I was born and grew up in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. I attended the University of Minnesota, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. Like many people with this degree combo, I thought about attending law school, but determined that it was just too expensive considering my interest in public policy work. Instead, I received an M.S. degree in Security Technologies from the U of M, fulfilling my desire to learn more about information security.
I currently work for Best Buy on their Cyber Threat and Intelligence team. Prior to that, I worked for Target as a manager on the Information Security Consulting team, as well as I working for a year on Target's Information Risk Assessment team. Before then, worked for 11 years at the Minnesota House of Representatives, first as a Constituent Services writer and then as the head of the IT Department for the DFL Caucus. In that role, I did hardware, software, PDAs, databases...pretty much everything.
When I'm not working, I'm an amateur photographer, reader, writer, biker, poker player, music afficianado, blogger, and discombobulator.
I live in South Minneapolis with my wife Julia, daughter Sonja, and our two cats.