Meet Oz
You need to know who I am before trusting me with your vote.
I have lived in the 42nd District for more than 20 years, as has my fiance, Vicki Schultz. Our connections to the community are strong. Our six children have attended Riderwood and Stoneleigh Elementary, Dumbarton Middle, Gilman, Roland Park Country School, Loch Raven Academy, Towson High and Carver Center for the Arts and Technology.
I am the second oldest of five children. I have two sisters and twin brothers one of whom we lost to leukemia at a young age at a time when not much was known about treating the disease.
My mother, a teacher, taught me the importance of public service. During the civil rights struggles of the 1960’s, she confronted racism with courage and showed me that each person can make a difference. Her saying, “damla, damla” – with one drop at a time, you can create a small lake – are words that I live by.
I attended public schools in Maryland and DC, except for two years when my family lived in Indonesia. There I attended a parochial school and was fascinated by the new and different culture. During summers, I worked construction jobs, delivered newspapers and even shipped out as a merchant seaman to the Far East.
After college at Princeton, while many of my classmates headed to graduate school or Wall Street, I chose instead to help kids in trouble turn their lives around. After graduate school at University of Cambridge in England where I studied criminology, I worked for the Governor of Maine, a Democrat, developing plans that ranged from helping at risk youth to energy conservation programs. He was the kind of politician I admire: one who does the right thing, not the politically expedient thing.
I then worked in the private sector and started a career in financing housing for working families and growing small and mid-sized businesses.
After eight years working in corporate America, I faced what too many families face today, and what was the toughest challenge of my life: I was laid off during a recession.
With few jobs available and my family to support, I started a business in a basement with a partner. I struggled just to earn a paycheck – we went many weeks without one. With hard work, a little luck and with the support of great people, we were successful in building our company. It is one of my proudest accomplishments to have created jobs that today support many families.
At the same time, I volunteered my time to promote education, parks and recreation, as a Trustee of Baltimore County Public Library and with organizations dedicated to the arts.
Today, my fiancé Vicki and I, like many parents, are working for a better way of life for our children and our community. We believe in and have tried to instill in our children JFK’s timeless challenge to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
My commitment to building a strong economy that will provide jobs, quality education and opportunities for all our children, is rooted in that belief. And my experience gives me the ability to get the job done for you in Annapolis.
I want to thank those of you who have already welcomed Vicki and me into your homes and schools.
Join our campaign. I hope you will stay in touch and let me know about the issues and concerns that matter to you. I look forward to meeting you in person in the days ahead.
