Help artisancharityfoundation.org make a difference

I was born and raised in the Heartlands, specifically in Moline, Illinois in 1966.  I’m a master electrician with over 36 years of experience in the industry. I began my career as an apprentice and steadily advanced through the ranks while working for some of the larger electrical companies in Illinois and Iowa. In 2000, I started my own business, Blackhawk Electric, headquartered in East Moline, Illinois. Blackhawk Electric is a well-respected business built on reliability and professionalism in service to it’s community.  

I have a passion to inspire others to pursue a career in the trades and to seek alternative career paths that allow them to serve their community while also supporting their family. I’ve been an educator and leader in the electrical field teaching hundreds of apprentice electricians as they further their careers. I’ve also served as an electrical inspector for more than ten years.

I’ve served on the Board of Directors for a variety of local banks and businesses, contributing new and innovative ideas on conducting everyday business, marketing products to consumers and businesses and supporting personnel and membership. In addition; I enjoy donating my time and resources to charities by developing innovative fundraising ideas and successfully implementing them.  I’ve contributed to raising over a million dollars for national and local organizations as well as for veterans/first responders and their families.

I am deeply committed to giving back to our first responders and veterans. I feel immense gratitude for those who have sacrificed so much, enabling me to follow my dreams and achieve success. I want to support by helping others find passion and fulfillment in life and navigate the challenges of running a business for those who desire. 

I joined the military in 1997, more than four years after graduating high school. I was working night crew at Albertsons and flailing around in community college, both were tied to my rent at home. My older brother was a boatswain mate in the Navy and told me if I join, the only two jobs I should do was fighter pilot or Navy SEAL. I didn’t want more schoolwork so I opted to go to BUD/s, SEAL training. 

Joining just before 9/11 meant there were few combat soldiers left from the Vietnam era to look up to. Most older guys had done years of training exercises and cruises with nothing but drinking stories to tell. After 9/11, our military fighting communities were so gung-ho about taking the fight to the enemy, they did little to prepare for the onslaught of physical and mental injuries that inevitably would come. Heavy combat on my deployments began in 2004 and continued until 2014. 

That decade ushered in significant loss that created TBI/PTS symptoms that manifested into many mental and physical issues, some that last to this day. I didn’t notice at first but they compounded quickly. I felt like I came home from fighting a war just to fight another in my head. Unfortunately this war, I had no training and no weapons to help me. I didn’t know how to integrate into home life again. My marriage was on the rocks and the relationship with my kids strained. My memory and concentration declined as my anxiety and depression grew worse. I felt my family had no use of me as a father in their house. 

During a particularly rough deployment I started heating and pounding on steel to craft a rudimentary knife and realized the burden of war weighing on me faded. The stress and anxiety seemed to melt away and I felt my emotions properly regulated through the process of forging steel. While hammering I felt mentally clearer and more present, and by the end, a sense of pride and accomplishment holding my newly crafted blade in my hands. 

I’ve been through many different therapies from counseling and medications to light bar therapy and even psychedelic treatments. A significant amount of therapeutic gains came from the process of artistic creation. To this day I continue to reap therapeutic benefits and desire to share those with others.