I am married to an amazing life partner, Sarah, and am dad to two awesome boys, Evan and Eli. Our favorite family days typically involve hiking along the Eno River, building with Legos and spending time with friends. I enjoy singing, though I’m starting to hear that it is embarrassing for dads to sing in public.

Much of our lives revolve around schools. We are proud public school parents: Evan is a first grader at Club Boulevard Elementary and Eli starts kindergarten next year. We are also blessed to be able to offer the boys high quality pre-school thanks to International Montessori School.

Sarah and I have had the chance to live and travel extensively around the country and the world, but the best move we ever made was coming to Durham ten years ago. We want nothing more than to help Durham be a welcoming and livable community for all of our residents, as it has been for us.

Over the years, my personal and professional experiences have had a common thread: service that reaches across boundaries. I have been able to build relationships across race, class and culture in grassroots organizing, government and business. These experiences and relationships have helped me see that in order to spur change it is necessary to truly listen to each other and remain committed to working together; that we need to remain humble even when we believe we are right; that it is essential to be uncomfortable because tension helps to spur new thinking and innovation.

Professionally, I am the Sustainable Business & Innovation Manager for Burt’s Bees, where it is my responsibility to ensure that Burt’s Bees supports people and nature through product innovation, sustainable business practices, and community stewardship. I also watch over 15,000 beloved coworkers who live in an observation beehive in our lobby.

Beyond Burt’s Bees, I co-founded the Durham Living Wage Project and advocated for living wages for Durham workers, including pay raises for the City of Durham’s part-time and seasonal workers. I chair the Durham Environmental Affairs Board, advising local government officials on environmental policy like the resolution to transition to 100% renewable energy. I was the head of sustainability for a technology company in North Carolina, a consultant with a high impact social enterprise fighting poverty in El Salvador, an affordable housing policy advocate in Washington, DC, and a Small Enterprise Development Peace Corps Volunteer supporting women’s cooperatives and girls’ education in Benin, West Africa.

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in economics, international relations and political science and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. I was elected Student Body President at Yale and served as the Student Director of the Yale Law School Community Economic Development Clinic, where I fought to keep people in their homes during the mortgage foreclosure crisis in 2008-2009. I also spent a year in school consulting with a labor union of wastepickers in India to help get them out of the landfills and dumpsters and into a door-to-door collection business, which improved their livelihoods.

I am an Eisenhower Fellow, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Forward Under 40 winner, a Triangle Business Journal 40 Under 40 awardee, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, an avid international traveler, and a student of cultures and languages, including Spanish.

But most importantly, I am a husband and father who loves to learn, build community, and do my best to make Durham a better place for everyone.