Candidate for
Council Member; City of Palo Alto

My youth was spent in Idaho, where I was born and raised. I came to California, like so many others, in search of warmer weather, and also to study Finance, Accounting and Economics at California State University at Sacramento. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1982. While in college I worked in a hospital and continued my work in hospital finance following graduation. In 1984 I joined a large international Certified Public Accounting firm in San Francisco, where I received my CPA license.

I enjoyed living in San Francisco and being able to walk around the City. When I took a position in hospital financial management in San Jose in 1988, I decided to move to the Peninsula and started looking for a European-style village to call home. My search ended when I found Palo Alto! I loved the vitality of its downtown and its connection to Stanford University. It's been almost two decades now since I arrived, and my love affair with Palo Alto only grows stronger the longer I am here!

I joined the Children's Hospital at Stanford in 1990, and played a leadership role in creating the financial operations of the newly created Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. I served as Director of Revenue & Reimbursement until the fall of 1997. I met my future wife, Susan, at the hospital. She continues to serve the hospital as its Administrative Project Director.

Susan and I married in 1995, and in 1997 we purchased our home in South Palo Alto. After having been on the team that established the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, we decided to have a more personal experience with children and started our own family. We have three young children. We adopted our first daughter in 1999, and several years later, our daughter's twin brother and sister joined our family.

Today my business is located in downtown Palo Alto. My office is a block from City Hall. I am a Financial Advisor and consultant to Fortune 500 organizations, many of which are household names, and major hospitals across the nation.

When I consider what my most significant professional accomplishment has been, I am most proud of my work writing a grant proposal that ultimately secured millions of dollars for essential medical services for a greatly underserved area. This project combined my background in finance and journalism, and I learned to navigate the complex bureaucracy of implementing change in how health care is paid for in Children's Services, an arena that is thought to be impossible to change. We secured policy changes in the California Department of Health Services that allowed child health care providers to be paid fairly for the implementation of new life-saving technology. This action allowed for more children to receive the needed treatments.

The experience with the Department of Health was a milestone. Since learning how to tackle tough governmental issues, I have delivered millions of dollars for my clients by charging into territory where few were willing to go. It may seem naïve, but "fairness" is an excellent guide. My willingness to wade into complexities others did not want to touch, and to bring clarity and order out of seemingly incoherent information, has resulted in significant cash savings to my clients. An adage I adhere to, "the angel is in the details," has definitely paid off.

As a public servant, I have served as a Board Member for East Palo Teen Homes, and as a Board member for the Age Center Alliance, a community effort to enhance senior services.

While the above illustrates the type of work I've been involved with, when asked what I believe my greatest accomplishment is, I have to say it is my family. We have a wonderful life in Palo Alto. Our future is here.

The arrival of twins had a domino effect, in that it caused us to need more room in our house and that led to an extensive remodeling project. That gave ample opportunity for me to work with the City's development office, and I have a T-shirt that says, "I remodeled a house in Palo Alto and lived to tell about it." The success came in navigating complex issues, offering a cooperative spirit, and finding the points of agreement. The result is that we completed the project and are enjoying our expanded home.

We are also honored to be caretakers of a 70-year old Wisteria tree rescued from the front of the old Children's Hospital at Stanford. The tree has a history as the sentry at the entrance there, and before the bulldozers arrived, I hired a tree doctor, a giant digger, and a semi truck to transport it to our front yard. It has thrived in its new home for 15 years, and each spring it blossoms more than ever. I mention this as there are many children, doctors and nurses who know this tree very well, and this was a chance to treasure a little piece of history. (For more information, see the news story at http://www.vote4gray.com/?q=node/21.)

I am honored to participate in the future of Palo Alto and look forward to serving the community for years to come.