Jake was born in Virginia, MN. His parents both worked at US Steel’s Minnetac facility in nearby Mountain Iron. In 1987, Jake moved with his parents and younger brother to St. Cloud.
Jake attended ISD 742 schools, graduating from St. Cloud Tech in 1998.
After high school, Jake attended St. Cloud State University. He graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from the Herberger’s School of Business. During college, Jake worked full-time and was able to complete his degree without any student debt.
Jake has worked at Stearns County in the Information Technology department since 2009 – and has been an IT project manager since 2010. Before this, Jake was employed by GeoComm – a private company based in St. Cloud that produces public safety solutions.
In 2009, Jake was appointed to the St. Cloud Planning Commission and served until 2020. During his tenure on the planning commission, he served as chairperson twice. He was also heavily involved in the annual development of the Capital Improvement Plan as well as the 2015 Comprehensive Plan.
Jake also served as the planning commission liaison on the Park and Recreation Advisory Board [2010-2020].
In 2022, Jake ran for and was elected to the City Council for Ward 3. He defeated an incumbent by 11% – focusing on public safety, infrastructure, and quality of life issues. He purposely ran as a moderate – seeking to find a balance between those who may lean left or right – and keeping the campaign focused on St. Cloud issues. On the City Council, he’s worked to understand all sides of an issue before casting a vote. This has included voting against difficult topics like 322nd St edge mill and overlay. He believes it makes better sense to do it right than to do band-aid approaches.
Jake has lived in the Westwood area since 2006 with his wife Rachel. He also has a 6 year-old Golden Retriever named Ruby that he walks every day.
