Steve DeBroux

Let's start with some context

I've always been fascinated and excited by emerging technologies and have been fortunate to have worked near the center of many evolutionary changes. In 1985, I began desktop publishing using PageMaker on a Mac. (PageMaker and PostScript! My first tech love!) In 1991 I started at Microsoft, pushing the publishing limits of MS Word (yeah, you heard that right), and enjoying a box seat to witness the exploding tech (and culture) wars pitting Microsoft v. IBM, then Microsoft v. Apple, then Microsoft v. Netscape, then Microsoft v. the Department of Justice. After working on the release of Excel 4 and 5, I spent my final years in Redmond on early research efforts to exploit broadband in support of interactive television, then completeing my tenure upon delivery of version one of Windows CE.

I left Microsoft in 1997 to pursue the next big thing: The Web. I taught myself HTML and started my own business designing and developing websites. I started building sites for small businesses, but soon was working again for Microsoft, as well as Hewlett-Packard, and the University of Washington. In 2005 I began a full time gig at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, joining a small team to design and deploy a web-based collaborative system for global HIV/AIDS research efforts.

In 2011 I was accepted into the Master of Science in Information Management program (MSIM) at the Information School at the University of Washington. Over the next two years I joined an impressive cohort of mid-career students exploring a wide variety of information, data, and business management topics. Course work focused on design methods and usability, enterprise systems management, information economics, taxonomy and metadata standards, data science, information law and ethics, leadership, and business research methods. I completed my degree in 2013.

And now?

With the arrival of ubiquitous mobile broadband connectivity, along with the true maturation of web 2.0 technologies, we've entered yet another era of disruption and opportunity. Enterprise-scale, web-based collaborative work environments are commonly deployed. We're now seeing the rapid growth and availability of distributed systems for processing extremely large data sets. The coupling of visualization and statistical analysis apps with tools developed for real-time, data driven decision making is ushering big data capabilities to the desktop. The power of data is no longer constrained to the data scientists. All members of the organization can utilize tools to make data-driven decisions.

Yet typically, the challenges remain immense. Systems can be insular, hard to use, and effectiveness is often questioned. Technical obstacles persist, but it's the human resistance to adoption that can be most challenging. I find the nexus of these technical and human challenges fascinating. I want to parlay my training in psychology, my deep tech industry experience, and the knowledge gained from completing the MSIM program into an IT leadership position where I can help organizations negotiate these challenges and implement effective information management solutions.

In Steve's role as Production Manager, he hired and managed freelance designers, desktop producers, and tools developers, and he kept everyone working smoothly together in a hectic situation. Steve's interest in and curiosity about what we were doing ensured that he learned more than just how to do his job; his intelligence is not just in wrangling people, but also in taking in complex tools and systems and making all the parts of his job work together.
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Karin Carter
Editing Manager
Microsoft, 1983-97

What's next?

I'm an experienced team leader and project manager with deep expertise designing, developing and deploying solutions that enable web-based collaboration and support complex workflows for distributed teams. I'm seeking a position in a Web 2.0 company or organization with an emphasis on Smart City technologies, open data, data analysis and visualization, and data-driven decision making. My ideal position would include product and team management, strategic planning, and client engagement.

Smart Cities

During my first year in the MSIM program, I kept coming across this idea of Smart Cities. First introduced in our Systems Design class by guest speaker Bill Schrier (then CTO of the City of Seattle), he listed the myriad technologies the city was developing and utilizing, making the claim that Seattle was emerging as a "smart city". In our Business Management class I presented IBM's development of the Rio de Janeiro Information Operations Center, a "mission control" integrating real-time data and information from over 30 city and regional agencies. While investigating this and other IBM "Smarter Planet" initiatives, I was becoming intrigued. I enrolled in an Emerging Trends seminar taught by Prof. Jochen Scholl, a leading researcher on Smart City initiatives.

Partnering with classmate Jason Repko, and using a proposed integrative framework for evaluating smart city initiatives, we explored efforts underway in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, and Bellevue, Washington. Most intriguing to me were initiatives facilitating the open release of government data. Open-data projects are often framed as a movement towards government transparency. While transparency is important (and often a legislative requirement), these initiatives add value to regional economies. Open-data stores are a gold mine for entrepreneurs, a resource to build apps and systems that support valuable public services. Helping cities become data platforms and engines for entrepreneurship is an area of great interest.

Data Science

In the summer of 2012, the UW iSchool hired new faculty member Josh Blumenstock, a rock star Data Scientist from UC Berkeley. Dr. Blumenstock designed his first course at the UW, Data Science "in the Wild", and I jumped at the opportunity to take it. We began the course studying business experiments and how data science is changing the game of Customer Relationship Management. We quickly moved into the management of large data sets including capture, munging, storage, and organization. Machine learning and social network analysis was next, then an introduction to some of the tools for massive data retrieval, storage and analysis like MapReduce, Hadoop, and Hive. Our course work was comprised mainly of statistical data analysis and visualization using R.

Metadata: The Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection

During my graduate work I enrolled in three courses focused on information structure and metadata. In my final course, Metadata Design, we were to select an existing archive and create an application profile that could enhance the collection. I chose the Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection, a resource of over 110,000 photographic records dating from 1880. Although roughly 95% of the indexed collection has been digitized and made available online, the index terms available for searching the archive is simplistic. Search is limited to text search of a description field, along with a selection of date and location ranges.

While digital photography and scanning software can now attach a large set of structural metadata to an object (e.g. date, camera settings, GPS data, photographer, scanner settings), descriptive metadata for photography is inherently challenging. Along with capturing a person, place, or thing, a photo captures an event, and events are dependent on the context of what leads up to it, as well as what follows. A comprehensive application profile for a photo archive needs to encompass not only the administrative and structural metadata mentioned earlier, but also a descriptive schema that can capture context along with content.

I performed an analysis of the intellectual, physical, and contextual characteristics of the photographic objects in the collection, and created a data dictionary. The basis of the application profile was an XML-based schema utilizing various metadata standards (METS, VRA Core, PREMIS, and MIX) as well as locally defined elements.

Here is a selection of files showing some of my work for this project, including the data dictionary, the XML Schema, and an object instance.

Air Atlas: Visualizing Air Quality and Mortality

Air pollution is a major contributor to human mortality and morbidity. Particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers, or PM2.5, can lodge deep in the lungs and impact cardiovascular health. Strong links have been made between PM2.5 and ischemic heart disease, a leading cause of death in western countries.

For my degree capstone project, I worked with two colleagues, Sanjay Bhatt and Mike Katell, to develop an online tool to visualize PM2.5 exposure levels across North America. Using the statistical program R to normalize 4.7M records obtained from satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth, we poured the resulting data into Tableau Public to create a web-based visualization tool. Working with Dr. Bruce Lanphear from Simon Fraser University, along with researchers at Health Canada, Statistics Canada, and the University of Washington, the Air Atlas visualization tool showed the expected increase in mortality and morbidity, at any location in North America, attributable to recorded PM2.5 exposure levels.

Project Management

Having been a website design/build consultant since 1997, project management is the name of the game. I've shepherded an array of clients through a very wide variety of information, data, and web-based projects. I've led teams through logo design and branding, systems and information architecture, server procurement and deployment, website design, development, deployment and launch, and all things in between. I've successfully executed projects for individual entrepreneurs, local small businesses and retailers, university programs and departments, global scientific research efforts, retail product launches for Hewlett-Packard and internal communication strategies for Microsoft. Here are a couple of my PM success stories while at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

In August 2005, I was hired by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to oversee IT operations for a new effort called the Center for Collaborative Research (CCR). Headed by Dr. James Kublin, the first task of the CCR was to establish the Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC). Under the direction of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), HANC was charged with coordinating all HIV/AIDS clinical trials activities funded by the National Institutes of Health, an effort running over $280M per year. Our office was tasked with establishing and coordinating a new Principal Investigator Leadership Council, uncover efficiencies across the global network of research laboratories, establish a Community Partners program to better empower stakeholders and activists from the community of those directly impacted by HIV/AIDS, and provide a focal point of cross-network training programs and materials.

Steve is intelligent and motivated to learn, which was critical, as we needed him to quickly get up to speed on both a complex new information technology and the rapidly evolving science of HIV research. We were working in a startup environment with many demands, limited resources, and a great deal of ambiguity, all learning together where the opportunities were and figuring it out as we went along. Steve's communication skills were incredibly valuable during the technology adoption process, as we had to convince skeptical scientists to change their behavior and adopt new processes and tools. Steve conducted much of the training and proved adept at translating technology in ways that users could understand and get excited about. In the process, he also gathered important usability information that allowed us to improve the tools we were providing.
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James Kublin, MD, MPH
Executive Director, HIV Vaccine Trials Network
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Reasearch Center

Our work was soon noticed by program officers at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and our team was hired to be the Alliance Management office for a new $287M endeavor called The Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD). The CAVD comprised 16 research consortia, each focused on a particular HIV vaccine research approach, or engaged as a central service facility to support the entire CAVD effort. I led the deployment of a web-based collaborative environment designed to support over 1000 researchers at 103 institutions across 14 countries.

My initial responsibility for the CAVD was analyzing consortium business methods and designing improved communication and information management tools. Intra-consortium communication and the secure transfer of scientific data was a primary CAVD challenge. We deployed a Microsoft SharePoint Server Farm, the first hosted by Fred Hutch server operations. We created sophisticated libraries for document and data management and storage. Taxonomy was defined and metadata attached to each item, allowing us to create custom filtering while deploying authentication-controlled workflows. RSS feeds posted new and updated content. Blogs were created so that inter-consortia project updates could be shared while soliciting comments and discussion from other teams, further encouraging collaboration. Looking back, many of these efforts almost seem quaint. Team collaboration systems have become commonplace in most work environments. But in the fall of 2007, this was pretty good stuff.

Team Development

Product design. Application development. Branding and design. Client engagement. Essentially all the work we do in this field is a product of teams. If you want a successful product and a satisfied client, you need to start with a competent and satisfied team. I've been a part of many dozens of team projects, both as a contributor and leader. I've endured team failures, the total crash and burn or the explosion into competitive satellites. I've also enjoyed the camaraderie and wild success that a well-run team can achieve. I prefer the latter, and at this point in my career, I've come to insist upon it.

The usual rough-and-tumble environment of Microsoft was made even tougher because we were creating Version One for Windows CE and Microsoft Interactive Television. In spite of the difficulties, our team pulled together and had productive working relationships. ...This kind of environment requires flexibility: one minute your project is a green giraffe, the next it's a purple anteater. Forget about all the nights and weekends you put into the giraffe, it's now anteaters all the way! People tend to break one of two ways: some become embittered, while others are able to laugh it off, knowing that the joy of being part of a tight-knit team can make up for hours and days and weeks of work that disappear into the ether. ...Steve's co-workers loved working with him, and he maintained his cool while putting out fires. He not only could participate as a team member, but he could lead in an unassuming but rock-solid way when needed.
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Karin Carter
Editing Manager
Microsoft, 1983-97

Microsoft Corporation

In the IT field, my first leadership position came at Microsoft in 1995. On the heels of my work publishing SDK documentation for Interactive Television in the Advanced Research group, I was asked to hire a team of developers, graphic designers, and desktop publishers to produce 3rd party software development kits and User Guides for the initial deployment of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. Over the next year our team worked with PM, Dev, and writing teams to complete the Alpha, Beta, and successful RTM launch of Windows CE, Microsoft's first foray into the handheld PC market.

Hewlett-Packard

As an independent consultant in 2000, I led a design and development team for Hewlett-Packard to publish the online user guides for HP's Pavilion line of computers. Co-located in Seattle and Silicon Valley, I coordinated activities between teams both virtually and in person, travelling often to meet HP teams in Palo Alto and Cupertino.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

As I mentioned previously, from 2005-2010 I was involved in the building of a new program called the Center for Collaborative Research at the Fred Hutch. As a member of the inaugural team of three employees, I was engaged in hiring individuals to fill out the expanding office, from IT staff to program management.

In creating an online collaborative portal for two global research projects, I worked with the Fred Hutch server ops team to procure and deploy the server racks. I hired consultants to guide us through the development of our SharePoint Farm installation. With the consulting teams, I led the information architecture, design and development of the portals.

I enlisted "champions" within each research consortium to identify challenges and pain points that the new collaborative system could address. Working with 16 research teams scattered across the globe, we designed unique collaborative environments for each, while maintaining design and tools consistency to encourage cross-consortia communication and data sharing.

Steve occupied an interesting place in the organization. He had a leadership role, charged with identifying business needs and coming up with solutions, but he also was responsible for much of the project production work. He moved easily between directing our work as consultants, and being directed by us. Responsibility was handed back and forth between us depending on who was most comfortable with the content. He recognized where his technical limitations were and easily deferred to our expertise when appropriate. What I'm saying is, while he was very committed and invested in the project, he wouldn't let his ego get in the way of moving forward. For him, it didn't matter who did what, or who got credit. He simply wanted to see the work done well and as efficiently as possible. As a consultant, he was a pleasure to work with.
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Mike Geyer
Client Service Partner
Slalom Consulting

 

Leadership

I've always considered myself a leader by nature, and when presented with an opportunity (or vacuum) I invariably lean into it. As a leader, I pride myself in enlisting qualified, engaged individuals. But like most, I've come to learn that identifying qualified people is half the job. The quality of an individual can be equally important, perhaps more. I look for team members who are wicked smart, but can communicate what they know; who convey passion, but not zealotry; people who love to put their head down, but also know when to look up and scan the room. And I look for individuals who play well with others.

But all of us struggle to play nice at times, and it requires leadership to move a team towards collaboration, productivity and success. One can rely on leadership manual boilerplate, things like clear expectations, inspiration, recognition, celebration. But knowing how to engage and motivate an individual takes more. It takes empathy, compassion, and sometimes a little push. If you want a team member that's engaged, position them to contribute value. For a team member who's invested and committed, give them responsibility. To harness inspiration, communicate the big picture while providing room to experiment, fail, recover, and succeed.

And expect great things.

Below is a selection of branding and website projects I've successfully delivered over the past 17 years. Each of these projects was a team effort. Sometimes it's simply me and the client where I filled the role of PM, graphic designer, and developer, though typically these projects involved of a team of client stakeholders along with graphic design and development teams. I completed some of these projects under the direction of others, but the majority were delivered entirely under my project management and leadership.

Branding

Photoshop is in my wheelhouse. I've been a Photoshop jockey since, well, since it was first released. Working as a desktop publisher at Microsoft in 1991, I soon had a Mac on my desk and was working with the graphic design teams helping with image compositing. I soon left desktop publishing behind and joined the ranks of Microsoft graphic artists.

As a design/build consultant, I've worked on many brand strategies and have had the opportunity to create a variety of logos and design guides. Following is a selection of logos I've designed.

Websites

Microsoft's turn towards the internet in the mid-1990's is legend. Bill Gates set the company's sights on Netscape in 1995 and within years Internet Explorer was the dominant browser. But within the company opportunities to use HTML and build websites were surprisingly scarce. In the publishing world I was in, there was still a deep commitment to print. Online publishing tools were proprietary and hard to use. I decided to leave the company to start my solo act as a website developer. The work poured in. Everyone wanted a website!

I taught myself HTML, learning from the work of early web design pioneers like Jakob Nielsen, Lynda Weinman, David Seigel, Eric Meyer, and Jeffrey Zeldman. After surviving the pain of designing sites in the late '90s (separate versions for separate browsers!) I began to focus on CSS and standards-driven design.

I've gotten dozens of people, products, programs, and companies online. Painters, photographers, textile designers, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists, climate change scientists, HIV/AIDS researchers, member associations, internet entrepreneurs, political activists, insurance companies, and yes, a few members of the Fortune 500. Following is a selection of websites I've delivered.

Aside from being an independent consultant, I've also worked as a contract consultant for a number of marketing, design, and communications firms in Seattle. Within each of these companies, I was soon recognized as a knowledgeable, responsible, and mature partner, and thus handed functional responsibility for major client portfolios. At Wasser Studios, I was responsible for end-user documentation projects with Hewlett-Packard. At Morse Best Innovation I was handed numerous projects for Microsoft. More recently I've been working with Coherent Interactive, where I've been handed the reins for projects with Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance and The Bellevue Downtown Association. Below are a couple stories highlighting client successes.

Solution Architecture

Microsoft Corporation

From 2010-2013 I worked as a consultant with Morse Best Innovation, a marketing and communications firm in Seattle. I was enlisted to take on a number of projects for Microsoft, including one for Microsoft Corporate Communications (CorpComm), the public relations and news center, responsible for directing corporate messaging through PR agencies around the globe. The Rapid Response team needed a more efficient system for immediate, critical message distribution.

We developed an MS Word Template used to capture rapid response items. The template assigned metadata to content elements, and the resulting documents, once uploaded to a library, would immediately create and populate webpages across the corporate intranet. Authorization schemes were used to ensure that message alerts and calls-to-action reached critical personnel as required. The CorpComm team found this solution to be elegant, simple, and very effective. The solution also had some legs to it, as I was asked to work with them on project updates three times over the following three years.

Client Development

Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery

Getting employees at Microsoft to embrace new ideas or solutions is a piece of cake. Try taking the leaders in the global fight against AIDS, hardened research veterans gunning for a breakthrough in vaccine discovery that will land a Nobel in their lap, and hand them a data portal while asking them to share their unpublished work with 1000 others. This is a client development challenge.

One of Steve's strengths is his ability to bridge the gap between non-technical business stakeholders and the technical teams designing and developing solutions. Steve's ability to accurately understand and represent the end user was critical to the final delivery of solutions that were easy to use while delivering the value they desired. His technical curiosity motivated him to identify novel approaches that teams could integrate into their workflows.
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Mike Geyer
Client Service Partner
Slalom Consulting

The Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD) is a well-funded effort forwarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Because of the funding, participants have an incentive to share and play nice. But there are no guarantees when it comes to academic and research collaborations, where incentives are much more complex. Careers (and fortunes) are built on proprietary discovery. Research programs and institutions rely on patent protection and ownership. But the fight against a true global menace, a tragedy like HIV/AIDS, requires something different. And few know this better than those committed to the fight.

Still, we knew that adoption of our collaborative portal strategy would be a challenge. We identified consortium leaders who were committed to open data and sharing and worked with them to lay a strategy to encourage early adopters. We created prototype team areas and tested different approaches to communication and sharing. We built library systems where data sets could be stored and easily accessed by participants as needed. Most important to our success, we enlisted champions early in the process. These individuals provided critical guidance, helping us understand not just the science and research methods, but also the protective, siloed culture of academic and industry research.

I'm an experienced, successful team leader and project manager with expertise designing, developing and deploying complex online solutions and services. Over the past 10 years I've focused primarily on products that enable web-based collaboration while supporting complex workflows across globally distributed teams.

With the intent to expand my knowledge in information systems and technical business management, I attended graduate school at the UW to get my Masters of Science in Information Management. I'm now seeking a position in a Web 2.0 company or organization with an emphasis on smart city technologies, government open data, data analysis, data visualization, and data-driven decision making. My ideal position would include responsibilities in product design and program management, client development, and strategic planning.

Education

University of Washington, Seattle WA

Masters of Science in Information Management

2013

UW Professional and Continuing Education, Seattle WA

Certificate in .NET Development

2010

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

BA, Psychology

1984

Work History

Steve DeBroux Design Seattle, WA

1997 - Present

Independent consultant, project manager, web developer, and graphic designer

Client Highlights

Coherent Interactive (June 2013 - Present)

• Working in Sitefinity CMS, project managed, developed and deployed new corporate websites for the Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company and the Bellevue Downtown Association.
• Assisted with development teams on sites for: Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Greater Seattle Business Association, Leadership Tomorrow, Bodypoint Inc.

Morse Best Innovation (2010 - 2013)

Developed SharePoint solutions for internal Microsoft teams, including Corporate Communications, Interactive Entertainment Business Unit Leadership, Customer Services and Support Executive Team, Server and Tools Marketing Group Executive Communications.

• Developed and deployed custom tools to support complex workflow solutions, critical document management, and cross-corporate and extra-corporate communications.

University of Washington (2000 - 2006)

Designed and developed departmental and program websites for:

• The Climate Impacts Group, College of the Environment
• The Center on Reinventing Public Education, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs
• The Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health
• International Scholars in Occupational and Environmental Health Program, School of Public Health
• Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, School of Public Health

Wasser Studios (1998 - 2002)

• Led the UX design team for a component of InfoWeb, a Microsoft internal sales and marketing website
• Designed and developed HTML-based Hewlett Packard Pavilion Online User's Guide distributed with all new HP Pavilion desktop PCs

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, WA

2005 - 2010

SharePoint Site Manager, Collaborative Services (2008 - 2010)

Developed SharePoint solutions for 12 scientific collaboration projects.

• Worked closely with clients and project managers to identify business objectives and requirements.
• Designed and deployed SharePoint site collections, collaboration and publishing portals.
• Deployed team sites based on client specifications, creating complex workflows, document management strategies, wikis, blogs, calendars, and custom data tools.

IT Coordinator, Center for Collaborative Research (2005 - 2007)
HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC), NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

As initial member of the Alliance Management team, developed web strategy and online collaborative solutions supporting two global HIV/AIDS research efforts.

• Gathered requirements and developed scopes of work.
• Researched and selected technology platform.
• Led software and server acquisition and managed deployment.
• Designed, developed and deployed multiple MS SharePoint site collections.
• Developed training materials and delivered SharePoint training to project administrators and end users.
• Member of technical advisory team developing an online reporting and tracking system for adverse events in human clinical trials, funded and deployed by the National Institutes of Health.

Microsoft Corporation Redmond, WA

1994 - 1997

Production Manager, Consumer Platforms Division User Education group (1995 - 1997)

• Managed a team of six graphic designers and desktop publishers to produce both print and on-line documentation for Windows CE Software Developer's Kit (SDK) and User's Guide.
• Led the project through alpha, beta, and release to manufacturing launches.
• Member of cross-company team working to standardize documentation design and delivery, accessibility, style guide, and authoring tools.

Production Lead, Interactive Television User Education group (Contract through Wasser Inc.; 1994 - 1995)

• Sole producer of printed SDK documentation, including graphics design, production scheduling, final print coordination, and staff training.
• Collaborated with writers, editors, program management, illustrators, and external vendors and service providers.

Frame Technology Corporation Redmond, WA

1994

Production Lead (Contract through Wasser Inc.)

• Sole production specialist responsible for design, layout, and print production of all software documentation and marketing collateral.
• Worked closely with writers and developers while designing new specifications for all print media.
• Responsible for art and layout of product documentation.
• Managed final print production utilizing external vendors and service providers.

Microsoft Corporation Redmond, WA

1991 - 1993

Graphic Artist, Desktop Publisher, Tester (Contract through Wasser Inc.)

• Responsible for art and layout of Microsoft Excel documentation.
• Teamed with writers and editors on English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German language versions.
• Tested tools developed for company-wide publication design templates and style guides.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance Washington, DC

1990 - 1991

Production Manager

• Responsible for all aspects of print publications production.
• Responsible for all computer system maintenance, including desktop support, hardware and software acquisition, installation, and training.

Life

I grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the shores of Lake Superior. I've lived for a time in Lansing and Ann Arbor Michigan, Houston Texas, Atlanta Georgia, and Washington, DC. I moved to Seattle in 1988 with my partner as she pursued graduate school. Catherine is now a pediatrician and faculty researcher at the University of Washington. We live in the Phinney/Ballard neighborhood with our two daughters, Zoe and Thea.

Living in Seattle has stuck. I love the natural environment here. Being surrounded by mountains and water is an unbeatable combination for my family and me. I enjoy mountain biking, backcountry skiing, and sailing (though I haven't enjoyed sailing enough lately). I'm a long-time player in the Seattle ultimate frisbee community. I also run the Ultimate program (and coach) at Hamilton International Middle School. Now that my daughters are getting older, I'm hoping to find the time to re-familiarize myself with the Seattle music scene. Oh, and although I enjoy many of the fine craft ales emerging from the area, I'm really a Scotch guy.