Term Expires: November 2023
Personal
My wife Judy and I moved to Lago Vista in 2002. We have been married for 35 years. I grew up in a military family and we never lived in one place for more than a couple of years. I guess I got all that moving out of my system as I moved to Texas in 1981 and have lived here since. We plan on staying here for as long as we can.
After college, I was hired as an aviation consultant by a computer timesharing company that also developed custom software in their Washington, D.C branch. I then learned to write code in APL and was promoted to Technical Manager for the west coast and lived in California for a year. I relocated to Texas to work for a competitor as the National Sales Manager for a year until my previous employer hired me back as the Regional Manager for the Central U.S. and relocated me to Houston where I went to law school full time while working full time.
After I received my law degree in 1987. I started my own law firm in Houston, Texas. My practice has had a heavy emphasis on litigation from the beginning. In 2002 I received an offer from a client to act as general counsel for his oil and gas exploration company and moved to Lago Vista. A year and a half later I resumed my private practice and limited my work to oil and gas litigation and general counsel work. Since that time, I have trained and studied to be able to provide services as a mediator and arbitrator as well. I have been an attorney for 35 years. I am a member of the State Bar College and a former Presiding Municipal Judge for Lago Vista.
Lago Vista Community Involvement
When my work permitted me to travel less, I became involved in trying to help the local community and began to do work for Lago Vista on a volunteer basis.
- 2010 to 2015 - I served on the Building Committee, which has since morphed into the Building and Standards Committee. I left that post when I was appointed Associate Judge.
- 2012 to 2015 and 2021 -I have done two stints on the Board of Adjustments. I was Chairman of the Board of Adjustments and remained so until 2015 when I became a Judge here in Lago Vista. When I was appointed again in 2021, I was again elected chair of the committee.
- 2021 - I was Chairman of the Charter Review Committee. The Committee did an extensive review and clean-up of the Charter and all of the recommendations that the City Council put forward were adopted by popular vote in the 2021 election.
- 2015 to 2019 - I was appointed Associate Judge in 2015 and a few months thereafter was made Presiding Judge. During both of my terms in 2015 and 2017, I was nominated by a vote of the other Associate Judges here in Lago Vista to be Presiding Judge. That nomination was then sent up to the City Manager at the time who then appointed me to the post and City Council confirmed that appointment.
Education
I have a BS in Air Commerce and Transportations Technology from Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida. I also have a Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas.