I was raised in a small town just north of Cincinnati, Ohio. Springboro (a.k.a. 'Sprinkleberry' or 'Springboring') was a bedroom community waiting to happen. Housing subdivisions have since spread thru the former corn fields like a cancer. As a product of public schools, Boy Scouts, and other unmentionably wholesome activities, upon graduation from high school I felt it was my duty to do something entirely sensible and not the least bit creative . . . so I went to college.

The University of Cincinnati , where I earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, was quite fun as well as fairly educational. Through most of my undergraduate existence, I lived in the house of my fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega. If you're interested, you can catch up with some of my brothers at the Cincy Tau Yahoo Group.

Having graduated, I felt compelled to do something. Since I was being compelled specifically by a car loan, the perfectly logical step was to get a job. Being an engineer, that wasn't so hard. I took a position doing very typical engineer-type things, none of which was very exciting. "By gosh," I thought, "I miss the trauma of exam-taking and the constant nagging at my conscience that only homework can bring." With this thought, I started pursuing an MBA through UC's evening program. "Give us your social life and we'll give you a degree" was their motto, I believe. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I made a number of truly good friends in the program and the not-so-infrequent trips to In(n) the Wood were always entertaining. Take Chuck, for example, enjoying a special birthday celebration at Don Pablo's...

Even though my social life was pitiful, I somehow managed to find the woman who would end up being my wife. At a Holiday party in 1994, we were "introduced" by a helpfully meddling co-worker of Lori's. Fifteen months later, during a ski trip to Steamboat, we got engaged.

Lori and I were married November of 1996 in Chicago. It was quite the party, and we were glad that those who attended could make it (but we certainly missed those who couldn't). The reception, and an amazingly enjoyable honeymoon on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands made the whole wedding ordeal worth it.

During all the wedding hubbub, I finished up my MBA at UC. Feeling fairly unsatisfied by the Engineering profession, and thinking that I had possibly found my calling in the field of Operations Management, Lori and I began looking around for programs at which to continue our education/training (Lori is a Pediatric Anesthesiologist).

So, in September of 1997, I left the ranks of the gainfully employed to pursue a Doctorate in Business Administration at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With Operations Management as my area of concentration, I finished in June of 2001. As they say, "the best dissertation is a done dissertation."

On a parallel track to my education, I started a website called MemoWare back in late 1996. MemoWare was, and still is, a repository of free electronic texts and databases, all formatted to work on PDAs like the PalmPilot. While it started out as a hobby, it quickly grew into a business -- at its height, it welcomed over a half-million unique visitors and provided over a million document downloads each month. Then, in late 2001, I decided to focus on my academic career. I sold MemoWare to Handmark Software, who has run it and kept it growing ever since.

After graduating from our respective programs, Lori and I both accepted new positions. These positions happened to both be back in Cincinnati (really, it was total coincidence). I joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati in the College of Business in the Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management department. Yep, it's a mouthful...I wouldn't name a child after it. Anyway, so now, having been tenured in 2007, I am yet another Associate Professor hoping to make Full at some point so I can goof off the rest of my career. No...not really.

In November 2004, Lori and I welcomed our daughter Samantha -- Sam for short -- into the world and our lives haven't been remotely the same since. Our house is now filled with diapers, tiny rubber-coated spoons, and a ridiculous assortment of baby toys (most of which can't entertain me for more than an hour or two). Although, I have to admit that now having a legitimate reason to re-read Harold and the Purple Crayon and the entire Dr. Seuss collection is pretty nice. The downside is now that some of the time, I have a tendency for my speech to rhyme.

In April 2008, our son Colin arrived and we started "enjoying" the baby phenomenon all over again. Apart from having to now avoid directional streams, it's wonderful having both a boy and a girl...I'm sure I'll learn as much from them as they from me, if not more.

As far as other stuff, you really couldn't care less, I'm sure. So, I'll just finish with "thanks for stopping by" and if you want to drop me a note, say "ptooey" to my page here, or have a really great recipe, mail me .

Last updated: July 2008