I’ve lived in southern Tennessee my entire life and worked to make it better for everyone.
I grew up on our family farm in Lincoln County, one where a focus on generosity and community instilled in me the Tennessee volunteer spirit. My family includes a long line of small business owners, farmers, mechanics, pastors, and more. It made for some big shoes to fill.
I met my wife Heather in high school. After graduating, we both headed to Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. A college degree and wedding later, we moved back home and I joined a tech company named Basecamp. As a customer support team lead, I help our customers grow and build their small businesses.
After moving back, we bought a house and soon welcomed to the world our two wonderful kids – Elliott and Margot.
Growing up, it seems like we were always hanging around my granddad’s shop on the family farm. He was the guy everyone around our community trusted with their tractor repairs.
We’d help him pull engines out, swap brakes, and put in the work to keep those tractors going through at least one more season. He always talked about taking care of things – making them better. That tractor’s leaving his shop better than how it came in.
Like many small towns in southern Tennessee, our community always had this sense of better as a common goal. From the church to the grocery store, the neighbor’s porch or my granddad’s shop, everyone talked about looking out for each other – making things better for us all.
The spirit of Tennessee is one for the common good – a community that works with each other and for each other. That’s the way my granddad saw it back then and that’s what I’m working for now.
My story is the story of Tennessee – just a volunteer looking to make Tennessee work better for everyone.