Born June 1, 1961 in Bay City, Michigan into a middle class family, the first of four children, and attended grade school and high school in Bay City. I won a National Merit Scholarship my senior year in high school and applied it towards the cost of my education at the University of Michigan. I attended the University of Michigan, 1979-1983 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1983. I worked as a television cameraman while studying at the University, and drove a bread delivery truck, worked in a meat market, and worked for Dow Corning Corporation (Midland, Michigan) during the summers to complement my scholarship money. Between the scholarship and working full time in the summers and almost full time during the school year I was able to pay 100% of may tuition and living expenses, graduate debt free, and avoid being a financial drain on my parents. During these years I learned the value of hard work and self sufficiency, and of setting ambitious goals.
I accepted a job with Intersil Corp (then Harris Semiconductor) in June 1983, and have been with the company ever since. I started out as a Product Engineer, and have held engineering and management positions of increasing responsibility; I am now a Sr. Manager in charge of the marketing group of a $100 million product line.
I rented a house in Malabar as soon as I moved to Florida in 1983, and fell in love with the rural lifestyle. I bought my lot in Malabar in 1985 and built my house in 1988.
I attended the Florida Institute of technology, going to school at night to earn my MBA degree in 1992. More importantly however, this is where I met my future wife, Dr. Semen Koksal. We had a long distance relationship for a couple of years when she taught in Louisiana and Illinois. I moved to Illinois in 1994 to work out of the Intersil Chicago office, and Semen and I were married that year. In 1997 our son Denis was born, and we were fortunate enough to be able to move back to Malabar; I accepted a marketing position with Intersil, and my wife a position as a mathematics professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. We had always planned on coming back to the town we love, and I did not sell my house when I was in Illinois. I have spent many happy hours introducing my son to the beauty of nature that can be found in our own backyard.
My many hobbies include hunting, fishing, amateur astronomy and telescope making, ham radio, reading, and working in my yard. I’m looking forward to putting most of that on hold and serving Malabar as a member of our Town Council. Of course, I need your votes to be able to serve our town.
I have worked hard all my life, setting ambitious goals and doing what it takes to achieve them, and will bring that work ethic and determination to my responsibilities as a member of our Town Council. I hope that this brief introduction will give you some insight into my character and ability to tackle challenging tasks successfully. I am asking for your vote – please give me the opportunity to show you what we, together, can achieve.
Elect Steve Rivet