Heart for International Youth Exchange

 

ST I was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and attended UW-Madison earning a BA in Political Science. While there I was a member of the UW-Crew, President of the International Relations club while working as a bartender, waiter, bank courier and part-time Legislative aide for a state Senator. I was actively involved in city aldermanic and county board elections.

While in high school, I was involved with Rotary's foreign exchange program housing an inbound student from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. We became good friends and I had exposure to inbound exchange students all over south central Wisconsin. Though I did not have the opportunity to be an outbound, the experience was still enriching and the basis for my decision to join Rotary here.

My wife Kathryn and I married and we lived in the northern Chicago suburbs, then Racine, WI before finally settling in Onalaska. We have 3 daughters. Anya lives and works in Chicago at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is also a student working on her MFA. Anya is a member of the Rotaract club of Chicago. Isabelle is a senior at Onalaska HS, editor of the school newspaper and active in orchestra playing violin. Madeline is a sophomore, more interested in sports like X-country and hockey. We also have a Beagle, of which life seems to revolve around.

I completed an M.B.A. from Viterbo in 2012 and launched a Consumer Finance Company in 2013 called Stonebridge Credit Inc. as President/CEO. We specialize in secured auto lending to people just outside of standard bank/credit union underwriting criteria.