My Story

I was raised in Frankenmuth, Michigan, the proud son of a UAW autoworker and a public school employee. It was because of their example that I grew up understanding the value of hard work, the impact that someone can have by helping others, and the important role that government can play in strengthening (or weakening) our middle-class families. Shortly after moving to Ann Arbor in 2004 to attend the University of Michigan, I knew I had found my eventual home. 

After graduation, I spent several years working in politics and government in Lansing, but moved back to Ann Arbor in 2014 to accept an opportunity at the University and work directly with my fellow alumni. I bought my first home in the Arbor Oaks-Bryant neighborhood in 2017, and immediately fell in love with the diverse, active and vibrant community that surrounded me.  With the increasingly unaffordable Ann Arbor rental and housing market, my sister (Tara), a foster care social worker, lives with me so that she can afford to stay in city.

I am currently the Director of Global Alumni Communities at the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, where I work to bring alumni together and provide meaningful connections for groups like the U-M Black Alumni, U-M LGBTQ Alumni, geographic alumni clubs, and other alumni groups with common interests, professions, or identities. 

Since high school, I have always had a passion for public service and a desire to give back. It is because of passion that I am currently serving my fourth term as President of the Board for the Jim Toy Community Center, which represents the LGBTQ and allied community of greater Washtenaw County. In 2018, I was also appointed Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ Liaison -- a position that works with the mayor, members of the city council and the Human Rights Commission to improve the lives of Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ residents. 
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Prior to my return to Ann Arbor, I worked for six years in Michigan politics and government. In 2008, I was a Research and Press Assistant on the campaign to elect former Congressman Mark Schauer, and then spent five years working in the legislative office of former State Representative & MI Democratic Floor Leader Kate Segal, initially as her Constituent Services Director, and later as her Legislative Director. It was because of her leadership that I was on the front lines working to protect healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Michiganders, to defend a woman's right to choose, to save the Michigan Youth ChalleNGe Academy, to hold polluters accountable (after the devastating Enbridge oil spill into the Kalamazoo River), and to fight against harmful anti-worker laws, like Right-to-Work (for Less).  

I also previously served as Vice Chair of the Delta Township District Library Board of Trustees and Chair of the Eaton County Democratic Party.