My father was a Navy doctor at the time, and I was born on a U.S. Navy base in Sasebo, Japan. My mother received a PhD later in life. Half my family are farmers; half are physicians. Briefly, I have deep roots in Vermont. My 4th great-grandfather fought alongside the Green Mountain Boys in the Revolution. My 2nd great-grandmother was an indentured servant to the family of Gov. Williams (1850-1852) in Rutland. She entered her twenty-year term of servitude at age 5, before returning to life on a farm. I went to UVM, class of 1984, where I was President of Boulder, the senior men’s honorary society, and served on 17 different student committees, including four years on the Student Association Senate where I narrowly lost being elected SA President by 14 votes out of 4000.

I had to leave Vermont after college, like so many others, because there was no economic opportunity here. Now I live in Manchester in a house we bought in 2015. I also have a masters in American History from Columbia (MA) and a masters in theology from Yale (MDiv). I am a Methodist. I have a terrific wife and three wonderful children. My theological education has allowed me to be ordained, but I haven’t yet sought ordination.

I have spent the last 35 years working as an investment banker and running a commercial real estate finance business based in New York City. I have overseen the relocation of over 300,000 high-paying jobs over my career. I have extensive experience with the equity and debt capital markets, housing, zoning, and business operations. At UVM, I was a White House intern under George H.W. Bush; I also worked under Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs; later, I was a National Finance Chair for Mike Huckabee’s 2008 Presidential run and was on the ground with him through Iowa and South Carolina; and I was New York State Grass Roots Chair for John McCain, after Mike Huckabee withdrew, in 2008. I ran for Lt. Governor in New York State in 2010 and had the support of 45 out of 62 counties, the most support won by any candidate, but I did not continue after the convention.

The pandemic and its aftermath brought me back full time to Vermont and have caused me to look at things in new ways. Vermont’s per capita average income was $59,704 in 2021 while the New England regional average was $76,651 (per Bureau of Economic Analysis). The national economy is difficult enough, but our state economy is suffering unfairly. We are a country divided, but I know that new ideas can unite us and make us prosper. It’s time to for all of us to pull together. Build our Vermont economy and liberate Vermont!