What is your idea of a vacation, any favorite memories you’d like to share?
I am never more relaxed than when I am around water. In fact, I think you could say that is the only time I am fully relaxed. I used to own a beach house in Bethany, Delaware, which is my favorite beach community. That is still my favorite place to go when I need to escape.
How do you lead? What sort of leader are you?
I try to set high but clear expectations and then enable my team to do their job. I enjoy being around driven, creative and solutions-oriented people and have made a point of hiring for those characteristics in Loudoun. I always say that we hire “awesome” and we’ll figure out the rest. When you surround yourself with “awesome”, it makes your job as a leader a lot easier.
How do you motivate yourself every day to take on your challenges?
I’m very lucky, I’ve never had to spend one day in my life in a job I didn’t like. I wake up every day and look forward to doing my part to contribute to the success of Loudoun County. In any job, there are hard days and hard times, but as long as I keep the end-goal in mind, I tend to stay very motivated to keep pushing through.
Your favorite quote?
I actually have a lot of quotes I like … but most often I quote rock songs because those are the only ones I can remember. I always joke I have a phonographic memory instead of a photographic memory. Depending on the situation, I might quote Springsteen (“Someday we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny”), Tom Petty (“Even the losers get lucky sometimes”) or Jimmy Buffett (“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”)
What is your favorite cuisine / restaurant?
I don’t know if I have a single favorite cuisine … I really like a variety of foods. I enjoy Italian dishes, sushi, Chinese, seafood, especially scallops. But, if you made me pick one dinner, I’d probably pick a bushel of crabs, corn on the cob, potatoes, and biscuits.