More About Me

Here’s more information about me, my background and family. I grew up the oldest of four children in Nephi, UT, a small town in central Utah. My dad is an accountant and my mom was at home before starting to work at the county assessor’s office. Education was a big part of my youth. I enjoyed and excelled at school with math being my favorite subject. I started studying math with the class ahead of me and by my junior year in high school had finished all classes that were offered. Such is the life in a small-town school. I was involved in speech and drama, competing in regional and state competitions and participating in the theatrical productions. Although I knew at the time that theater was not where I would make a career, I learned much about public speaking, being in front of an audience and presentations. These skills are very helpful to me in my engineering career today. I also ran on the track team. I made life-long friends among my classmates and teachers and although I do not see them often, their influence is part of my life always.

After high school I attended BYU. My freshman year I started on the accounting path since it was something I had been exposed to through my dad. I found the studies really boring (sorry accountants). My roommate was a mechanical engineering major and I found his studies interesting. I served a two-year LDS mission in Peru and studied mechanical engineering upon my return. Four years later, I had a degree with minors in mathematics and Spanish. The job search did not go very well, and I worked as a substitute teacher in Nephi while staying with my parents. Eventually, I found a job with TRW (now Northrop Grumman) working with the Air Force and moved to Davis County in 1995. I’ve been here every since.

I met my wife Jana in 1998 while constructing our house in Syracuse. We married in 1999 and have been blessed with five wonderful children since then. I’m not going to write more about my children because this is a public site and I want to provide them some privacy and protection. We like to do many things as a family, especially working in the yard, getting ice cream cones and visiting amusement parks. For my relaxation, I like to work in the garden, ride my bike, and read books, mostly science fiction. I am currently reading the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.

My education and work experience have provided me with a background I believe will be helpful on the Board of Education. I have not studied the field of education, but I am educated and understand the value of education. I will be able to study the items presented to the Board and make thoughtful decisions. My job duties include scheduling and budget management. I have taken large-scale, multi-year projects and broken them into executable pieces. I believe this budgeting background will be helpful as the Board works with the district office in the creation of the annual budgets. I also believe my planning experience will be valuable as short- and long-term plans are developed and presented to the Board. I am detail-oriented and possess other qualities I believe will be assets in this position. Most of all, I have a desire to serve the students and community I would represent. I believe that this is the most important attribute.