This piece of heaven that Iโve found
Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground
Everything I need beneath that big blue sky
Doesnโt matter where I go
This place will always be my home
Yeah Iโve been Alberta Bound for all my life
And Iโll be Alberta Bound until I die
I was born and raised in the small (now not so small) town of Strathmore, Alberta. I have amazing parents and an occasionally not annoying younger brother and grew up a very normal life in the 1980โs and 1990โs full of Ninja Turtles, Nintendo and, eventually, Nirvana.
As a citizen of a bedroom community, I witnessed many of the challenges living in the shadow of a major urban centre:
Lack of youth activity options
Drain of young adults moving to the city after completing high school
Difficulty attracting well paying jobs
Difficulty accessing health and other provincial services
That said, I also saw many of the benefits that come with living in these communities:
Higher residential growth rates
Access to all the services of the city
A strong sense of community for adults and children
Safety & security
Like most of my peers, I left town shortly after graduating and moved to Calgary. I earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and later became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
I spent nearly 15 years working in the investment banking industry, advising (primarily oil and gas) clients on strategy, capital markets transactions (issuing debt and equity) and mergers and acquisitions. I met my wife Kym and we lived in a beautiful, but cramped home in the inner city neighbourhood of Marda Loop.
With children in our minds, both of us wanted to get back to our small town roots and we started exploring places to land. I had always wanted to move west, the foothills and rockies had always had a calling for me.
In 2015 we found our family home in Turner Valley and weโve loved living in this wonderful community since then.
We are now married with two amazing boys (aged ~3 years old and ~4 months old) and are looking forward to raising our family here.
I am embarking on a new career path, heading up the Western Canadian effort for a Toronto-based provider of financial analysis training & consulting services. Iโm excited as this opportunity will be partially home-based and offers some flexibility to give more back to our community.
My first involvement in municipal politics (other than always being a political ju**ie) came in 2017 when I started and moderated a popular Facebook group dealing with issues in that contentious municipal election. I wanted there to be a place where we dealt in facts that could be backed up and where we could avoid conjecture and personal attacks. The group remains active to this day, though Iโve passed the moderation baton so the group can survive while I make a run.
Subsequent to the election I remained active, being a loud, sometimes irritating, proponent for the recording and streaming of council meetings to improve the transparency of our municipal government. I also volunteered to represent our community on two regional boards. I am a director for Community Futures Highwood and I sit on the Intermunicipal Subdivision and Development Appeal Board serving Turner Valley, Black Diamond & Longview. Iโm passionate about this town and itโs potential for the future.
So why run now?
Iโm running because I think our community is at a critical juncture. This council has accomplished some wonderful things so far, but I believe the remainder of this term is going to be very important to set us on the right path for the future.
I hope I can earn your trust to help guide that future.
