My background

I grew up in the country on a small farm where we raised sheep and hogs for 4-H projects along with two huge vegetable gardens that kept me and my two older brothers out of trouble.  My father had the same job for his whole working career.  He was a farm advisor in Knox County, IL.  This meant local farmers came to him with any conceivable agriculture issue and it was his job to help them solve it.  My mom was a professional singer and that is where I gained a passion for all types of music.  I learned the value of hard work, loyalty and passion for the things you strive for in life.  Alas, I developed physically very late so becoming a professional NFL football player wasn't my ultimate destiny.  However, I did love to compete so I channeled that into being a member and eventual president of our high school band.  This will relate to my proudest moment. 

I recently completed a 40-year corporate career and I certainly believe my values helped me accomplish a lot more than I could have ever dreamed of.  My most challenging leadership assignments were working overseas in EAME in an environment where I had to build my network from scratch after being a part of my company for 20 years, but only in N. America.  Those five years in EAME were also where I grew the most professionally and personally.  And that leadership experience shaped how I became a servant leader throughout the 2nd half of my career.  

My proudest moment:

When I was a first-year high school student - I played football and was also a member of our marching band.  Honestly, our band was more successful than our football team and me being 6 feet tall, 120 pounds didn't really bode well for my future football career.  It's very hard to do two things well that demand your complete focus and energy.  I had a difficult decision to make -- at least in my mind.  At the end of that year I chose to focus on music and two years later as a senior I was chosen by my peers to become the President of the band -- my first real leadership role.  That year we won the parade and field competition as the top high school marching band in the state of Illinois.  Hard work, loyalty and passion -- reinforced values from childhood!