Nate grew up in a rural part of Southern California where had the benefit of relatively easy access to both the beach and the mountains. At a young age, he developed an appreciation for outdoor recreation through climbing, skiing, mountain biking, and backpacking. With two adventurous parents, Nate explored most of California and the Western United States, as well as travelling the world to both developing and developed countries abroad.
Through a very outdoor oriented troop in the Boy Scouts, Nate was exposed to the importance of core values, firsthand knowledge, and the key tenants of leadership. As the youngest Eagle Scout in the region at the time, Nate also developed and recognized at a young age the importance of giving back to the community that supported him, while also committing to big efforts and challenging ventures.
Nate attended UC Davis, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in an interdisciplinary program – Nature and Culture. With the support of renown scientists and esteemed creative, such As beat poet, Gary Snyder, the program taught students how to rich the gap between complex scientific concepts and everyday life, such that or people could connect with the information and understanding. As a part of this program, made focused on environmental policy and management, While receiving a minor in geographic information systems (GIS).
Before completing college, Nate established a consulting firm that specialized in Using GIS for environmental policy and management – including a significant amount of work in conserving critical habitat for Keystone species throughout the US. After graduating Davis, Nate moved to Mammoth Lakes, California in order to be in the mountains And with easy access to recreation opportunities.
Eight fell in love with the mountain community and lifestyle and explored various different opportunities in the outdoor industry. This included becoming an instructor for the national outdoor leadership school for which he taught for several years. NOLS also exposed need to further outdoor education opportunities as well as leadership in outdoor settings.
In 2001, Eighths firm was retained By Mono County to develop a GIS program. After several years of work building this enterprise system for Mono County, they closed his business and stepped into a full-time goal as GIS manager for Mono County and the Town of Mammoth Lakes. Nate ran this program for 10 years before being selected by the Mono County Board of supervisors to manage a multi year, large scale, open access broadband project no one as digital 395. With a proven track record, and many successful collaborative efforts attributed to, Nate was selected as the director of information technology for Mono County and Mammoth Lakes in 2012. Nate serve in this capacity until 2022, when he was recruited by Inyo County to serve as their chief administrative officer. In 2025 Nate left in your county to venture off on his own and explore other opportunities outside of the local government space.
Simultaneously, Nate remain heavily involved in the outdoor industry, particularly in the backcountry ski space. As an avid backcountry skier who had traveled through much of the mountain West, Nate recognized that the eastern Sierra was lacking, authoritative information to support skiers in decision-making with respect to Safely managing avalanche Terrain. Together with a small group of passionate individuals, made helped form the Eastern Sierra avalanche center and has served as the organizations president since that time. This 501(c)(3) exists to provide that country users with critical data and observations such that they can make more informed decisions while skiing in the back of country.. Today, ESAC is recognized as one of the preeminent avalanche centers in the US and employees five individuals throughout the season.
Further of leveraging needs passion for sharing information, in 2008 he co-authored backcountry skiing California is eastern Sierra, which was the first full color comprehensive guide book for backcountry skiing in the region. Two additions have been published subsequently with more than 15,000 copies sold.
Today, Nate wears a variety of hats. Perhaps most importantly, this includes husband and father of two. While Nate is no longer immediately employed by a public agency, he continues to support A variety of regional efforts that range from leadership Development to further building a strong community.