I was born in Spokane in 1971 and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School. I then graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. During high school and college I was active on the debate team. In 1995, while debating at Gonzaga, my partner and I placed 3rd at nationals. This was the largest debate tournament in the world and we competed against 240 other teams.

After college I moved to Oakland California and was the assistant ticket manager and customer service manager for the Oakland Raiders. In 1998 I moved to Madison Wisconsin and worked for Tickets.com and the University. In 2000 I was lucky enough to be sent to Sydney, Australia for the Olympic Games. In 2001 I met my wonderful wife Ann and had the opportunity to move back home and become the Regional Manager for TicketsWest. During my 6 years sales increased from $21 million to $34 million. I had 50 employees and successfully managed a 3 state region. During this time I also received my Master’s Degree from Gonzaga University in Organizational Leadership.

In December of 2007 I was given the opportunity to start a non-profit called Communities In Schools of Spokane County. Our organization has coordinators at targeted schools in Spokane County and these “site coordinators” act as the bridge between outside resources and kids in the schools. We have agreements with over 30 community agencies that we broker in to the schools. The services provided range from after-school activities, mentoring to dental services and backpacks full of food. We target students who are at-risk and work to keep them in school. We have an active partnership with the City Youth Department and sit on many committees with Mike Leadercharge and JoAnne Benham.

The future of our country lies with our youth. That includes civic participation, economic growth and all of the structures underlying our community. If youth are not encouraged to participate in forums such as these we have a bleak future. If students do not graduate from high school we will have no future. Because of these beliefs I spent all of 2010 working to put the Children’s Investment Fund on the ballot and then serving as the spokesperson for the campaign to try and get it to pass in November 2010. I believe that funding for youth programs in our community is of the utmost importance and departments like the youth department reflect our shared values as a community.

When elected, I plan to work hard to ensure that youth voices are heard on commissions, in front of the council and that the youth department is never cut. I am proud to say that Communities In Schools latest initiative, to start a school-based health center, includes two youth on our advisory council. I would continue to do what I have been doing the past 4 years, valuing our youth!