About Me

I would label my core self in two ways: One as an Educator; two, as a Connector or Community Builder. I spent almost 35 years directing summer camps for youth as well as managing their conference operations for three Dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Running these non profit centers included fund raising and building collaborative relationships for community programs. All three centers required me to strategically change some aspect of the organization’s culture to survive and update programs and operations. I guess I can add a third core part of me as an Agent of Change.

I live in the strange world of SW Florida. I moved here in 2018 to be near my elderly but independent parents. This part of Florida is crazy with growth, retirees and vacationers. It has changed from an area that was heavily focused on agriculture relying on cheap labor to an area also serving retirees and vacationers now needing cheap labor for agriculture, service and building. It also is an area that sits low along a rising ocean and in a region beloved by Hurricanes. So I wonder a lot about what comes next for the place I call home.

Home includes my wife and partner, Stephanie St John, and a loyal miniature Australian Shepherd named Phoebe. Nearby are my parents living in the retirement home they built in the early 1990’s. They both are in their nineties. I have four adult children from a previous marriage that are scattered across the eastern United States. They are amazing.

I am writing this blog to continue my growth as an Educator, Community Builder and as an Change Agent. I am falling upward because my mistakes and shortcomings taught me the most about how to accomplish things of value. Tripping and falling should take us upward in our lives. I am writing to foster creativity and collaboration in a world full of change and unpredictable futures. I hope to help you find resources, make connections and to be prepared for our common futures. Never stop learning.