DSF: Tell us about yourself.
TM: I grew up in the Town of Simsbury, Connecticut, by the Massachusetts Border in the Northwest corner of the state, and I went to school in Rhode Island at Johnson & Wales University. I moved after graduation and have lived in Colorado for the last fifteen years.
DSF: Talk to us about your time at Johnson & Wales and what you majored in.
TM: While at Johnson & Wales, I studied Business Administration, and was involved in a lot of different activities. JWU is known as a culinary school, and I was interested in the culinary arts when I was younger, but then thought about something in the hospitality industry, whether that be the travel, recreation, or marketing businesses. I got a well-rounded education in many different academic areas, just so I was able to figure out what direction I wanted to go after graduation.
DSF: Talk a little about how you and some others got the Eta Omega chapter on the map.
TM: My freshman year in college, I lived in a large dorm suite with four other guys, who got involved and helped get the ball rolling for Delta Sig at Johnson and Wales. I was friends with them, and they basically wanted to work with another group of guys to create a fraternity in a campus environment that really didn’t want to have Greek Life. We were the rogue guys who pushed the envelope and continued to take up the charge.
The way we actually started, in the early days of formation, was by putting all of the Greek letters in a hat, and pulled out in order, Delta Sigma Phi. We had sweatshirts made with letters in grey, red and blue. One member of our local group wore it home on winter break, and was approached by an initiate of the Fraternity who came up and asked the DSP question, and tried to give him the handshake. Our local brother said he had no idea what he was talking about. This gentleman called the national Fraternity and said there was a group in Rhode Island that wanted to be a Fraternity and was using the letters. He had actually explained to the local guys that it is actually a national Fraternity and we got the ball rolling that way. However, the school was very adamant about not wanting to have anything to do with Greek Life - to the point of looking at expulsion, but we just kept pushing and pushing. One thing that was very helpful was that one of the Deans, Mark Burke, had befriended a lot of us, and said that he would like to become a brother as well, and then became an alumni initiate with my pledge class. His support helped pave the way to the Eta Omega chartering. Mark was the founding president of the JWU-Denver campus and offered his support to have an established Greek life on the new western campus. Today, the school has a multitude of Greek organizations on campus and fully supports their activities. I chuckle when I look at University promotional materials and see many pictures of Delta Sigs in their letters, being used as a recruitment tool for prospective students and parents.
DSF: Did you hold any leadership positions within the chapter?
TM: I held a marketing position, and also served as the chaplain for our chapter during my tenure. Although I was the poorest member of the fraternity, I was awarded a special gold DSP pin for never being behind on my dues and for near perfect meeting attendance. I wear it with pride – to this day.
DSF: Tell us a little about what you did to help the Theta Theta chapter at the University of Hartford get off the ground.
TM: Being from Connecticut, and being very close to the University of Hartford, I tried to give them as much support as I could in getting their chapter going. They were in the same position with the university as we , at JWU, were. They were a bit discouraged, and I remember going back often, hanging out with them, meeting with their university’s Activities Director, and basically pushing the envelope to the point that I thought I was really stepping outside my bounds. I checked with the National fraternity, and they said, “what you’re doing is great.”. I was ruffling a lot of feathers, and the guys said they wanted me to go to bat with them because they were looking at being kicked off campus. I understood their predicament because our school was doing the same thing. I have a lot of pride in seeing where they’ve come since the early years. This group became a role model for my chapter.
DSF: Talk a little about your career. Where did you start when you got out of college?
TM: One of my primary goals was to try to do a myriad of different things and see where a lot of my talent sets were – to push myself to try a lot of different career options. I
moved to Colorado, days after I graduated, with $400 to my name and $75,000 worth of debt. I came out here, having never been west of the Mississippi. Colorado was great, and I got involved in the University of Colorado – Boulder chapter of Delta Sig. Initially, I started out working in a bank, and then went into marketing working for a consulting firm, worked for the Colorado Rockies MLB team for the first season and a half, and also worked in the mental health field. I became an elementary school teacher, and ended up working for a large software company for eight years.
I have always been involved in events, either at the corporate level or with non-profits charities, and I said to myself that I had plenty of background and training in events. So, I started my own event management business, and decided to go into that full-time and see where it took me. Now, I do special events throughout Colorado and in the town of Castle Rock. I have done events which include auto racing like the Denver Grand Prix, and was involved with the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, one of the best known fine arts festivals in the US. I have also worked with large PGA golf tournaments, wine festivals, cycling events, and a myriad of different things. I really enjoy it.
DSF: When did you start your events business?
TM: I started professionally organizing events in the mid-nineties and found that working for myself didn’t have the allure that I was looking for. I enjoyed working each day with people and the contact that I was having primarily with suppliers. I then held the business just from an organizational standpoint, mainly to help other non-profits and charities. I do a lot of pro-bono work to help groups achieve their fundraising goals. My full-time job is with the Town of Castle Rock and with the Castle Rock Chamber, and that’s where I have hung my hat for the past four years.
DSF: What is the best part of your event planning job, and why do you do this specific work?
TM: The reason I do it is to help people escape their everyday life – to give them the opportunity to move outside of their drudgery, and to have someplace to just go and relax or leave their everyday life aside. If they’re going through something tough in their life, they can come out to a wine festival or an auto racing event, and be a part of the event as a spectator and feel like they were able to kick back or not take themselves as seriously for at least a couple hours.
One of the things that I did early on, as far as having an event business, was a lot of talent brokerage and putting together concerts and so forth. It was great to go out on stage, to introduce a musical group and see the crowd of people in front of me ready to have a great time. They were ready to move outside of whatever was ailing them. That’s really what motivates me in doing these events.
I also get a lot of satisfaction in being able to help raise money for charities. I work putting together an annual Thanksgiving Day race here in Castle Rock, and 100% of the proceeds go to our local food bank and social services agency. Helping the local women’s crisis center with some of their fundraisers is great as well, and not that I am expert, but a lot of people say that they don’t have any idea what they’re doing, and they need some assistance.
In my position, I do a lot of marketing, sponsor relations, getting people there, and once I have them on site, need to have a pretty good product to keep them entertained.
DSF: Let’s talk a little bit about the bicycle race that you do on a yearly basis.
TM: The Elephant Rock Ride is going into its 22nd year. The event is operated by a few people that promote cycling events in Colorado. I started out as a volunteer, and now am a staff member of this event and the many other cycling event the parent company produces. Through my connections with the town, I help the E-Rock to bridge the government gaps and to help recruit all of the volunteers. We have over 20 different non-profits that come out to raise money for their organizations, by helping staff an aid station, course marshal, serve lunch to participants, and a myriad of other roles. I enjoy assisting these groups in getting involved in the community.
The event itself last year had 7,200 cyclists, which makes it the largest cycling event in Colorado, and one of the largest in the U.S. It is fun for all ability levels, isn’t really competitive, and the courses run from 8 miles up to 100 miles. The Governor of Colorado came out to participate this year and signed a bill to create a new cycling license plate. In addition to the non-profits that raise money for the work that they do the day of the event, there is a brain injury charity and a school for children with special needs, which receive a larger portion of the event proceeds.
The Colorado Alumni Association of Delta Sig has been helping for four years, and has partnered with a few local sororities to assist the day of the event. This past year, they brought in $2,500 for course marshalling in the morning and serving lunch in the afternoon.
DSF: What are your roles on the day of the event?
TM: Prior to the event, I coordinate and communicate on necessary duties and training for each volunteer group, so when the day comes, they pick up all of their equipment, and head to their designated stations. I am there to support the event by helping with sponsors and the expo area, coordinating the beer sales, setting up and tearing down, and just being the Jack of all Trades.
DSF: Talk a little more about the other things you do to give of your time.
TM: I think of myself as having a servant heart, and I tell people that really whoever needs my help, I am more than happy to extend myself. I have been a law enforcement victim advocate locally doing death notifications, responding to domestic violence calls, accident scenes, sexual assaults, education events and general officer support. I am part of a statewide search and recovery team, where if there is a disaster that happens in Colorado or a neighboring state, I would assist by going into buildings to extract victims, do triage and medical treatment, tend to mass casualties, building shelters, and help manage the disaster site. I am proud to have the knowledge and capability to assist other first responders. I am very active with the women’s crisis center in town. When I was talking to lot of the battered men and women, I would work with them to find resources and refer them to a local shelter where they can get some help. I started working with these organizations to get better educated and stayed to help bring community awareness and much needed funding.
I was one of the first few males to assist with the Race for the Cure (for breast cancer awareness) in Denver, which has, in the past, been the largest Race for the Cure in the country. We had 65,000 people participate last year. There are a lot of causes that men don’t get behind, especially with the Race for the Cure, where the first year a lot of women were looking at me wondering what I was doing there. Trying to take that and say ‘how can men get involved’ is something I am interested in doing. I was one of the people who put together a program called “3 Miles of Men,” where men would line the streets and basically just applaud and cheer on women as they went by in the Race.
All of the things I have done professionally stem from a desire to help people and bring things to the next level. That is what I believe my purpose is in life - to connect where there are needs. One of my personal mottos is “Nothing is being done so well – that it can’t be improved upon”
DSF: Talk a little bit about your role in being a first responder for Columbine.
TM: I was one of the first responders to Columbine, and I was just on a list of people who were trained to respond. I was driving down the road to go to a meeting, and all of a sudden, I got a phone call and all hell broke loose. I had to drop whatever I was doing, and had to explain to people that I couldn’t make the meeting because there was a shooting going on, and I needed to see where I could assist.
Years back, I had volunteered to be a speaker, in schools and different businesses, to talk about sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape - as one of my girlfriends had been sexually assaulted as a teenager. One of my roles was to go around to some of the elementary schools to do presentations for them. It snowballed into a paid position, where I went to different high schools to do health education programs, and to really relay information about the difficult things that people don’t want to talk about. I did a lot of health ed programs at different schools, and one of them was Columbine. I was there for a week or so doing different classes talking about what sexual assault means, as they had recently had one of their cheerleaders assaulted. I knew the inside of the school pretty well, and so when I heard that things were going on, I could picture the different places where it was happening. Two of the people at the software company, where I was working, had kids who went to Columbine. I needed to call them to let them know of what was happening, and one of the daughters that I knew quite well was in the science room with the teacher who ended up being shot. She was the last person who came out of the school, and there was the hysteria of parents wanting to know what was going on. I was working with people trying to give them information to try and cut down the confusion a bit, but my mind was rushing to the school and picturing all of these things going on.
It was like the World Trade Center – no one knew what was going on, and there was tremendous fear. I was there in the aftermath trying to help kids grieve as well, as I have served as a youth leader for Youth Life, which is a national youth group for teens. I attended two of the funerals for teen victims that shared a common bond with teens that I knew.
DSF: What are some of the things you like to do in your limited spare time?
TM: As a hobby and to disconnect myself, I go to a lot of events. There is a great network that I am a part of in the state and I like support other events that peers coordinate. I enjoy everything that gets me outdoors, including snowshoeing, cycling, and just volunteering. I love cooking as well and entertaining.
DSF: What is a piece of advice that you would give to others about being successful?
TM: Find a way to give back in a substantial way - in your life and to make a difference to as many people as you can. Create a legacy, and find a way to give beyond your
comfort level. This feat will surely help yourself grow. That’s really what makes the world go round. When someone would die, the Ancient Greeks would ask, “Did he have passion?” It wasn’t about what he accomplished in his life; it was about whether he had passion and how he affected people in the world around him. There are wonderful people who are constantly giving of themselves, and there are a lot of people who think in terms of leaving it to someone else. It’s important to do what you can, and do it joyfully.
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