This SharePoint subsite is a temporary container for my most current design portfolio, sample specifications and resume. Much is still in flux, but please still feel free to browse the contents of the picture libraries while the remaining content is being collected.
My career:
- Electrical Engineering degree from Cornell University
- 12 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine officer
- 24 years as a Washington resident
- 10 years as a full-time user experience manager at Microsoft
- 8 years as freelance software designer, developer and consultant
- Awarded over 20 Microsoft patents
My community:
My family:
- Married over 23 years to my wife Galen, a Seattle native who I met at Cornell
- Father of sons Quinn and Duncan, ages 16 and 13
My politics:
- 2011 graduate of Jennifer Dunn Leadership Institute
- 2008 & 2010 State Republican Party Convention Delegate
- Served as Haas Precinct Caucus Chair for 2008 Caucus
- Elected as Haas Precinct Committee Officer in 2008
My positions:
- Maintain a strong national defense
- Curb government spending to reduce our national debt
- Protect the Constitution and our constitutional rights
- Defend property rights, personal liberties and privacy
- Eliminate incentives for illegal immigration
- Promote free enterprise and fair business practices
- Reward our most effective teachers with higher pay and job security
- Relieve traffic congestion for commuters
Role models:
- My father, the naval officer, dentist, public school teacher, home builder, conductor, and paralegal
- Thomas Jefferson, the writer, statesman, gentleman farmer, philosopher, and revolutionary
- Milton Friedman, the Nobel-winning American economist who finally helped me understand free markets
What you may not know:
- I've done multiple keynote presentations with Bill Gates for crowds of thousands, but missed every chance to see his house.
- I've presented to U.S. senators and congressmen, dozens of attorney generals, and about a hundred Fortune 500 CEOs, including Warren Buffet, Michael Eisner, and Martha Stewart.
- I once was asked to "entertain" Steve Jobs in the green room prior to him going on stage. I didn't last long.
- When running the submarine's nuclear power plant during a drill, we had an actual fire break out in our Reactor Plant Control Panel. We scrammed the reactor and recovered on the diesel without blinking, thinking it was just an excellent simulation.
- I finished my basic submarine qualifications and received my silver dolphins in just 20 days, something that typically takes a year to complete. To the best of my knowledge that record has yet to be broken.
- I've spent a total of over 2 years of my life actually submerged under the ocean.
Here's a more complete bio:
I was born at St. Alban’s Naval Hospital in New York City, son of a Navy dentist. After serving in the Vietnam war, my father set up his practice in upstate New York in a rural farm community near the Adirondack Mountains. I graduated 2nd in a class of about 200 and had my options of the Naval Academy, Air Force ROTC at Princeton, and Navy ROTC at Cornell. I chose Cornell.
At Cornell I majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, joined a fraternity, met my wife, and probably had altogether too much fun. The NROTC program at that time was about 300 strong (thanks to Ronald Reagan), and I worked through the ranks to Company Commander for Sierra Division, two platoons dedicated to maintenance and operations of a 51 foot ketch that we used for sail training operations on Cayuga Lake and during the summers on the Great Lakes and Atlantic. As the only one in my class qualified Skipper, I also spent time during the summers as a training instructor for other ROTC units.
Being technically inclined, I gravitated to the Navy Nuclear Power Program and submarines. I was commissioned in 1989, married that summer, and spent the next 18 months attending Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Nuclear Prototype at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Submarine School in Groton, CT. I was then stationed at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, WA and lived on Bainbridge Island while my wife finished her graduate degree at University of Washington. For the next 4 years I served on the Blue Crew of the USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN 730), with responsibilities as division officer for Sonar, Torpedo, Engineering Lab, and Reactor Controls divisions. I was qualified Officer of the Deck in 6 months and ultimately worked my way up to Engineer by completing my interviews and testing at Naval Reactors in Washington D.C.
In 1994 I resigned my commission to accept a position at Microsoft as a software QA Lead and went on to drive the testing efforts for Cinemania, Music Central, Wine Guide, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ancient Lands. About a year later, I made the transition to Program Management for Microsoft Bookshelf and Encarta. In January '97, I transferred to the newly formed Macintosh Business Unit, where in a few months I took over as the Office PM. I shipped Office 98 and left when we were code complete on Office 2001 to accept a Lead PM position in the Windows User Experience team, where I was responsible for Windows XP visual design, multimedia integration, and file management. For the month prior to releasing XP, I did a whirlwind tour of the nation briefing state AGs and congress on new features, trying to address any concerns with 3rd-party integration and consumer privacy. After we shipped, I hooked up with the Windows Design Director to form a new team called the Windows Hardware Innovation Group which was chartered to collaborate with industry partners to prototype innovative new hardware to complement investments we were making in Office and Windows. My efforts culminated in several keynote presentations and demos with Bill Gates to hundreds of CEOs and thousands of industry insiders.
After a decade at Microsoft, I started working at home as a software design consultant and contract developer so that I could spend more time with the family. I now have two boys (age 10 and 13) and I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to play a more active role in their lives. With some spare time now, I was also able to get more involved with the community, taking an active role in the Kiwanis Club of Issaquah and leading education advocacy efforts with PTA, Stand for Children, and the League of Education Voters. This eventually progressed to running for a vacant position on the Issaquah School Board, where I was selected from 5 candidates. I was reelected last November and am currently the board’s Legislative Chair and serve as NSBA FRN Coordinating Member for Congressional District 8, WSSDA Legislative Committee representative for King County, and representative to the Washington State Online Learning Advisory Committee.