What event most shaped you as a young person?

• My Mother’s death when I was 12 years old largely shaped my thinking. I learned life is precious, and time is a treasure.

What is the fondest memory you have as a young person?

• I was selected to be on a Little League baseball team when I was eight years old. I learned excellence is derived from dedication to "perfect" practice and to teamwork. During a five year period, we won four city championships, won 47 games in a row, and played against a top team from Japan.

What was the background of your family?

• Father: My father worked in manufacturing for more than 50 years. He worked as a foreman in paper and glass manufacturing. He never took a ‘sick day’ during the entirety of his working years. He was a mathematical genius who completed taxes for anyone in need. He was a church treasurer and an amateur tax accountant.

• Mother: My Mother was a stay-at-home mom. Her parents were highly successful multi-generational farmers. She influenced my talent of developing a “green thumb.” She was brilliant in every sense of the word, but her life was cut short.

What gives you energy?

• Spending time with my family

• Making people’s lives better by building people up and properly compensating them for their hard work

• Placing people in situations where they can be successful and where they can enjoy what they do

• Leading teams to discover solutions to highly complex problems

• Being a role model and leading a role model organization for others to emulate

What were some of the most exciting moments in your life?

• Wedding my wife

• Raising our children to become exceptional and successful adults

• Handing my son and daughter their Associate’s degrees at college commencement before graduating high school

• Baptizing my children

• Completing my Associate’s degree (first in family to attend college)

• Being interviewed on “Good Morning America” while working at the most technologically advanced military weather station in the world

• Successfully leading a college through the accreditation process to transition from a two-year college to a four-year college

• Inspiring and leading a 16-month journey to fund a new full-service and comprehensive campus through a county-wide sales tax

• Successfully leading colleges through the Pandemic, tornado recovery, and a cyber-attack

• Empowering and celebrating the successes of others

What is your greatest disappointment?

• When I was younger, I limited my personal and professional goals and expectations to the goals and expectations others had for me because I feared failing. As a result, I think that I underachieved early in life because my goals and expectations were commonly loftier than the ones others had for me.

What are a couple of your more notable quotes?

• “When interpersonal conflicts arise, one must remember that people are not as much against you as they are for themselves.”

• “Two essential skills for today’s effective leader are the abilities to deescalate organizational drama and make sense of chaos.”
  

What are your favorite sports and leisure activities?

• Baseball, softball, racquetball, volleyball, golfing, canoeing, gardening, and playing games with my grandson