Initiation: 1982
Member Number: 1268
I was initiated in January, 1982, my freshman year. I graduated in 1986, after a few major changes, in computer science. I have been working in the computer field my entire career, first in sales at a company called Businessland in Portland, Oregon, selling computers to businesses. I then moved onto the technical side, designing and installing local area networks. I moved over to Computerland for a few years doing network consulting . I then took a job with Sequent Computer Systems in Beaverton in 1993, supporting a national inside sales group. When that group disbanded, I moved over to a small group that was starting up a program to sell SAP solutions on our computers. I traveled the world as one of the only technically knowledgeable software performance engineers for SAP solutions in the company. Then, in the fall of 1999, IBM purchased Sequent and I’ve been working at IBM in the System Group ever since. My roles have been primarily around running performance benchmarks on our servers and running tests to validate SAP software solutions on our hardware.
I married my wife Kim in 1990, who also worked at Businessland. We had our first child, a daughter, in February 1994. Our second came 4 years later, a boy. Both kids are now out in the wild working, both having graduated. The girl from Portland State, and the boy from Oregon State. We built our home in 1994 in southwest Beaverton and are still living there.
I joined the Gamma Alpha Building Association as an At-Large member in 2002. I soon took over the Treasurer position and have held that role ever since. I was on the transition team when the house was force-sold to Northwest Christian College in 2005, then on the formulation of the organization into the Gamma Alpha Educational Foundation in 2015, giving deserving undergraduates financial assist by way of educational scholarships.