Education Profession
Who Am I?
To know where I have come from, is to know me. As you might have guessed , my
descendants were from Ireland. My grandfather came to the USA in the early 1900s, he
helped build the tunnels for the CTA system we use today. . He had 12 brothers and sisters
and came from a poor potato farming family in County Mayo. My Dad was born in Chicago.
So was my mom; her father was a Chicago policeman. Her grandfather was a Chicago
fireman, from Ireland as well. I was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. I went to Ascension Grammar
School and Fenwick High School. I have 5 brothers and sisters.
I have lived in DuPage County for 28 years, specifically Woodridge for 22 years. I have been
married to my wife, Barbara, for 28 years. We have 3 children: Katie, a graduate of Downers
South High School, and the University Of Iowa, Brendan, a graduate of Downers North High
School, and Brian, a graduate of Downers South High School. Our dog Simba, knows
everyone within 3 blocks of our house.
Education
It was up to me to get through college, so I worked a variety of jobs, mostly having to do with
the trucking industry. I was a member of the trucker’s union when I worked as a UPS sorter. I
lugged 300 lb. beef hinds at Kniep Meats in Forest Park, and I loaded trucks at Romano
Bros. in Chicago. While working these jobs, I was a full time student at UIC, an engineering
major, a member of Tau Alpha Rho Fraternity , and part of the UIC sailing club. It was at this
time that I began to crew on big sail boats on Lake Michigan. Protecting our water is a huge
priority for me, for drinking and recreation.
I saved enough money to go to Southern Illinois University combined with an Illinois Assembly
Scholarship, my first exposure to Springfield. I voted in every election I was eligible for,
thinking “every little bit helps”, now government was giving me something. I started as an
engineering major and finished as a computer science major. While at Southern, I was a
member of the rugby team and the sailing team. I learned more about racing because we
were lucky enough to have world class racers attending SIU. I was elected Commodore and
that year we were ranked 12th in the country, defeating universities with varsity programs and
generous funding. I met the girl of my dreams at SIU, Barbara, my wife. After we moved to
the western suburbs and settled down with our family, I pursued a master's degree from North
Central College, right here in Naperville, IL, in Computer Science, and graduated from their
program in 1990.
Profession
I was hired by Western Electric right after I completed my undergrad, which for many years
was the biggest company located in District 48. I moved to Downers Grove and got married. I
began working for Western at the Bell Labs location on Naperville and Warrenville roads(now
Alcatel-Lucent). I was very proud to be there. I viewed that company as being very prestigious
in the Information Systems industry. Being a “labroid’ enables me to be “in touch” with issues
that affect many of my coworkers, members of District 48. I have been fortunate to work on a
variety of different projects that provided technology people use every day.
I helped design applications for public safety on both the municipal side of the network and
the telephone side of the network. For the first time, I was working with end customers, not
phone companies. In this role, I worked with multiple state, county , and municipal
organizations. Imagine the thrill of seeing dispatchers use my software when fires or calls for
help came in. This kind of “helping” was fun and very fulfilling.
