Background

I was born and raised a “Pittsburgher”.  Growing up in the suburbs east of Pittsburgh, I met my true love, Kelli, in high school.  After high school, I attended the University of Pittsburgh’s Greensburg campus and received my BS in business management. I got involved in the fire equipment industry in 1998 and it has become one of my passions. At my first job in the industry I worked in the shop learning how to test, repair and recharge all types of fire extinguishers.  After some time, I moved into a field position where I got to use my skills of providing customer service and sales before I ended up in management.  It was at this time (1999) that my family and I moved to Butler County.  During my 18+ years with that company I was able to hone my skills as a leader and learn a lot about fire protection equipment.  I received the company’s “President’s Award” for excellence and became involved with the PA Fire Equipment Distributors (PaFED) Association.  PaFED offered a great opportunity to meet my colleagues in the industry throughout the state.  I was elected to their Board of Directors and served 2 consecutive terms (6 years).  During this time, I held the positions of Chairman of the Conference Committee and Board President.  I was a key player in the creation of the Professional Development Committee where I created and taught classes about fire equipment servicing.  These classes were usually for our members (who were other fire equipment companies) but also included training of AHJ’s (fire marshals, inspectors, etc.).  I also served as a member of the NFPA 10 Committee for NaFED (NaFED is the national equivalent to PaFED).  While on the committee for NaFED, I assisted in the review the NFPA 10 Standard (the standard for fire extinguishers) for clarifications that may be needed and submitted ideas on how to improve the servicing and placement of extinguishers.  I was involved in the development of NaFED’s certification program where I assisted with the creation of the first certification test.