Hobbies and Interests:

Family: Spending time with my wife and son is my favorite thing to do. Everything else come second to that but here are a few things I like to do when not hanging with them. Seven years ago we adopted our son, Eliot and life got even more amazing (and more hectic too)! Eli is the center of our lives now, it is awesome to watch him learn and absorb the world around him. He is an incredible kid and I look forward to teaching him about this world.

Travel and Art History: Traveling to see art is something I love to do. I have had the opportunity to travel to amazing places to see even more amazing works of art. I have been to Italy multiple times (Rome, Florence, Venice, Assisi, Verona, Padua, Treviso, Saturnia, Siena, Orvieto, and numerous other small towns in-between). I traveled to Paris twice (the Louvre . . . wow!), and the south of France.  I visited Spain, Germany, Czech Republic and Austria too.  Even my travels in the USA often include a stop at the local art museum.  I think it is the best way to spend a day.

Renovations: Our 120+ year old house requires many projects. If you can't find me at the ice arena, look for me at Lowes or at home cussing with a tool in my hand. I spend most of my spare time fixing or renovating things around our home. I actually enjoy most of the projects, not all, but most. My wife and I purchased a historic home in North Wales, so my spare time is often spent working on home restoration projects. I have also been researching my house history, learning about all of the families that lived there before ours is really interesting. This research led to my eventual appointment on the North Wales Historic Committee, a council of borough citizens dedicated to preserving our town's history.

I converted the barn behind our house into my professional studio, a space for design, letterpress printing, craft, and creation. As a hobby I like to design, cut, and assemble stained glass. The studio is also an excellent space for focus and working on curriculum and other projects.

Hockey: I am an avid ice hockey player. In season, I will play two to three times per week. I play at Hatfield Ice and at Wissahickon Skating Club. I have been playing hockey since before my teens, first in the street and later on the ice. I am huge Pittsburgh Penguins fan (see above). I worked under Gary, the designer of the flying-V penguins logo while I lived in Pittsburgh. I would often attend games using the VP's tickets. I am so happy that got to see the return of Mario in the early 2000s and game four of the Stanley Cup Finals at the igloo when the Pens beat Detroit. I also play on Antonelli's charity team for autism every April.

Golf: I used to golf all the time and in high school I was a varsity and an all-county player. My average back then was in the low 70s, today, well . . . not so low. I do not get out as often as I would like but would never turn down an opportunity to play.

Stained Glass: Over the past few years I have been trying my hand at stained glass. It started as an interest from art history, and for a need to add transoms to our home's interior. Stained glass is fun but time consuming, I wish I could escape to work on more projects, more often.

My Path to Education:

Spring Break: I technically started my professional career while in school designing marketing materials for a Spring Break Travel Company. While the work was not even close to portfolio quality, the experience of working with printers and on “real world” projects was invaluable. I produced fliers, ads, even a web site while working there. It was a great experience with fun people!

Communications Group: I also worked as a intern during school, and as a junior designer for a marketing/communications company near Philadelphia. I produced great work for this company and always regretted not staying there longer but I left to take an in-house graphic design position with Exide Corporation (hey, I had to pay the bills too). While at the group I was in design heaven, the projects were amazing but the pressure to keep being creative (especially for a newbie) was insane. I really did learn so much while working there. There is nothing like being a lowly Intern and having your concept go through to the client with the work of experienced designers. Its great validation of your hard work and creativity. This was my first true professional position, I even got this cheesy professional head shot (look at how young I was).

Exide Corporation: I took a position as the first designer in a new venture, Exide's new in-house design department. I was the first designer hired, a copy writer and three more designers would follow. It was a great experience, we essentially started a design studio from the ground up. We had to order equipment and applications, we were our own IT department, we even had say in the decor. Oh, and we also designed! I got to work on projects for major retailers such as Pepboys, K-mart, BJs Wholesale Club, Penske, NAPA, NASCAR and many, many more. Speaking of NASCAR Exide sponsored a NASCAR race in Richmond Virginia each year and I had the pleasure of attending, I visited the pits, met the drivers (Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and others) and even got into the winners circle when Jeff Burton won the race!!! That' me next in the bottom left right near Jack Roush (NASCAR fans would know).

We produced just about everything for Exide, including their web site. Web Design was in it’s infancy then (late 90s) and Dreamweaver was in its first version! Our generous corporate budget allowed us to take classes and order the latest applications. This was a great factor in my future career as I moved into web design almost exclusively. Exide moved their headquarters to Atlanta and with that I left for a position as a web/graphic designer in western PA.

Keane/Metro IS: I worked exactly one year for a company in western PA as a web/graphic designer, this was during the internet boom and I cashed in. I developed web site for various companies and continued to train and experiment with Flash and Dreamweaver. I worked for clients such as Blair County Chamber of Commerce, Benzel’s Pretzels, Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission and many others. Our office was closed after 9/11, when the economy was awful. The business was bought out by a larger company from Boston and I could have stayed on through the Harrisburg office but that was okay—because I was headed for Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh: I interviewed with one of the better studios in Pittsburgh, they were responsible for developing the Penguins logo (I am a Pens fan) and worked with most of the major corporations in the city. I was offered a position as the lead web developer and graphic designer. This was a dream position in an awesome city.

While in Pittsburgh some of the accounts I worked on included: Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort, Federated Investors, PPG, R.A. Hiller Company, Steelers, Uniti Titanium, US Jet and many, many, others. The studio was located inside the Thaw Mansion, the historic home Harry K. Thaw who was later involved in the murder of the century (Google it) when he killed Stanford White a famous architect who was having an affair with Evelyn Nesbitt, Harry's wife who also happened to be a famous model.

During my time in Pittsburgh I also married my wife, Michele, who was in school at University of Pittsburgh studying medicine. After her four years in school we made the decision to head back east, closer to family and also so she could finish her training as a resident at Lancaster General. It was with a heavy heart that I left that awesome job in Pittsburgh and moved back east.

Lancaster or Bust: When I first moved to Lancaster I had no idea how I was going to find a job in design, I researched and found very few studios in the area. When I arrived I sent out a mailing announcing my interest in freelance/full-time work. With in a couple of weeks I was starting at a studio.

The studio I worked at specialized in healthcare marketing, something new to me, but I was looking forward to the clean look of Healthcare design—it fit my personal design style. While in Lancaster I began working on many healthcare accounts including: Beebe Medical Center, Orthopedic Associates, Lancaster Regional Hospital, Doctors May Grant, Electrodiagnostic Center, and Southern Delaware Surgical Center to name a few. I also worked on many non-healthcare accounts these included: Lancaster-York Heritage Region, Rita Camp, Matthews, Pierce and Lloyd, Doc Grizzly, Millcreek Spreaders, and many other accounts. We spent three years in Lancaster, during the length of my wife's residency. It was during this time in Lancaster I joined the advisory board at Antonelli and in my final year in Lancaster I started teaching at Antonelli as an adjunct.

Teaching and Freelance: We moved to Queen Village in Philadelphia, while my wife completed more training at Jefferson University Hospital. I started freelancing for numerous clients in the area and continued to teach at Antonelli, taking on even more classes.

Full-time Faculty: Currently I am the Program Director for Harcum College's Graphic Design Program. Teaching is the best job in the world, working with great people and awesome students. Every day is a fun and a new adventure, I have met so many amazingly creative students who go on to do tremendous things. I was also the recipient of the Pennsylvania PAPSA Instructor of the year award and the national ACCSC Commitment to Education Award. Such amazing honors.