“I am running to continue the work of building a safe, friendly, productive school environment that both reflects the unique character of our community and prepares our students to be successful in the 21st century.”

My Service

Yes on A Rally

  • Board of Trustees, SVUSD:
    • Board President, 2019 & 2020
    • Finance Sub-Committee
    • Parcel Tax Sub-Committee
    • Supported the launch of the Cultural Responsiveness Committee in 2020 to improve SVUSD Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives
    • Approved selection of Inclusion Counts to conduct and report on the state of equity at Scotts Valley schools
    • Attended Inside Education training program, 2017/18.
  • California School Boards Association (CSBA)
    • Member of the Delegate Assembly since 2020, helping guide CSBA’s policy and legislative priorities — to provide better funding for schools like ours.
    • Presented at the Annual Education Conference 2021 on the need for Special Education funding reform
    • Nominated for a position on the CSBA Legislative Policy committee (appointment TBD)
  • Santa Cruz County School Board Association (SCZCSBA)
    • Active member since 2017
    • Association President, 2021- Present: supporting County-wide communications of trustees, setting up meetings with our local legislators to address education priorities.
  • Financial Campaigns — part of the core campaign teams that promoted:
    • Measure K passed in June 2012: helped close funding gaps to keep teachers on the job and students achieving.
    • Measure A passed in 2014: providing $35M in funding to remodel the 70+ year old Middle School, opening in 2019.
    • Measure A passed in 2018: providing $700k per year to support increased teacher salaries, and additional student services we could not otherwise afford.
  • Scotts Valley Educational Foundation: Board Secretary for three years, Christmas Tree lot, Mountain Charlie Challenge, donor database, and Food Truck Fridays.

My Background

  • Married 28 years to my beautiful and vivacious wife, Michele Snyder.
  • Father of four daughters who attended SVUSD schools:
    • Janine graduated from Grand Canyon University, and is now a teacher at Champions, providing before and after school care at Vine Hill School.
    • Alicia is in her final year at Western Washington University, studying sociology and anthropology.
    • Kaitlyn is in her final year at San Diego State University, studying business and entrepreneurship.
    • Tessa is a sophomore at Colorado State University, studying theatre arts.
  • MBA, with concentrations in Marketing and Leadership, Santa Clara University.
  • BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, U.C. Berkeley.
  • 20+ years leading product management teams in Silicon Valley, at companies as small as 7 people, and as large as Microsoft.
  • Vice President of Products and Services at 280 Group.  We are the leading independent product management consultancy in Silicon Valley.