Education: Milwaukee School of Engineering, mechanical engineering technology.
Family: Wife Cheri, children ages 7 and 2, and dog, George.
Greatest achievement? My family. I know it sounds cheesy but it's the truth. They remind me that there is more to life than just work.
Biggest failure and what it taught you? Deciding to commute to college. I quickly fell behind and was too bullheaded to realize I needed help. It taught me that not everything comes easy and some things take more time and effort than you can even imagine.
What is your current challenge at work? Finding opportunities. Our orders for fiberglass buildings and enclosures are very sporadic. Finding additional opportunities to help fill in the slow times is more difficult than I initially thought.
What emerging technology interests you? My obvious answer would be carbon fiber but at this point it's like a go kart driver saying he wants to drive an F1 car. Eventually I would like to try it, but before I get that far I am looking into upgrading some of our current open molding to vacuum bagging.
What about the plastics industry surprises you? I am surprised by the versatility and ease of manufacturing of FRP. I was totally blind to the industry prior to Mekco so everything is still a bit of a surprise.
Best advice you've received? Very early in my career it was made clear to me that it was OK to fail. We all learn best from our mistakes and we cannot learn why something works until we discover why it does not.
What job do you really want to have in the future? I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up and I do not think I will ever know. I am more interested in gaining knowledge and experiences than having a specific job.
What do you do to relax? I have developed a passion for mountain bike and fat bike racing. It's infected my family as well. Our 7-year-old daughter and I enter a race almost every other weekend. When we aren't racing mountain bikes, my wife and I are participating in a 5k, 10k, duathlon or mud run races.
