That's me on the left. The others are my three favorite people in the world: My wife of 31 years, Nancy, and our sons Patrick and Chris. We are from the state of Minnesota in the United States, but moved here to Geneva 3 years ago when Nancy took a job with the International Labour Organization, a branch of the United Nations. Patrick and Chris are college students back in Minnesota, but we manage to visit each other often.

I love living in Geneva, and we take every opportunity to travel and experience as much of the European continent and culture as possible. In my free time, I enjoy hiking in the mountains (including race-hiking, my new favorite athletic activity), swimming, cooking, wine tasting (which I know nothing about, but like to do anyway) and writing in my blog, SwissSojourner.com.

Most of my professional career has been spent in the area of transportation policy and financing, in both the public and private sectors. Working for the Minnesota State Department of Transportation, I created and then managed a state grant program designed to support public-private partnerships in which private sector beneficiaries of public transportation infrastructure projects (road and bridge improvements, mostly) support public financing through their own contributions of funds or land donations. This program continues to flourish today. I am continuing to work in the public policy arena here in Geneva through my own 1-man consulting business.

I am excited to be volunteering at euforia, because I believe strongly in the cause. And as an American citizen, I feel especially driven to contribute in my own small way to an organization that promotes collaboration to “imagine, design, and implement bold solutions to today’s most pressing social, environmental and economic challenges.”