Dennis was born in Southern California and grew up participating in Boy Scouts, camping and visiting national parks with his family. He has had varied professional and volunteer careers that have taken him across the Pacific Northwest and around the world. During the 1970’s – 1990’s, he worked for the City of Los Angeles as a mechanic/supervisor, served as a volunteer Orange County firefighter and, in 1990, with his wife, Jayne, joined the Peace Corps and served in the Kingdom of Tonga as an Industrial Arts teacher and vocational training program developer. In 1993, Dennis and Jayne moved back to the U.S, where he worked as a mechanic/fleet services supervisor for the University of Washington and later, City of Bellevue, Washington. It was here that his two daughters were born. In 1995, Dennis took a leave and spent 14 months working in the Rwandan Refugee Camps in Western Tanzania. He began his service with the International Rescue Committee as Head Mechanic/Logistian and eventually ended up coordinating all programs in support of 400K refugees in the region. Dennis moved to Ventura in 2003, and for 13 years served as Fleet Services Supervisor for City of Ventura. Recently retired from the City, Dennis currently keeps busy volunteering with Channel Islands Restoration, local homeless programs, Channel Islands National Park and, of course, Ventura Land Trust! Dennis and his wife Jayne, who is a program manager of HIV Intervention and Research programs in Western Kenya, for UC San Francisco, enjoy hiking, bicycling, paddle boarding, sailing, running, camping and backpacking and their two young adult daughters.