I built my first climbing wall in 1996. To date I have designed and built 18 climbing walls.I view climbing walls as practical sculpture. I take an artists approach to design and a craftsman's approach to the construction. All walls were engineered and built to industry standards. Inovations:PW texture system. A spray applied acrylic cement system for texturing climbing walls.Curved walls. Developed a system to put radical curves into climbing walls.Top out boulders. The first climbing gym to build “top out” boulders. Speed Wall. Touch sensitive start and stop with a LED readout of the climbers time. Wall-O-Tron. A first of it’s kind, LED lit, touch sensitive, computer controlled bouldering wall.Brand Hoot office bouldering structure. Building on the Wall-O-Tron concept, this second generation computer controlled climbing structure its the centerpiece of the Brand Hoot offices in Rochester, MN.

After I sold Prairie Walls, I stayed on for a few months to assist the new owner with the transition of ownership and to find a qualified manager.

Prairie Walls was an indoor rock climbing gym and climbing equipment pro-shop, with about 10,000 square feet of climbing area. The conception of the business, market research and the business planning for Prairie Walls happened from 1995 and 1997. Construction started in the spring of 1998 and Prairie Walls opened for business in July of 1998. As is typical with a small business, I wore many hats. General manager, sales and marketing, chief instructor for indoor and outdoor operations, head route setter, program development and safety supervision. In addition to the climbing gym, we operated a portable climbing wall and a had full line climbing equipment pro-shop representing all major brands of recreational climbing equipment as well as workplace safety and rescue equipment. We also guided outdoor classes and trips. Prairie Walls employed about 15 to 20 full and part time staff. I sold the business in the fall of 2015.

I have always been drawn to opportunities where I can improve existing products and develop new ones to fill a need. Here a few examples that apply to the climbing industry.The Route WrenchSpeciality Holds:Lightweight sculptural volumesFlat holds "pancakes" for setting challenging routes on slabs and in dihedrals.Super thin edges made from metal.Steel holds that you could place climbing gear (nuts and cams) in. Theme holds, Valentines Day hearts.Radically curved climbing walls.Top-out indoor bouldersInteractive climbing walls, using touch sensitivity and LED lighting

Designed and produced speciality woodworking projects and custom cabinetry. I worked with James Blakely as well as independently on an interesting variety of truly unique projects.

We moved to Rochester in the Fall of 1992. I accepted a pilot position Rochester Aviation at that time. Less than a year later I was promoted to the Chief Pilot position. At Rochester Aviation we primarily conducted FAR 135 fixed wing air ambulance operations, flying a BE-100 King Air, Aero Commander 700's and a contracted Cessna Citation Jet . Most of our operations were for the Mayo Clinic. The company was chronically understaffed, complicated by some poor management level hiring choices lead to an extremely dysfunctional, contentious and dangerous work environment. I could not in good conscience continue to fly for them and that lead to my resignation and ultimately my decision to give up my aviation career.

During my flying career I earned an Airline Transport pilot certificate with a Citation Jet type rating. Additionally, a flight instructor rating with single engine land, multi engine land, instrument endorsements. I accumulated over 4460 hours of both domestic and international flight operations, including six solo transatlantic flights, five in single engine aircraft. I also served as an FAA accident prevention councilor from 1990 to 1993. This was a volunteer position. As flight instructor I would work with (council) private pilots that had violated a federal aviation regulation.

Avian Aero Corp. was a part time business that Mark Slade and I operated. We would buy and sell used aircraft. We had domestic and international clients. During the time we had the business we bought and sold 26 aircraft. The business was closed when I moved to Rochester.

Part time charter pilot and flight instructor. Conducting FAR 135 single pilot, IFR charter operations, and flight instruction (primary, instrument, commercial and multi-engine instruction). Great people and a quality operation. Although I could never financially make a full time position them work out, I truly enjoyed working for the Kyles. I had to stop flying for the CC Areo when I accepted the position at Rochester Aviation.

Brandco was my fathers business (see earlier work experience for details). He died suddenly in December of of 1987. At that time I flying full time for Great Lakes Airlines. I was the only person in the family or the business organization that had the knowledge to oversee closing the business and optimizing it's value of. Initially I tried to juggle my aviation career and my running the company. This was just not possible due to the complexity of preparing Brandco for sale. This process ended up taking almost three years and was quite difficult, but the outcome was optimal for the family. After liquidation of the company, I resumed my aviation career.

I was hired as a first officer on the companies very first BE-1900’s. We flew two a day flights form Fort Dodge IA to Chicago O’Hare International. This was a FAR 135 scheduled airline operation. At the time I worked for GLA there was a pretty quick conduit from GLA to one of the FAR 121 carriers and that was the track I was on. In December of 1998 my father died suddenly leaving no except myself to deal with closing of his business. I chose to do the right thing for my family and was not able to continue flying for GLA.

Brandco was my fathers business and my first real job. Brandco basically had two divisions. One was a short line farm equipment sales, the other was design and construction of grain handling and storage systems. I started working summers when I was in high school, as a general laborer, cement crew, equipment assembly at the shop and unloading steel for grain bins. With my rock climbing background and that I actually enjoyed working at heights, I eventually ended up working on the millwright crew, building grain elevators. After high school, I would work summers and through the very busy fall construction season, then take classes at the University of Northern Iowa during the slow winter season. After I got married in the fall of 1978, I went to work full time at Brandco. I became the lead millwright and crane operator for the company. Eventually becoming more involved in the management side of operations. I oversaw and scheduled out construction crews as well as did our project design and cost estimation. I also oversaw the development and operation of our steel fabrication shop. I left full time employment at Brandco in 1986 to pursue a career in aviation. Although I would still help out as time permitted.