Early Years

 

Keith was born in a small town in Pennsylvania in December, 1970.  When he was two weeks old, Keith and his mom moved to San Francisco in time for the holidays and never looked back.  Keith was raised by his financially struggling single mom with the help, moral support, and guidance of his maternal grandparents.

 

His grandfather instilled in Keith the conservative values of hard work, entrepreneurial spirit, problem-solving, and financial responsibility.  Keith’s grandmother survived the Great Depression and was a vibrant, outgoing person who thought on her feet.  Even though she completed only the 8th grade, she encouraged Keith to excel in High School and to go on to college.  Those values still guide Keith’s life today and have served him well.   

Education

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Keith believes strongly in the value of our public education system, including pre-school, K-12, our community colleges, and public universities.  He is a product of our public schools, including Frank McCoppin Grammar School, Lawton Middle School, Lowell High School, the City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and Long Beach State University.

 

Keith often looks back fondly of his years attending San Francisco’s public schools, particularly memories of his fifth grade teachers who were a young married couple experimenting with team-teaching.  He still appreciates their teaching American History and the importance of civic duties of U.S. citizens.   Another huge influence for Keith was his Lowell High School chemistry teacher who made chemistry fun and exciting thereby opening the door to Keith’s future career path. 

 

He also was active in the Boy Scouts, and that tradition continues with his twelve year old son Damian who participates in scouting.  Keith was also a member of the Pacific Rowing Club crew team which drew talented athletes from public and private high schools throughout the City.  The club practiced on Lake Merced and competed with other clubs from the rest of the Bay Area.

 

Upon graduating from Lowell High School in 1989, Keith left the City for ten years to pursue his undergraduate and graduate education.  As an undergrad, he worked as a bank teller and then in a food testing lab.  Keith earned his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Chemistry and became the first member of his family to graduate from college. 

 

Keith continued working his way through graduate school by teaching chemistry in college.   At that time, he met his future wife Daxa ("Daksha"), who is originally from India.  After Keith earned his Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Chemistry, Keith attended the University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. 

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Career

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In 1999, Keith moved back to San Francisco joined with his wife.  Keith worked briefly in a law firm.  Passionate for science, he advanced his career by working as a Scientist in medical device, biopharma, and molecular diagnostics labs over the next seven years.  

 

For the past decade, Keith marketed technology platforms to leading researchers in top academic, pharmaceutical, and biotech labs.  In that capacity, Keith reported to the Chief Executive of a management consulting firm which provided the CEO’s, COO’s, and Senior Vice Presidents of biotech firms advice on how to structure and restructure their businesses and take innovative approaches to increase their profitability and market shares.

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 Motivation to be Elected as your next Assemblyperson

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Over the course of the past two decades, Keith and Daksha have increasingly become alarmed by the declining quality of life in our neighborhoods, the high cost of living, homelessness, property crimes, traffic gridlock, and the lack of infrastructure spending (water, sewer, and the electrical grid).  Making matters worse has been the gradual loss of local control to elitist politicians in Sacramento and faceless, unelected, and unaccountable bureaucrats at the regional level who think they know what’s best for us and want to dictate every aspect of our lives -- where we live and how we live.   

 

Since Keith loves the special character of our unique neighborhoods of San Francisco and the communities of northern San Mateo County, he wants to ensure that future generations can enjoy the quality of life that our parents and many of us love so much.  These are the reasons Keith took time off from his professional career to campaign and provide you a real choice during the November 6, 2018 election for the California State Assembly, District 19.  

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