My life experiences have taught me perseverance, to have respect for all people, and to be a servant leader. And I've learned how to bring people together to make positive change happen.

I was the youngest of eight children born to struggling parents in Zanesville, Ohio. Our father had left by the time I was born and our mother died when I was just a year old, leaving my six older sisters and I to be raised by our grandmother and aunt.

With the support of extended family, and government programs for families in poverty, our grandmother patched together enough to keep us together as a family. She relied on Social Security benefits, Food Stamps (SNAP), free lunch and tuition from our local Catholic elementary and high school, and Black Lung benefits from our great uncle Joe, a former coal miner from Athens who had to move in with us after his wife passed when he was eighty years old.

I grew up in a family with eight women. It taught me a great respect for women and seeing women as equals. Living daily in a home with my grandmother and sharing a room with my great uncle gave me an appreciation for the seniors in our lives. Our mother had been the youngest of twelve daughters herself, born to parents who came to our country from Poland to find a better life. My grandfather spoke no English and farmed his land in Muskingum county after immigrating to the United States in the early 1900’s.

The grandmother who raised me managed a bar and grill near Putnam Transfer in the Putnam Neighborhood of Zanesville, Ohio. I spent many nights after school doing homework at the end of the bar with help from truck drivers who were regulars after a long day of loading and driving trucks, looking out for me in between games of shuffleboard. 

My grandmother told me often that I needed to do better in life than our dad.

Our father, who was her son, had left the family and moved to another state, where he died when I was seven years old. I only remember meeting him once when he was alive. My sisters and I learned to work hard for what we needed, and to this day we find it hard to accept help from others. They each married good men after high school and each have created much better lives for their children than what we had been given. 

I began working at the age of 14 for my brother-in-laws, washing trucks on the weekends and cleaning offices at night while in high school. Sports provided a needed escape and seemed to be the only way out for me, and my grandmother pushed me to go to college. When a nearby college track coach showed interest in me as a long distance runner, my high school guidance counselor helped me complete a Pell Grant application.  And with that government support, student loans, help from my sisters, and working restaurant jobs at night, I enrolled and eventually graduated from The Ohio State University, becoming the first in my family to graduate from college.

I met my wife Mollie at Ohio State, and found many strong Buckeye friendships that continue today. After working a short period in advertising, I returned to Ohio State as a staff member in development, where I worked for seventeen years. Over that time, I took on more responsibility and eventually led a team of over 20 staff to help to raise money for student scholarships, research, endowed funding for fellowships and professorships, all of which helped leadership transform the landscape of the university I graduated from, making it one of the top public universities in our country. 

I had lost my sister Violet to cancer in 1992, when she was just 27 and I was 25. That loss changed me. It made me more determined to make a positive difference in other people’s lives who are faced with challenges.

I got involved with fundraising for cancer research, doing a 100 mile ride around Lake Tahoe in 1998. When Pelotonia was created at Ohio State, I signed up and completed 100 miles from Ohio State’s campus to Ohio University in Athens, and continued each year raising thousands for The James Cancer Hospital with support from our community. 

In 2010, another sister was diagnosed with cancer which required a stem cell transplant. With health insurance that could not cover the massive expense of this treatment, I met with leaders in our hometown and put together a community fundraising plan with several events to raise money and community support. After her successful stem cell transplant at The James Cancer Hospital in 2011, she recovered and rode in Pelotonia the following year, with me and four of my other sisters, my daughter Avery, and her son, Joe.

That experience showed me that I could bring people together to do good and achieve a goal to make a positive difference. And it moved me to do more in my community. To continue to do better. 

In 2014, I became the Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association in Central Ohio, eventually leading the work over 43 Ohio counties with hundreds of volunteers supporting thousands of impacted families. The Alzheimer’s Association supports these families through care consultations, education, a helpline, and support groups. And it drives public policy at the federal and state levels that supports families, and leads efforts for critical research, awareness and the fundraising that supports this work.

Being a leader in non-profit work, I needed to inspire people to get involved to help us make lives better for others. The staff and volunteers worked to support those families in need across half of the state. And we worked with thousands of participants in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, raising over $2 Million through 14 community events each year, including our Walks held in Columbus and in downtown Delaware each year. We also worked with the Association’s chapter board and volunteers to grow our annual Gala at the Columbus Museum of Art with support from Columbus area corporate and community leaders and volunteers. 

For a period of time, I led the Alzheimer’s Association’s Public Policy work for the state of Ohio, and worked to inspire State Senators from both parties to introduce bipartisan legislation Senate Bill 24, which passed and was signed into law in 2019. 

I hired our organization’s first state policy director who led the work for S.B.24 to pass, and when it became law, it created the Ohio Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementias Task Force to gather input from constituents across the state and write Ohio’s first-ever State Alzheimer’s Plan. This work was led by the Ohio Department of Aging and the Ohio Department of Health and creates a clear action plan for the future informed by citizens and health experts from across the state.   

I’ve met with state legislators and members of Congress with advocates on policy issues. And I’ve seen hundreds of people from across Ohio with very different political views come together to drive positive change for a cause that they care about.

I want to bring this collaborative approach to work for our common challenges in Ohio House District 61, to our communities in Ashley, Delaware, Galena, Genoa Township, Mount Vernon, Sunbury, and all of the 120,000 plus residents of Delaware and Knox Counties who live in House District 61. I want to be a true representative of all people, who listens and drives policy that helps families in Ohio and can work with anyone who wants to help Ohio families.

My wife Mollie and I celebrate our 35th anniversary in May of 2026, and we’ve raised three amazing children together – Avery, Colin, and Brynn – who attended public schools in Delaware and graduated from Delaware Hayes High School, preparing them for their own college degrees from Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati. Avery now works for a non-profit in Pittsburgh, teaching art to young children. Colin works in fashion design in New York City. And our youngest daughter Brynn graduates from UC this May in Environmental Engineering and will soon enter a career focused on nuclear energy research.

As our children start out in what will be very successful careers, their optimism about the future is less than what mine was at their age. Our politics are too partisan. Our elected officials are not listening to citizen’s needs or addressing their biggest challenges. Anger in communities and online is overflowing.

There are so many important challenges that we face together, as a county and here in the state of Ohio. So I left my leadership role at the Alzheimer’s Association in February of this year, and after talking with my wife and children, I decided to run for the Ohio House of Representatives in District 61, representing those in parts of Delaware and Knox counties.

I am running because I feel my life has prepared me for this role and we need leaders who are serving the people, not scoring political points. We need legislators who listen to people in the district, understand their challenges, and are willing to work with others to find common ground and make life better for ALL Ohioans. 

I need your help and the support from many to help me win this seat – one seat of many to help us move forward in a better way. Because we can do better for ALL Ohioans if we get back to working together.