I was born in London, On, but I grew up in Kingston from the age of ten. To say that I have had a very eventful and exciting life so far is an understatement. For the majority of my adult life I have been fortunate enough to serve as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a Naval Warfare Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. A full and part-time career that would span 33 1/2 years, it provided a lifetime of worldly experiences in a dynamic and challenging environment.

My fist real job was at eighteen, where I began as a server at the celebrated St. Hubert rotisserie, Kingston location. This job would lead to Dining Room Manager and would form my initial understanding of restaurant culture, kitchen and dining room staffs, teamwork, and not to mention long hours. From St. Hubert Kingston I would move to my first fine dining venue as a server and although a server, here I would learn in depth how a professional kitchen operated, and in some cases learned to prepare meals table side.

Not content to sit still I moved to London, ON to attend college where I soon was managing both in the dining room and kitchen of St. Hubert London. After a period and again wanting more diverse experience before I began military service, I took a position as a waiter at “Say Cheese”, a trendy downtown restaurant that had a top notch reputation in the city. This time remains one of my best memories!

Next came my entrepreneurial attempt at business ownership, after 8 year’s military service I became a part-time reservist and opened a coffee franchise, “grabbajabba Kingston”. This experience gave me a crash course in the franchisee world, and went a long way into developing my networking capabilities. After a few years of business, I needed to eat a meal so I went to Toronto and became the Operations Officer for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. Now this may seem a departure from food and the Navy, and it was. During my stint in Academia, I developed strong relationships in the community and developed critical interpersonal skills that have benefited me at every level since.

In 2004, I would go back to full-time naval service, pursuing command and higher levels of leadership. Here we are in 2024, and I am finishing the first year of the Culinary Management Programme at St. Lawerence Kingston. Let’s see where this will lead….