My love for Pocatello began at an early age.  Fortunately, I was raised by parents who liked to travel and didn’t think twice about loading all six of us children into the station wagon and taking off on a big adventure – whether it be a trip to Wisconsin or Wyoming to see our relatives, a visit to Mount Rushmore, or just a camping trip a few short hours away. 

When we headed back home from our journeys and got close to Pocatello, one of my sisters would always lead us in a song that went something like: “Pocatello, here come, right back where we started from!”   Then I remember arriving at the crest of the hill on the freeway headed north, just before the Clark Street exit, where you would suddenly and dramatically see this beautiful city tucked away in a scenic valley with mountains on three sides. Those proud early impressions of Pocatello have always resonated with me.   

My dad had a long career as an administrator at The Vo-Tech School at Idaho State University (now known as the College of Technology).  During his tenure, he helped the city attract new businesses.  He would accompany city and county officials on trips to recruit companies to see what their staffing needs were and how the Vo-Tech school could prepare and train their new employees. 

One of the programs my dad oversaw was ISU’s nationally recognized electronics program.  A big feather in his cap was the role he played in recruiting AMI to Pocatello back in the 1970s.  Because my father took so many out-of-town business trips, I remember asking him what some of his favorite cities were that he visited.  He named off a couple of them but ended by saying his favorite thing was arriving back in Pocatello, and this truly was the best place to live.  I couldn’t agree more.    

Pocatello was always going to be a community I had a soft spot for.  I went on to graduate from Highland High School, then from ISU with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Management & Organization.  I had some help from my parents with school, but for the most part, it was me supporting myself through college by working and later becoming an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant called Rax Roast Beef.

Starting my career in the restaurant industry (which seems forever ago now) and working there for five whole years wasn’t what most people thought was very glamorous, but I loved it because it exposed me to all different types of people, taught me a great work ethic, and provided me with my first important experiences supervising people. 

Shortly after graduating from college, at age 23, I got a job as an underwriter at Farmers Insurance Company.  I rose through the ranks at Farmers Insurance, eventually starting from scratch and leading a 50-person customer service department and earning the company’s Management Excellence Award.