About

I'm an outdoorsman, a conservationist, a leader, a husband, and a dad. And I want to be better at all of those things. 

So I created this blog. Here I hope to share ideas, stories, interviews, and tidbits of info that either have helped me in the past, or which might prove useful in the future. Maybe it'll help you too. 

Why Outdoor Executive Dad?

Because that's what I am. I'm the Executive Director of my county's conservation department. I either am, or have been, the leader (president, chairperson, whatever) of a number of outdoor organizations. Basically, I go to a lot of meetings. It's all very executive. I'm a husband (married since 2012). And of course, I'm a dad. Girl was born in 2015, Boy in 2018. And those two things, more than anything, define me as a person. And I really have no idea what I'm doing in that aspect of my life.

Does anyone, really?

In a nod to political correctness, I was going to name this the Outdoor Professional Parent, but I just wasn't down with the resulting acronym (yeah, you know me!). And we government employee types are serious about our acronyms. (If you didn't get that joke, you're either too young or you've lived a very sheltered life. Either way, I'm sorry.)

I work for a relatively small county conservation department (Des Moines County) in a relatively small town (Burlington) along the not-so-small Mississippi River in the southeast corner of Iowa. So if some of my posts don't make any sense to you, it's probably because you're not from around here. And for that, you should be sorry.

The way I see it, we have one world to leave behind. It's up to us to make sure it's a good one. Those of us in the midst of our careers are the ones making that happen. Therefore, it's our responsibility to become the leaders that the world needs us to be. That's what I hope to help you with here. 

Let's do this!