I was born in Kansas City and grew up in Independence, Missouri, as the oldest of three boys. As class valedictorian, I went on to graduate with high distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts where I majored in computer science. Since then, my career has touched many industries including industrial manufacturing, military/aerospace software, interactive entertainment, and medical information and education. Along the way, I earned an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and started and sold businesses in data and research.

Builder

Throughout my life, I've had a passion for building things. I enjoy the challenge of finding solutions to complex problems. I've built software, classrooms, businesses, and advocacy groups.

Advisor

I credit most of my successes and opportunities to teachers and mentors who stopped to open doors along the way. Some opportunities in life may come to us from family or legacy, but others appear through learning and knowledge. Opportunity is the greatest gift of public education, and I have never lost sight of how the hundreds of teaching moments over the years have added up to where I am today: mentoring and advising others, and helping them discover their own untapped potential.

Parent

A couple of years after the birth of my son, we relocated back to Kansas to be closer to our extended family and to benefit from the excellence of our public school system. More than a decade later, we're proud to call Kansas our home. Experiencing the school systems from the perspective of a parent has increased my respect for the teaching profession even more.

Advocate

In recent years, I've focused my community involvement on our public schools, both at the local and state level. I've found that the most difficult debates (special education funding, curriculum, transportation) are structural: they are larger than any one district's capacity to solve, without negatively affecting others.

As a state Senator, my hope is to find ways to make progress, together, on these and other issues that drive our state's growth and quality of life.