Q: How was your community involvement impacted your work and life?

My time in the community has led me to understand just how great some needs are within Eugene and the surrounding communities for access to health care, food security, drug, and alcohol recovery, and housing.

Q: What have you been most motivated by in your career?

I have been motivated mostly by my patients. I witness their courage, strength, fear, anger, sadness, joy and every emotion in between as they undergo cancer therapy. They motivate me to continue to learn, to push the boundaries of our treatments, and to continue to strive and provide the highest quality care locally.

Q: What do you hope to see for our community?

The hope I have for our community is more involvement. Most of the people I meet have an idea and hope for change for our community, but the ways in which to act upon that aren’t always clear or are very limited (time, financial, etc.).  I hope that our future community has more ways in which everyone can give back and support this place we live – regardless of your passion. More hands helping equals a better place to live.

Q: What has winning a 20 under 40 award meant to you? 

Winning the 20 Under 40 Award is a tremendous honor and I am so humbled and grateful to be recognized.  To have the work that I have done validated by this award, makes me want to continue and do even greater things in our community. To me, this is not just an award, but it is a firm directive to continue doing work in the community and to elevate the level of professionalism here.

Q: How has your community involvement impacted your work life?

Being involved in the community, I have seen firsthand some of the problems and devastation we have here. Although we are thriving as a community; there are many groups of people that are underserved and desperately need help. Being involved in the community and seeing that, lends more purpose to the work that I do. I want to work harder and leverage things in my business more so that I can have more time and resources to devote to community development and helping those that need it. The needs of others, greatly overshadow my own and I want to make sure I am sharing and giving to those in need.

Q: How you would describe yourself as a leader?

I am a servant leader and I lead by example. I seek to ensure that my employee’s needs are met and that they are meeting their goals personally and professionally.  If ever they are failing; that means that I am failing as a leader and I make it my #1 priority to make sure they flourish and are proud of who they are and the work that they do.

I believe that your business only grows to the extent that you do.  In order to set an example to my employees and peers, I am constantly reading books, listening to podcasts and working to elevate the level of conversations around me so that I can show up as a better leader and consistently raise the bar for my team.

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Q: What is it about working in Eugene that you find the most compelling?

Eugene has always had a special place in my heart. It’s my funky little hometown and there is just something about this community that we all love. It’s not one single thing you can put your finger on, but it’s a feeling that most citizens share. It’s this passion for our community that gets everyone so involved in what’s going on. At the same time, the fact that everyone is so passionate and involved, it sometimes feels like it’s hard to make progress. As hard as it might be during those times of frustration, it’s good to take a step back and remind ourselves that it’s all coming from the same place… a place of love for this City. Whether we all agree on the issues or not, we are lucky to live in a community where people are passionate and engaged.

Q: What do you hope to see for our community?

I hope to see our community embrace the growth we need to experience to meet our goals. Being born and raised in Eugene, I’ve been able to see it grow, as well as struggle over the years. I remember when I was in the process of graduating high school at Churchill, most all my friends couldn’t wait to get out of Eugene to go explore opportunities in other cities. I hope down the line when my new son is in the process of graduating high school here, that Eugene is a community that has the opportunities those students are looking for. Eugene should be a place people want to stay and raise their families because opportunities are abundant, housing is easy to find, and our business community is vibrant and thriving. We are making tremendous progress in that direction and I look forward to being a bigger part of that in the years to come.

Q: What mentors, colleagues, and partnerships have inspired you in your career development?

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have the presence of a strong mentor, business partner and great friend in my daily life. I’ve been working with my grandfather, Brian Obie, ever since I can remember. It started in my early youth with weekends at his property splitting wood and clearing brush. It was there, early on, that he taught me the value of a strong work ethic and to crave that sense of accomplishment you feel at the end of a productive day of “leaning into it” as we say. I’ve learned from him the strength you need to have to be successful in life and to lead others. The opportunity to work with my grandfather daily and to learn from him how to handle the challenges both personal and professional has been one of the greatest treasures of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.