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What are you doing in your new role?

I’m here to help think about, manage the risk portfolio, pricing, profitability analysis, reserve adequacy, that sort of thing, of Delta Dental’s insurance products.

What drew you out of retirement?

I got bored. I wanted something to think about. It’s not like I was staring at a wall for two years, but I was looking for sort of an ongoing challenge. I have a lot of friends who think I’m crazy, but it’s what I needed.

How long were you at Principal?

30 years. It was a huge change.

What was your career path at Principal?

I graduated from Drake. I had the whole actuary thing going for me and just kind of worked my way up through the ranks, largely in finance roles. It sounds like I had one employer for 30 years, but I had probably a dozen different jobs over the course of that 30 years. You just kind of moved around where they needed you.

What did you do in your time off?

I did a fair amount of volunteer work. I did some work with AARP Tax-Aide and 1,000 Friends of Iowa. And I walked the dogs and I practiced my guitar and a thousand other odds and ends.

Has your work changed a lot from what you were doing at Principal?

Oh yeah. It’s more hands-on here. You think of a question and you find your own answer, as opposed to seeing if you can find someone who will find the answer for you. That’s just sort of the nature of a smaller operation. It’s a nice change.

What excites you about this position?

The people.

What do you think is going to be the most challenging part about your job?

I don’t think of it that way, because to me, most challenging seems like what’s going to be hard. I tend to think about it more in terms of what do I get to learn here. It’s a different business environment; it’s a different culture. There are a different set of business problems to work through; they take brainpower, but I don’t look at them, I guess, as challenges.

When you’re not working, what do you like to do for fun?

I still like to play my guitar. I play the bass in a bluegrass band (Ortonville Circus). We get together every week for practice, and when the weather was good, we were out in front of Centro downtown just about every Wednesday night. I like to read. I listen to a lot of music. I do a couple of nonprofit board things: Des Moines Symphony, 1,000 Friends of Iowa, the Des Moines Bicycle Collective. I’m sort of an arts and culture guy in terms of volunteer efforts.

Have you read a good book lately?

I’m trying to get through “Infinite Jest.” It’s a big commitment.

How did you make your first dollar?

You could get into shoveling snow as a child, but I think the first ongoing job I had when I was in high school, I kept score at the grade school basketball games.

What do you like about being in Des Moines?

My friends are here. That’s not meant to be unflattering toward the city. There are a lot of things about Des Moines that I like. I think what happens when you end up in places where there is more to do, you have less access to it, but I don’t have any problem at all finding something to do, and it’s easier to get involved in things in a small community.