Why I'm Running

I’ve lived in Grand Haven since 2012. My partner, Elizabeth Griffin, is a children’s librarian at Loutit District Library and serves on the board of the Grand Haven Children’s Museum. Together we’re members of the museum’s Founding Fifty. We’re raising our son, Abe, here, and living with three cats who think they run the house: Buddy, Biscuit, and Nugget.

My career has been spent in public service. For seven years I served as Elections Coordinator for Ottawa County, responsible for running fair, accurate, secure elections for every voter in this county, including everyone reading this page. That work taught me lessons I’ll bring to the school board: how to administer public institutions people can trust, how to manage complex operations on a tight public budget, and how to serve everyone regardless of politics.

Today I work nationally supporting election officials across the country, focusing on how new technology, especially artificial intelligence, is changing public institutions. I’ve seen up close what happens when institutions adopt technology thoughtfully, and what happens when they don’t.

Why the school board, and why now

School boards do their best work when they’re boring, in the best sense: focused on student outcomes, careful with public money, and connected to the community rather than to politics. That’s the kind of board member I intend to be.

I’m running now because our district faces real decisions in the next few years: how to respond to artificial intelligence in classrooms, how to keep the district financially healthy as enrollment continues to decline, and how to rebuild the habit of genuine community engagement. These are exactly the problems my career has prepared me to work on.

I don’t have all the answers. No candidate does. What I bring is a track record of running public institutions well, a professional grounding in the technology questions heading our way, and a genuine commitment to listening. That’s also why this site has a feedback form. I read every response.

At a glance

• Elections Coordinator, Ottawa County, Michigan (2014–2021)
• Now works nationally, supporting election officials across the country
• BA, Political Science, University of Michigan
• Master of Public Administration, Auburn University
• Founding Fifty, Grand Haven Children’s Museum
• Lives in Grand Haven with his partner Elizabeth, son Abe, and three cats