-based settings. His work has focused on ensuring that assessment, skill selection, and intervention decisions are grounded in social validity, dignity, and meaningful quality-of-life outcomes. Through his leadership, EFL has continued to evolve as both a practical curriculum and a broader framework for ethical, functional, and compassionate practice.

In addition to his leadership role, Troy is deeply involved in advanced consultation, mentorship, and content development. He plays a central role in shaping strategic partnerships, guiding clinical priorities, and supporting organizations and practitioners implementing EFL across diverse service systems and cultural contexts.

Patrick McGreevy is the founder and co-author of Essential for Living and a foundational figure in the development of functional, socially meaningful approaches to teaching individuals with moderate to severe disabilities. He received degrees in Psychology and Special Education from the University of Iowa and earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Kansas under the mentorship of Ogden R. Lindsley.

Patrick has served as a special education teacher, university faculty member, author, journal editor, consultant, and international presenter. He is the author of Teaching and Learning in Plain English, founder and first editor of the Journal of Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting, and the first author of Essential for Living. His work has profoundly influenced the application of Precision Teaching, verbal behavior, and functional skills instruction worldwide.

For more than 30 years, Patrick has provided consultation to school districts, residential programs, and hospitals, specializing in the simultaneous management of severe problem behavior and the teaching of communication and language skills to individuals with limited repertoires. He continues to serve as Senior Clinical Advisor to EFL, contributing to curriculum refinement, clinical philosophy, and decision-making to ensure the integrity and longevity of the framework.

Miguel Ávila is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and international consultant with extensive experience in applied behavior analysis, crisis management, and professional training. He supports the strategic growth and international development of Essential for Living through systems-building, partnerships, training, and consultation across educational, clinical, and community settings.

Miguel has played a central role in the international dissemination of Essential for Living, including coordinating, translating, and editing the Spanish editions of the Professional Practitioner’s Manual and the Assessment and Record of Progress Manual. His work has contributed to the expansion of EFL implementation across the United States, Latin America, and other Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

Prior to his work with EFL, Miguel served as a Project Specialist and Instructor with the Professional Crisis Management Association (PCMA), delivering crisis management training using a train-the-trainer model and providing consultation nationally and internationally. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of West Florida.

Miguel is fluent in English and Spanish and is deeply committed to integrating compassionate, trauma-informed approaches with applied behavior analysis.

Karie Seifert oversees the operational systems that support the delivery of training, consultation, and curriculum distribution.