Kim and Jeff met while they were both students at Edison Middle School. They were on the Edison Eagle track team together and walked home from practice often. While in high school, Jeff was a varsity letter winner in both wrestling and football. He earned Big Eight 2nd team all-conference honors as a defensive back in his senior football season and was voted the teams most improved player by his peers that year. Throughout high school Jeff participated in student government in various roles.

Jeff served in the Navy from 1988 to 1994. He joined the Navy on the Delayed Enlistment Program while still in high school and after graduating went to boot camp in San Diego, California, with follow on education in Pensacola, Florida to become an Electronics Warfare Technician. He was assigned to the USS Vincennes (CG-49) and the USS Cowpens (CG-63), both home ported in San Diego, California. He completed two six month deployments to the Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean in support of U.S. operations in the Middle East region. During his enlistment, Jeff earned the Navy Good Conduct, Armed Forces Expeditionary, Southwest Asia and National Defense Service medals.

While serving Jeff distinguished himself by qualifying as a nuclear Tomahawk missile guard, held a Top Secret clearance, served as Officer the Deck and earned his Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS). He was honorably discharged from the Navy as a Petty Officer 2nd Class/E-5 and still keeps in touch with friends from his Navy days.

In 1994, Jeff and Kim returned to Iowa to live, work and raise their family. Shortly thereafter, Jeff became a Cedar Falls firefighter and delayed his college plans for a year or two to concentrate on learning as much as he could as a probationary firefighter. During this time, Erin was born.

While working and raising a family, Jeff used the G.I. Bill to earn an Associate of Arts from Hawkeye Community College, a Bachelors of Arts in Public Administration (Summa Cum Laude), a minor in Leadership Studies and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Northern Iowa. Jeff excelled academically throughout his college career. He is a Golden Key International Honour Society member and earned UNI's Purple & Old Gold award for meritorious scholarship as the highest grade point graduate in the Public Administration program. He finished college with a 3.96 GPA.

Jeff remains an active community volunteer giving his time to causes that he cares passionately about. He is a former commissioner of the Iowa Department of Transportation Commission and the City of Waterloo's Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission. He currently serves as a board member of the Hawkeye chapter of the American Red Cross, the UNI Leadership Advisory Board and Black Hawk Economic Development, Inc. He is a life-member of the Cedar Falls Amvets Post #49 and the UNI Alumni Association. He is a member of the Waterloo Exchange Club, Cedar Falls Firefighters Association, the Iowa Firemen's Association, Waterloo Elks Lodge #290, and the International Association of Fire Fighters