Born in Saint Paul 50 years ago, my life has been full of adventure. At an early age, my family moved to the jungles of southern Mexico for missionary work. After a 6-month stay we settled in Southern California where I grew up and attended both public and private Christian schools. 

After graduation, I returned to my birth state of Minnesota in 1977, attended a Christian Bible college for a year (college personally not for me). I then embarked on my career in construction. Investing 4 years in a joint state/business/union apprenticeship program, I graduated in 1981. For about 13 years, I worked as a union master carpenter in commercial and institutional construction. Then in 1994 with the support of my employer, I completed a series of courses for construction superintendent. Events within construction provided opportunities to experience supervising several projects during the following years ranging from $500,000.00 to $12,000,000.00. 

As with far too many Minnesotan’s I experienced the trials, heartaches, and financial burdens associated with divorce. That said experiences of divorce had positive long-term influence in my life.  

 Years later, I married a very special woman, Nadine. Over our 12 years of dating and marriage between us, we have seven adult children. Nay has four daughters and four grandchildren. I have a son, two daughters, and one grandchild. All our kids live in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area.

Nadine continues to support my many life’s adventures. Though she is always behind me and sometimes with an “are you kidding” response, Nadine is still there. One such example is we ventured into the business world owning a commercial general contracting company for 4 years. Through several years of challenges and personal growth, we learned many aspects of the small business world.

Wanting to contribute to my community after moving to Columbia Heights in December of 2005, I joined the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in the spring of 2006. About 6 months later several officers encouraged my participation in the Police Reserves for Columbia Heights. Being a Reserve Officer has provided a unique perspective of law enforcement, public service, community, and personal responsibility within our society. Additionally over the years, I served as a mortuary assistant, a leader in my local church. 

Now led to serve my fellow Minnesota citizens I seek your support now and vote in November. Our state needs leadership like which I bring to the table, being the “We the People's” representative.