Loyalty, Integrity, & Kindness

Loyalty, integrity and kindness have been the greatest gifts in my life. 

My wife and best friend of more than 30 years lives these values in a way that has touched my soul and the hearts of many others, including her high school students. Her smile brightens any room while her ability to extend these values to others is both inspirational and the reason why I constantly meet new friends and students who love her.  

My parents attributed these values to their religion but their care for others, including myself was rarely contingent on strict adherence to any dogma. They often filled our little farm house’s dinner table with those who struggled socially or mentally and needed a place of belonging and inclusion. 

In my career as a business executive and entrepreneur I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Collectively we were able to participate in the development, commercialization and global deployment of a renewable fuel that replaces coal in utility scale power generation. This required the assembly of partnerships and long term business commitments both here in North America as well as in Europe and Asia.  Finding partners and strategic suppliers and customers that shared our values and vision was infinitely important. When these elements were missing, and this can happen when you misjudge people or when there is personnel or ownership change, the road ahead is and was often difficult or impassable. I remember one CEO who stated after an initial negotiation that their organization only did business with friends and that he thought we would be good friends. His statement always stuck with me as we added new contributors and partners. The first step was always to understand each other's values and whether we could be friends. The commercial terms then flowed freely as a road map for a shared achievement of purpose. 

Having a solid base of values from my parents, having a loving wife that feeds and lives these values and having been granted the opportunity to pursue a career with business friends committed to a shared purpose, has given me a life filled with challenge, more victories than defeats and an overwhelming sense of gratitude, joy, and potential.