From 1997-2000, I served on the Board of Trustees of the Scripps Foundation. After stepping off the Board, I accepted the position of Director of Institutional Relations at The Scripps Research Institute which I held until 2007. It was during this time that I had the good fortune of meeting and becoming a friend of Paul Rogers. During these years, both he and the efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were my greatest inspirations. The work of the Gates Foundation to find cures and develop vaccines for diseases prevalent in underdeveloped countries is indeed heroic.
Currently, I serve as the Managing Director of The Skaggs Institute, a non-profit foundation whose primary mission is to fund graduate students and post-doctoral fellowships at The Scripps Research Institute. In addition, I am working with Peter Schultz, PhD, Institute Director of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation on a new institute in La Jolla, California that will focus on research on neglected diseases including malaria, tuberculosis, juvenile diabetes, and others conditions and diseases where there is little or no profit incentive for finding a cure, developing a vaccine or better treatment.
A graduate of The University of Wisconsin with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, I grew up in San Diego playing golf and competed as a professional on the World Tour before entering a career as a club professional. I have served as the Head Professional at two golf clubs and still do some golf instruction and coaching.