The SFS Australia Forest Management and Systems Program fulfilled my undergraduate degree requirements at the University of Rhode Island, where I earned a degree in Marine Affairs.

Upon graduating, I started my professional career working for Triumvirate Environmental, an Environmental Services Firm based out of Somerville, MA. I managed key aspects of the environmental health and safety programs of their top accounts, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a few years, I moved to Astoria, Queens, NY, to help launch a new branch of the company. Coincidentally, my new fiancé was from Long Island, so we moved to New York in early 2004, where I reside today and am still happily married to my wife, Anne, whom I have three beautiful children with – Shannon (16), and our twins, Jaymee and Coleeyn (13).

I left Triumvirate in 2006, and a consulting job I held at Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers in 2008, to take a position at SUNY Stony Brook University (SBU). While there I was also able to obtain my Master’s Degree in Environmental Management. After 5 years at SBU, I transferred to SUNY Farmingdale State College for the role of Environmental Health and Safety Officer, a position I’ve held for more than eleven years and intend to stay for the duration of my career.

It’s been a wonderful journey. I owe so much of it to my time in Australia as it contributed to who I am today. I hope to one day go back to Warrawee, Australia, with my children, to show them where I once spent a summer in my youth and to once again walk the property of a place that was so impactful in my life.

Favorite SFS Memory:  Swimming in the Great Barrier Reef and spending my birthday at a Rodeo in Chillagoe. But I appreciate the simple things like hanging out with my newly made friends in our cabin or common area at night, or walking the property alone when I had some free time, soaking it all in. Sitting here typing this, I can still hear the birds and smell the air. What a magical experience that was, something I’ll never forget!