About Me
I was born in Rochester, New York in 1972. Our family moved a couple of times pursuing what turned out to be a very successful career for my father. As a child, I spent most of my elementary years in Clarence, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. After a summer move I started junior high school in Butler, PA north of Pittsburgh. As young man, I had always been interested in electronics. I became more interested when I was able to involve myself with electronics of varied applications. I was always found tinkering with something electronic.
When I graduated from Butler Senior High School I enrolled in an Accounting Degree program, a decision made easy because of strong mathematical skills reflected in my aptitude tests. As my first semester was under way, I realized that accounting was not going to be my field. Before my withdrawal, my father pulled me aside and made sure I had made complete consideration of withdrawing. He also re-iterated a motto that led him to success; "Always do more then the person next to you in whatever you do."
I then had to make a decision; in my eyes I had two choices. One was to enter the armed forces to pursue my interest in electronics or find a good trade school. I chose (with assistance from my parents) to attend Penn Technical Institute, now Pittsburgh Technical Institute. I graduated with an Associate in Specialized Technology Degree in 1993 and was working in the field while attending classes.
I met my wife, Brenda, in downtown Butler in 1993. We married in 1995 and purchased our first house in Harrisville, PA. We lived there for four years and in 1999 moved to North Carolina. This move was necessary to achieve our goal of having one of us to be a stay home parent. We each set and achieved career goals our first few years living in Gastonia, North Carolina. We purchased our second house and started our family. We were so blessed to have Brenda stay home the first two years of our children's lives. The area was full of growth and the weather was great. But it was not home to either of us. We knew we needed to move back to Pennsylvania.
Brenda and I agreed we needed to switch parental roles if we wanted to improve our financial growth and better our chances for moving back to Pennsylvania. We switched roles in 2003 and were blessed to be able to relocate back home. It truly feels good to be home.
