I began with the Imperial Stock Ranch in June of 2006 as the Marketing Director in an effort to continue the pursuit of a dream.

I grew up in rural Eastern, Oregon as the oldest of four brothers. I’ve always been compelled to set higher personal standards as a method of setting an example and never selling myself short. I started working on a local ranch when I was thirteen moving irrigation pipe and aiding in the activities of the ranch. I worked evenings after school, on the weekends and during the summer months to earn money for extra curricular activities. I worked on the ranch for three years and before I left, I was helping to manage the ranch. During high school I was very active in 4-H and FFA. I raised swine and participated in various judging and leadership activities. I served as the Charter president for the Imbler FFA chapter during its first two years and as the district president. I traveled to Tampa, Memphis, Kansas City, Washington DC and other places as a participant in both organizations. I established a pride in leadership and in agriculture that began to shape my future. My experience on two separate farms during my teenage years exposed me to the diversity and complications of running such a business and I watched many families struggle to compete in a consolidating industry. I realized as I finished high school that I needed to educate myself if I wanted to become a successful agriculturalist. I pursued a degree in Agricultural Business Management from Oregon State University with a full scholarship from the Oregon State Grange. During this time, I served as the Charter President for the first two years of the Eastern Oregon Collegiate FFA Chapter, and I studied abroad in Japan as a student on a rural hog farm for five months with a set of Indonesian, Australian and Swedish students. While in school I began to acquire the skills necessary to compete in the ag industry. However, when I finished my undergraduate degree I knew that I was not ready to create a successful career farming yet, so I moved to Portland and left a large supportive, extended family behind to continue my education in the real world. My first job out of school was with a large Japanese food producer. I was initiated in the customer service role and worked into sales. Before I left I had found my way into all facets of the company including production, warehouse control, computer integration, accounting and logistics. I moved from there nearly three years later and joined two partners in a small fresh vegetable company. I acted as the general manger and ran a crew of eight cutting fresh vegetables everyday. I was able to transfer many of the skills I learned from my previous job and began building the business. I had to leave a year later because of financial pressures on the partnership. I continued my education in the school of hard knocks when I joined a veterinary company. While managing one of their hospitals I attended an Executive MBA program one day a week. Two years later I received my Masters in Business from the University of Oregon and was promptly promoted to a business analyst position at the veterinary company’s corporate office were I was treated to a spacious cubicle and corporate politics.

During my undergraduate program I lived with four other guys. Not too difficult since I grew up with three younger brothers. Blaine Carver was one of those roommates and we maintained a friendship long after graduation. I had visited his ranch in central Oregon many times since we went to school together and new the family fairly well. The friendship allowed me to have an insight into the ranch and also allowed the ranch family to keep abreast of my progress as well. I consider the timing to be miraculous as I was ready to apply the things I had learned and the ranch was ready to expand on the marketing they had so diligently been working on. So, as I continue to follow the path that I laid out nearly ten years ago I have found a partnership and a family that will allow me to apply my knowledge and ambition to be a successful agriculturalist. I intend to extend any success I realize to other farmers and ranchers to help make sure that we create a viable and sustainable agricultural community in Oregon. I’m just living a dream, and it’s wonderful.