Small Business Owner
I built my business around an invention of mine that solves huge problems in the field of architectural testing. The invention I patented and the related devices I developed have become the industry standard.
My company’s assembly and training center is located in what used to be the headquarters of Tonka Toys, in a building that overlooks Spring Park Bay on Lake Minnetonka (Tonka Toys was named after Lake Minnetonka, a sacred Lakota lake in Minnesota). Both my grandmothers worked for Tonka Toys when I was a kid so it feels especially good to be making things to send around the world from this building.
Family
I met my wife Heidi through our mutual involvement in music, and our daughter Eve was born in 2003. Together Heidi and I handle the operation of our business, and we are both very involved in the Westonka school district where Heidi is on the school board and Eve is currently a Senior.
Music
I’m happy to be re-involved in music again after a too long hiatus because of running my small business and running for office. Since 2017 I’ve been having fun playing music from the 1970s with some new great friends in our band, 7teez. 
And just beginning in 2020 my drummer brother and I finally got our CHEAP TRICK tribute band we’ve been threatening to do for decades together – Hello There, Goodnight Now has played a few outdoor shows this summer.
I used to work in music for a living, playing live and recording for film, video, and television and also have produced records for bands, including my own and my wife, Heidi’s. She and I got to do a tour of England in 2007 over the reception of an album we made together (right pic). She’s a great singer and a song writer.
I’ve been the drummer, synthesizer player, guitarist, and bass player (both fretless bass and regular electric bass) in many bands over the years. And I play all sounds on many recordings of songs I’ve written. I’m also glad to be writing and recording again.
Political Involvement
I’ve gotten involved in policy at the Minnesota State Capitol mostly in how it effects small business. I also ran for the State House of Representatives in 2012 and 2014 and improved on the vote percentages more than any past DFL candidate in our current district lines.
I’ve remained involved in local politics here in Minnesota’s Senate District 33, recruiting candidates and helping them get started on their campaigns. I managed the first months of Representative Kelly Morrison’s 2018 campaign and she became the first ever Democrat to win the House seat in the area in state history. She has now also won her first re-election bid.
Radio
I graduated from Brown Institute for Broadcasting in 1983 and became the News Director and on air talent for KZZR in Burns, Oregon and KCHK in New Prague, Minnesota. Back then it was difficult to make ends meet on the low wages in radio. I was also involved in some opportunities in music, so my on-air career was short lived.
Now, after my involvement in “Small Business at the Capitol” and other political involvement, I am being a special guest on a local radio station again. I will update details as they develop.
Eve on the Lake
In 2005 I wrote a children’s book inspired by a real life experience I shared with little Eve who was two years old at the time. She woke up one night and wanted to go out on tour little boat to see the buoys, an event we did often that she loved so much. I told her that the buoys were sleeping and as I proceeded to tell her, one by one, all the things we saw on our boat rides that were sleeping, she fell asleep. I thought it would make for a nice bedtime story.
click here to learn more and hear me interviewed on WCCO Radio by the late, great Dark Star.