Nothing is more important in my life than my family, and the greatest benefit from all my years as a small business owner was meeting my wife, Susan, a graphic designer who was a customer of my first business, Campro.  We’ve lived, worked, volunteered and played in the Lakewood and Golden area for 22 years and have a son, Roger, who attended JeffCo public schools, Red Rocks Community College, and now Colorado State University. Susan and I live in the same home we bought in 1988, which we share with our beagle, Darby and our cat Cleo.

I have been proud to serve as your State Representative for the past year, and I think my small business experience has served me well in this  job.  Prior to becoming your Representative in 2009, I owned three profitable small businesses, and I use what I learned at those small businesses every day at the State House.   Three mottoes sum up my approach:  “better, cheaper, faster,”  “never stop learning” and “cooperate with others”.

I started my first business in 1974, armed with little more than 26-year-old naiveté and a market-changing new technology.  Campro Systems provided  photostats and computer for graphic designers.  I learned how to create jobs and meet a payroll. At its peak, Campro employed 25 workers at three locations in the metro area, working 24 hours a day, six days a week.  Campro was a successful small business, serving small businesses, whose own customers were also small businesses! 

By the early nineties it was clear that desktop publishing was going to kill off the typesetting industry, so I sold Campro and put my computer skills to use in my second small business, Compro (Computer Professionals).  Compro offered computer network support to companies with five to 50 computers.  Eventually, several hundred small businesses were calling us when their computers had problems. Compro’s success came partly from partnering with others.  We often sat down and traded ideas, a practice that makes it easy for me to reach across the aisle now at the State House.  

In 2004 I started my third business, The Star Group, advising small businesses on how to use their human resources and their technology more effectively. I held myself accountable, always checking back to find out if my advice had actually improved the business. I am a firm believer in strong accountability for both business and government.

Susan and I have always believed in the importance of giving back to our community.  I served on the Board of Directors for the Denver Chamber of Commerce.  I wrote a plan for a small business incubator that became “The Growth Center,” helping hundreds of small businesses get started and grow. Susan has been an active volunteer at the Jeffco Action Center for many years.

For fun over the last few years, I’ve competed in four Triathlons, one full and several half marathons -- all of which helped me stay in shape for the door-to-door walking I’ve done since last spring.

Since I've joined the legislature, I've been focused on sorting through the tough choices and listening to the thoughtful input of all stakeholders. I am most proud of one particular achievement this year: a new bill that will make Colorado the best place in the country for renewable energy jobs. In a remarkable deliberative process, we manage to bring together sustainable energy advocates and our biggest public utilities to forge a compromise in which we begin to break Colorado's dependence on dirty fossil fuels while creating tens of thousands of jobs in local small businesses. By carefully considering all views, we found a way that clean energy is also good for the economy!

I hope this helps provide a bit more information about me and about how I will represent you in the legislature.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or comments. And please vote for me in November!