Hometown: Draper, Utah
Undergraduate: Brigham Young
Major: Accounting
Masters Candidate in Real Estate, Johns Hopkins University

This avid outdoorsman and accounting major has skied Snowbird and balanced many a bottom line. At Pacific McGeorge, the bottom line for Derek is only the beginning. An only child from Draper, Utah - "seriously, an only child in Utah?!" he jokes - he learned through his Mormon faith that service and leadership was not only important, but fulfilling. From drumming in his high school band, Blind Site, to bringing together communities in Utica New York while on mission in his early 20's, to spontaneously boarding a plane to Thailand with only a backpack, and developing a plan to acquire the tools he would need to follow his career goals, Derek calls all the faces, places and experiences along the way "life changing." He was drawn to Pacific McGeorge for many reasons, first his cousin and alum John Moore raved about the faculty and "that they write the textbook that's used in some of the best schools in the country," it offers a location "so much like home - mountains, waterways, year-round fun," and the opportunity to dive right into the legislative fervor in Sacramento "close to the opportunities!" He first decided on law school as an accounting major at BYU, seeing a law degree "as a way to position [myself] for more opportunity." His family's background in real estate spurred him to enroll in the masters in real estate program at Johns Hopkins University, and through his studies, he now sees "the synthesis of accounting, real estate and law coming together." Ultimately, Derek hopes to channel his skills into his primary passion - promoting the general welfare of his communities, here, there - everywhere.