After three prior years of service as a Delegate from Santa Cruz, Derek is serving as this year’s Operations Officer.

Derek is the Department Manager for the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz, with prior experience at UCSC Extension and in university housing. Derek has been involved with the UCSC Staff Advisory Board for the past 5 years and is currently finishing his second term.

Originally from Detroit, Derek has degrees in physics and educational leadership from Wayne State University. After finishing grad school, he moved to New Hampshire and worked in housing at St. Anselm College before moving to California and becoming a slug.

Derek is primarily interested in addressing the perennial issue of policy governed staff members receiving little to no annual salary increase, while watching faculty and union represented roles continually getting raises, as well as retiree benefits. Derek tries to advocate for staff on these two issues whenever possible with system-wide leadership as well as to the Board of Regents.