Occupation: I am the vice president of market research for GE Capital Real Estate.

Family: I am married to Betsy. We have two sons. Christopher is a junior at Newtown High School, and Matthew is a seventh grader at Newtown Middle School.

Pets: Quigley, our cat, is named after an Irish pub in Naperville, Ill. We got him on St Patrick’s Day nine years ago. He was a stray.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We moved here from Illinois three years ago. It is our second foray into Connecticut, though. My wife grew up in North Haven.

What do you like to do in your free time? Read and run. I’m on the board of trustees for the C.H. Booth Library, just shy of two years now, and I’m on the Board of Assessment Appeals. I’m a long distance runner, but not a marathoner. Mostly I run in Sandy Hook in the area where I live, or the Youth Academy, or the track at Newtown High School.

Do you have a favorite author? For nonfiction, I like Rick Atkinson, who wrote the World War II Liberation Trilogy, and The Long Gray Line, a book about the Class of 1966 at West Point. For fiction, Freddie Forsyth. I liked his Day of the Jackal, one of his classics. I mostly read historical writing, but if I want a quick read, I go to fiction.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? We go to Disney World probably every two years. But I think the favorite place for my wife and me was Venice, Italy. It’s low-key, laid back, there’s good food, coffee, and wine. The Italians are very nice people. Sydney, Australia, is a pretty interesting place, too.

What is the best thing about Newtown? People are down to earth and very hardworking. They are very friendly, too. We were accepted into the community so quickly. It’s a good cross-section of society. There are professionals, small business owners, and craftspeople. The schools are great, and I actually think the town is pretty well run. People here are accepting of everyone.

If you could spend a day with anyone, whom would you choose? Abraham Lincoln. If you think of what the guy did in one of the most troubling times of this country, it’s incredible. He was completely self-taught, too. He’s an amazing character. I’ve visited all of the Springfield, Ill., sites honoring Lincoln.

Do you have a personal philosophy? I keep a framed picture of a 1970s runner, Steve Prefontaine, on my wall. It says, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

What is the craziest thing you have done? I climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge in 2002. It would be the equivalent of climbing the Brooklyn Bridge. It is probably 300 or 400 feet high. You have a harness and a guideline, but if you’re scared of heights, you don’t do it. And when you come down, you walk down backwards.