My wife Mary Anne and I live in the Town of New Glarus. We first moved to the community in 2001 from the Village of Waunakee because we fell in love with the Driftless Region of Wisconsin. We found New Glarus to be a special place due to its Swiss Heritage. We raised two children, Amy and Will, who attended New Glarus Schools and  graduated as Knights. Amy moved to Prairie Haus in the Village and operates a small business. Will now lives in Madison but was elected to two terms on the Green County Board of Supervisors representing the Village of New Glarus. Will also served on the board of Southwest CAP. Mary Anne is Executive Director of Home of Our Own in New Glarus; chairs the board of MARC, an adult disability vocational service nonprofit; and recently served on the board of the Fowler Dental Clinic in Monroe.  

My parents owned and operated a grain and Christmas Tree farm in Western Minnesota. My father was also a lifelong Soil and Water Conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture after serving in the Naval Air Corps, and my mother was a high school English and Special Education teacher. My twin sister is an Ocean Spray cranberry grower with her husband outside of Warrens, Wisconsin and our three brothers, respectively, enjoyed careers in environmental protection, agriculture, and international marketing. My parents raised all of us to believe that giving back to our community is a priority. I have taken this to heart. I am starting my eighth year on the New Glarus School Board, including the past five as Board President. I serve on the Board of Green County Leaders, serve as the unpaid chair of the Board of Trustees for the state's $9.4 Billion College Savings Program known as Edvest, and serve on the board of a Farm Credit Association serving over 25,000 farmer-owners in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. I am also in my 25th year serving as a volunteer Cooperative Weather Observer for the National Weather Service where I report weather readings from my home each day at 7:00 a.m.    

I am a Professor of Practice - Law and Local Government Educator for U.W.-Madison Division of Extension and work closely with county, city, village and town officials across the state to help ensure effective and ethical governance. I previously served as President & CEO of Cooperative Network, the largest state-level trade association for member-owned cooperatives in the nation, as Wisconsin Trade & Consumer Protection Administrator, as Preparedness and Emergency Health Care Director at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and -- while living in Wisconsin -- I served as Deputy Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner.