What and who you’re voting for

For any who do not know me:

Other than being the homeowner who paints his front yard like a football field most fall-seasons, I am a husband, a father, a neighbor, a military veteran, and business owner who operates a successful civil defense litigation firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. I moved to the neighborhood in 2010. Despite being one of the first homeowners to enjoy the community, I have yet to serve Brighton Forest in any formal capacity. For that, I am sorry, and look forward to giving back to a neighborhood which has provided my family a great deal.

In truth, I cannot think of a more thankless position than serving as an HOA Board Member. Over and above the everyday neighborhood logistics, budgeting, and committee needs, I imagine the spectrum of issues which the Board faces at times requires choosing between bad and worse outcomes. That said, I very much believe in serving one’s community, and feel my various life experiences and leadership roles could be useful to our shared spaces. As an attorney I interpret and help draft statutory provisions on a regular basis. I believe this makes me a ‘value-add’ were the Board to deal with the HOA Guidelines, as currently drafted, or during any future revision/clarification process. Also, as an attorney, I respond to and resolve disputes between clients and opposing parties every day. I do so through refined communication which calmly respects all views of even highly contentious issues.

Beyond being ‘of service’ without any desire for personal gain, to the extent my views on the HOA are of interest:

I believe an HOA aims to serve the common needs of a neighborhood without stepping into the role of governing any homeowner’s family or property. In communicating about any such common need it would, therefore be my goal to find a way to ‘yes’ when requests arise, and not to ‘no.’ When the common needs require a common understanding of community standards which might lead to a ‘no’, I think the standards should be very plainly and clearly expressed within the written guidelines without being so narrowly drafted that a family cannot unproblematically express its individual sense of home in the neighborhood. To me this means adhering to principles of ‘small government.’

As a resident of Brighton Forest for 13 years, along with my husband and two daughters, I’ve valued getting to know our neighbors and watching our community grow. I previously served on the Brighton Forest HOA Board, first appointed to fill a vacancy in 2020 and then continuing through all of 2021, and I’m running again because I believe our community deserves a board that operates with transparency and genuine fiduciary responsibility.

I’m concerned that our current board has strayed from these principles, and I want to help bring us back to a standard where decisions are made based on clear reasoning and what’s best for the community as a whole, not on personal preference. Every neighbor brings a unique and valuable perspective, and HOA rules should be enforced fairly for everyone.

My background gives me a strong foundation for this work. I bring professional experience in visual communications, including work in highly regulated environments where clear, accurate, and transparent communication is essential. I’ve also spent years in nonprofit and HOA leadership roles, including:

• Board Member, Brighton Forest Silver Fins Swim Team; Led the team’s federal and state applications to become a registered non-profit organization, successfully achieving that status, and developed the organization’s governing bylaws
• Secretary, Lakemoor HOA (Garner, NC)
• PTA President, Washington Elementary School (Raleigh, NC)
• Advocacy Chair, Enloe High School
• Treasurer, St. Andrews United Methodist Church preschool

Through these roles, I’ve received extensive hands-on experience in nonprofit financial management, regulatory compliance, and governance — including the detailed process of establishing an organization’s legal and structural foundation from the ground up. I was also a small business owner for over 15 years, which sharpened my ability to manage budgets, make sound decisions under pressure, and stay accountable to the people I serve.

Brighton Forest deserves a board that residents can trust to act openly and responsibly. I’d be honored to earn your vote and continue serving our neighborhood with the transparency and integrity it deserves.

My family and I moved to this neighborhood in 2021, drawn in by something we hadn’t found anywhere else as adults: neighbors waving as we drove by, kids climbing trees and playing outside until dark. It reminded us of the neighborhoods we grew up in, and we knew immediately it was where we wanted to raise our three boys.

Professionally, I work as an Enterprise Risk Compliance Program Manager in Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability, where I spend my days partnering with stakeholders, building clear processes, ensuring compliance accountability, and making sure people have the information they need to make good decisions. I want to bring that same approach to our HOA.

I’ve been troubled that our community wasn’t informed about actions taken against fellow neighbors, and I believe residents deserve real input into how their dues are spent. Our contributions should go toward improvements the majority of us actually support, not decisions made without our knowledge or voice.

If elected, I’ll work to bring more transparency, clearer communication, and genuine representation to this board, because this neighborhood is worth protecting.

My family and I have called Brighton Forest home since October 2008. I’m running for the HOA board because our community deserves consistent rules, transparent decision-making, responsible stewardship of homeowner dues, and respectful treatment for every resident.

I have worked in information technology since 1996 across the financial, healthcare, and technology sectors, with significant experience in security compliance and auditing. That work has taught me the importance of clear policies, consistent enforcement, careful documentation, accountability, ethics, and transparency.

For the past 10 years, I have worked as a Staff Technical Account Manager at VMware by Broadcom. Customers pay for my time to be allocated to their account and my job is to listen, understand their needs, and help them work with my company to achieve their goals.

This is exactly the approach I want to bring to the board. The community is a customer to engage and be served by the board, not a group of subjects to be ruled from a distance with no say in their own governance.

Our experience has shown us the harm a board can cause to a family when it subjectively enforces unclear rules through inadequate, unaccountable processes. I want to put that experience to constructive use by helping create a system that is fair, understandable, and accountable, so no other Brighton Forest family is put through the same ordeal.

If elected, I will work for clear architectural guidelines, fair and consistent enforcement, reasoned written decisions, recorded board votes, meaningful meeting minutes, disclosure of conflicts of interest, and direct, respectful communication with homeowners. Board members should follow the law and governing documents, apply the same standards to everyone, and make decisions based on the interests of the community rather than personal preference.

Board members are neighbors entrusted with protecting our shared community, property values, and financial resources. I would be honored to earn your vote and bring my experience, judgment, and commitment to ethical leadership to the Brighton Forest HOA board.