Prior to returning home to Jackson, Douthett spent fifteen years in the U.S. Foreign Service managing high-stakes international operations and diplomacy across Europe, Mexico, and the Middle East. As Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, he led a 73-person team executing the operational transition into a new $350 million embassy compound. As Deputy Director at the National Visa Center in New Hampshire, he managed operations for a 700-person government campus and served as Contracting Officer’s Representative on a $400 million visa processing contract during the critical period surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. His diplomatic career was defined by rapid-response crisis leadership—including executing emergency security rebuilds after a car bomb attack in Erbil, Iraq—and fiscal stewardship, such as negotiating a real estate acquisition in Belfast, Northern Ireland that saved taxpayers over $5 million.

Douthett began his career on active duty in the U.S. Navy after graduating with merit from the United States Naval Academy in 1996. As a Surface Warfare Officer onboard USS Gettysburg and USS Hewitt, he completed two Persian Gulf deployments and is a combat veteran of Operation Desert Fox and Operation Noble Anvil. Following his military service, he attended The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law as a Moritz Merit Scholar. During his subsequent civil litigation career in Cincinnati, he authored a landmark appellate brief on Ohio legal ethics that resulted in the First District Court of Appeals reversing a trial court decision and establishing published statewide precedent under newly-enacted ethics rules for Ohio attorneys.

A native of Jackson, Ohio, Douthett returned permanently to his hometown with his wife, Kate, and their two sons. Outside of public service, he is active in veteran and local civic organizations, including the VFW, AMVETS, and the Divine Mercy Parish Council.