Executive vice president, International Association of Conference Centers

  1. If you could be anywhere in the world, where would you be?
    Monhegan Island, a small rocky island off the coast of Maine. The hiking trail that goes around the rim of the island offers jaw-dropping vistas at every turn!
  2. What's playing on your iPod?
    While I was on the treadmill this morning, I listened to The Dillards, a classic bluegrass group from my home state of Missouri.
  3. If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you want?
    The power to reduce unemployment by 9 percent overall and 15 percent in the state of Michigan
  4. It's time for a second career — what do you choose?
    A journalist who has unfettered access to all the major world leaders
  5. When your life story is made into a movie, who will be cast as you?
    Harrison Ford, a man of action. I can't sit still for any length of time — unless I'm in an ergonomic chair at an IACC conference center.
  6. What's the best book you read in the past year?
    “The Given Day” by Dennis Lehane, a look at rough-and-tumble Boston at the end of the First World War through the eyes of a black man and a white man. You feel you're right in the midst of all the issues of the day: racism, the emergence of the NAACP, strikes in the public sector, and the development of mass influenza, to name just a few.
  7. What's your hidden talent?
    I sing bass in the church choir.
  8. If you could trade places with anyone (living or from history) for a week, who would you choose?
    I'd trade places with the late Tim Russert, perhaps during the week that he interviewed George W. Bush … or Barack Obama … or Pope John Paul II … or any of the other world celebrities that he hosted on “Meet the Press.” Did you know that Russert coined the phrases “red state” and “blue state” to explain the nation's political divide?
  9. What is your favorite cause/charity?
    Peter & Paul Community Services in St. Louis. It provides immediate and transitional housing and supportive services to the homeless, especially those experiencing mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and drug and alcohol abuse.