MORE ABOUT ETHAN

I’m a proud graduate of the public school system in Mendham, NJ.  My high school graduating class was 210.  I kept my class sizes small, graduating with about 650 others with a B.A. from Wesleyan University and with about 300 law grads from the University of Virginia.  It should be noted that I double majored at Wesleyan, in Art and Economics, two disciplines not often pursued together.  I credit my artistic side for a successful career: creativity should not be underestimated.

I’m best described as a lawyer and business executive. From 2018 until retirement in 2023, I was employed by Medicines360, a nonprofit pharmaceutical organization, as their General Counsel. In 2017, I served as General Counsel of Accela, guiding them though acquisition by private equity.  I also served as General Counsel for Complete Genomics, a genome sequencing company, from 2013 to 2016.  From 2000 to 2012, I was employed in various capacities at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics and its predecessor Chiron, rising to Vice President of Business Development and Licensing. Previously, I was an Associate with the Dallas, Texas law firms Hughes & Luce and Gardere & Wynne.  If you scroll way down into my LinkedIn profile you’ll see I advised the Perot ‘92 presidential campaign on federal and state election law as a 1st year associate, including having primary responsibility for ballot access in seventeen states. And I began my career as a Financial Analyst with The First Boston Corporation, working primarily on merger and acquisitions in the banking industry.

Throughout I’ve been successful by being a creative and energetic leader. I’m good at brainstorming strategies, structuring collaborations, negotiating deals, managing alliances, and dealing with complicated legal issues. I have a history of developing winning teams and a proven ability to close complex business transactions.

I’m blessed by the love and support of my spouse, Leanne.  We met on a blind date (just like my parents!) that lasted four hours, during which I made her cry.  The tears were for her late father.  Turns out her dad and mine passed with days of each other, the same week my son was born.  Leanne’s been the most amazing stepmom to Cole since he was six.  But she knew from being adopted that great families can be made in multiple ways.  While divorce from his mom was hard, and there were some rough patches, we all support each other and celebrate the holidays together.  When I told Cole’s mom I was running for office, she promptly starting writing campaign slogans.  Cole is 24 now.  He lives in Berkeley, California, working towards a degree in sound engineering while still hoping to make a living by making music.

I’ll finish this section with a mention of Leanne’s mom, Teddy.  She’s 93 and living on her own in the house she’s occupied for 60-plus years.  Leanne spends a week each month in California with her, taking her to appointments and being the good daughter.

My career took me many places across the globe, but when it came time to stop working for a paycheck the debate began–where to land?  Back to my East Coast roots?  Nope.  Never want to shovel snow again.  To the Oregon Coast and Leanne’s family roots?  Nope.  Too gray and rainy.  Stay in California?  That means we’re working for another decade.  How about Arizona?  I run on music and sunshine after all.  And it’s short flight for Leanne to keep tabs on her mom.  Yes!  It was 2018 and we landed in DC Ranch.  Within months we knew this was it.  We exhaled and fell in love with our community, our town and the whole state.  We knew we were home.

More of a geek than a jock, I did spend a few summers in Little League.  While I eventually played every position except catcher, being left-handed meant I usually pitched.  In high school, I joined the golf team, eventually lettering in the sport.  Over the years I’ve managed to keep my golf game somewhat respectable, but I prefer to tally only the number of balls lost per round, not the number of strokes.  In my 40’s, I took up running as a healthy diversion while travelling for work.  Running became the perfect mental escape, and shorter runs eventually led to six marathons (New York being the most memorable) and more than a dozen half marathons.

Recently I countered my slowing mile times by adding cycling to the repertoire, completing both the Tour de Scottsdale and the Tour de Tucson.  While I’ve managed to avoid serious injury running and biking (I like to say all the parts are original), I did manage to break my arm working out in the gym.

I was a band geek in school.  My parents made the cardinal mistake of giving me a drum one Christmas.  The “joyful noise” of practicing at home continued for nearly a decade.  In high school there was Orchestra, Marching Band, and my favorite, the Jazz Band.

In addition to my recent volunteer activities, I’ve built houses for Habitat for Humanity, served as a poll watcher in the general election, canvassed door to door for local and national candidates, and participated in Scottsdale’s Government 101 and Police Citizens Academy.