Personal
I grew up in Casper, Wyoming, and the Rocky Mountain West is my home. Public service was an important part of life at home. My mother started the Special Olympics program for the state of Wyoming, and both my parents were very active in keeping amateur athletics thriving in Wyoming.

I met my wife, Trina, while attending the University of Utah. We both got a job in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we lived for over 15 years. But Glenwood Springs was always in our lives, and when our two kids, Van and Risa, reached school age, we felt it would be best for them to grow up in a place like Glenwood with its great people and great schools. Trina's parents, Bernie and Georgia Haines, were teachers for the Roaring Fork School District for many years, and taught both in Basalt and in Glenwood.

We are very happy to be back in this valley. Our kids love having their grandparents around, and they are very happy with their schools. They are getting a terrific education in our schools. Not only are they getting a great academic education, they are getting a great social education that can come only by living in a place with a community we are fortunate to have here.

Education
All of my education has been from public schools and universities. I graduated from Kelly Walsh High School in Casper. I received my BSE from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) in computer engineering in 1975. I got a Ph.D. in computer science from the University
of Utah in 1979.

Professional
I've been working in the PC industry since its earliest days (that's the late 1970's). After graduating from the University of Utah, I worked for a couple of years at the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. I found the early PCs too exciting to stay at Sandia, so I left and developed the first spelling and style hecking software available for personal computers. I founded my first software company, Aspen oftware, in 1980. I sold that company in 1982.

I then taught Computer Science at the University of New Mexico. I taught full time until 1985, and continued as an adjunct professor until 1997.

But, I just couldn't keep out of the PC business, and in 1985 I co-founded Reference Software International. There I led software development, and was the principal author of the widely known grammar checker, Grammatik. By 1992, Reference Software was one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States. That year Reference Software was acquired by WordPerfect.

Since that time, I've been following other interests. I been active in developing free Open Source software, and I started a new company, Object Central, to promote Object-Oriented programming. I wrote a book, The Essence of Object-Oriented Programming.

Since my kids have been in school, I've been interested n serving on the School Board, and was appointed by the board to fill Trési Houpt's seat after she was elected County Commissioner in 2002. I believe that my extensive background in technology, business, and education, coupled with my experience as a current School Board ember, make me the best candidate for the Re-1 District C seat.