I thought it best to present my bio from the perspective of “What makes for an ideal SIPOA Board Director?”
Length of Residency?
I am privileged to live with my wife of 41 years, full-time on Seabrook Island. And it takes only visiting friends and family touring our island to remind me just how fortunate I am to have found and bought my homes on this special place 15 years ago.
An Impressive Career?
I started my career after receiving my MBA in healthcare administration and finance and served in the C-Suite of two New England health systems. In the early 1990s, I got the entrepreneurial bug and went on to found several businesses in healthcare and life sciences, most recently in MedTech and Artificial Intelligence. Over the past three decades I have served as CEO on three occasions managing hundreds of employees across the country and globe. You can find my details here. I currently co-own a business in North Charleston.
How much of this is relevant to my SIPOA Board candidacy? Well, suffice it to say that a long career in business teaches you primarily how to interact with people at all levels in both celebratory and trying circumstances. Empathy, ethics, leadership, compromise, accountability, and organizational skills are the most critical traits I would bring to the SIPOA Board and our community.
Similar Experience, Skills, and Qualifications?
One thing I have learned in my previous community governance experience outside of Seabrook Island and in serving on Seabrook Island governing bodies is that ignorance breeds contempt. I was among the very critical of the Town until I served on the Finance Committee and of SIPOA until I served on the Safety and Security Committee. I learned that these organizations strive to operate with transparency and in homeowners’ best interest. SIPOA Board and Committee members are your neighbors and they not only care as much about the island as you do, they also have to worry and address the many unseen aspects of ensuring this island remains as wonderful as we all believe it to be.
Evidence of Commitment to Serve?
I am impressed with my fellow Seabrook Island homeowners. They share in the desire to keep Seabrook Island as a wonderful, friendly community with enviable assets and services. But we do have challenges, complicated by the festering distrust of the three disparate governing bodies and “perceived” lack of coordination. The root of this issue is an ongoing misunderstanding of the roles and responsibilities of each and “perceived,” unexplained and excess expenditures.
I am running for the SIPOA Board to be a part of the solution by involving SIPOA homeowners in identifying, prioritizing, and addressing our island’s challenges.