Candidate for
Board Member; Palm Drive Health Care District

My Story

I was appointed to the Palm Drive District board in July 2014, roughly two months after Palm Drive Hospital closed. I believe my education and experience make me uniquely qualified to oversee the Palm Drive District and help restore and expand health care services to our community.

I grew up in New Mexico but moved to California to complete my engineering degree at Caltech in Pasadena. After graduation my wife and I came north to Sebastopol, and we have loved living here ever since.

As a young engineer, I worked for three different firms before starting my own company 28 years ago. During my career I have been president of a 14-person firm and managing partner of a 20-person company. I'm intimately familiar with owning and managing a successful business enterprise.

Over the years I've worked on many health care facilities. I've helped design projects at Kaiser, Sutter, Sonoma Valley, Ukiah Valley, and Mendocino Coast hospitals. I understand the complex and demanding regulatory environment that even small hospitals like Palm Drive must navigate to survive. I also understand the enormous maintenance and facilities challenges at Palm Drive.

For more than 20 years, I have volunteered time and money to support my local Gravenstein Union School District. In recognition of our efforts, my wife Susan and I were honored in 2000 as Sonoma County's School Volunteers of the Year.

I've also served on the Gravenstein school board for the last twelve years, including seven years as board president. During that period, our enrollment has increased more than 40% and our finances and reserves have improved dramatically. I'm skilled at overseeing a successful public district, asking tough questions, and helping turn a struggling district into a thriving one.

Finally, I've been blessed with my wonderful wife of 38 years, Susan, a registered nurse in California for more than three decades. For the last six years, up until it closed in April, she worked at Palm Drive in the medical-surgical unit. Through her, I have developed a good layman's knowledge of how our hospital actually worked and how our dedicated employees helped earn Palm Drive national recognition for patient safety.

If re-elected, I will continue working hard to restore and expand health care services in our community.