Nathan Alan Gustafson
nathangustafson@gmail.com
MySpace Profile – MySpace Blog
Nathan grew up in Salem, Oregon on a small farm that is halfway between Independence and South Salem. The countryside is full of memories for him due to all of the hiking, chasing of wildlife, fishing and spending time with neighborhood friends. During the summers Nathan would spend his time with family and friends at the YMCA swimming pool in Independence. He would later go on to work there as a lifeguard for five summers.
Nathan attended elementary school at Four Corners Elementary until second grade when is family moved out to the country. He then went on to attended Shirley Elementary. In 6th grade Nathan began playing the clarinet. The following two years were spent at Crossler Middle School, home of the crocodiles. Nathan began to really enjoy music and successfully tried out for both of Crossler’s top band and choir. Middle schools was also when Nathan began learning spanish and taekwondo. Once in high school, Nathan took his activities to the next level. He participated in the Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and during his senior year tried out the saxophone in the schools beginning Jazz Band. As the school’s top band, Wind Ensemble created many opportunities to play in small groups, to solo, and to learn leadership and dedication. During his senior year Nathan often played music 7-8 hours a day. In high school Nathan continued to take spanish classes, and excelled in taekwondo. He achieved his black belt and assisted teaching class for his martial arts school.
The biggest change when Nathan moved to attend the University of Oregon was the decision to not pursue music. Nathan’s first year was spent finding a new calling and the first business classes made it apparent to him what he wanted to do. In his first real business class “marketing small businesses and the internet,” Nathan built a website on tree planting and won two awards for the concept and design. The idea of entrepreneurship intrigued him.
College hadn’t been all study though, Nathan spent a year training with the UO Taekwondo Club and was an active competitor for the school, winning a bronze medal at the state championship in the heavyweight black belt division. The summer after freshman year, Nathan traveled to Queretaro, Mexico to study spanish abroad.
During his second year Nathan decided to give marching band another go. Not ready to go back to playing an instrument he decided to participate in color guard as he had done his senior year in high school. It was rewarding in many areas. Having excellent instructors made it challenging, going to games was always a great perk, but more than anything else, the Oregon Marching Band was a great place to make long lasting friendships. [This was of course were Kimmy and I fell in love, and although she doesn't believe me I do remember meeting her (if not individually) when I hosted their color guard during one of my high school's competitions two years earlier]
During Nathan’s third year in college he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and spent a summer training at Ft. Knox Kentucky. Nathan excelled in leadership and enjoyed much of the program. Nathan volunteered to redesign their website and after proposing the concept to the Lieutenant Coronal, was granted the job. Nathan spent six months designing and building the new website and then another six months meeting with the Coronal weekly to fine tune it and ensure that it met army standards. The website can be found at www.uoregon.edu/~army and is now over 205 pages. The ROTC staff is now in charge of the website but on occasion get emergency help or advice from Nathan if they need it. After a year and a half of ROTC Nathan realized that it was taking his life in a direction he did not want to go. Nathan carefully and quietly left the program during the spring of his Junior year.
Since then Nathan worked as a Loan Officer for nine months, Jerry’s Home Improvement for three and Starbucks Coffee Company at 18th and Pearl in Eugene for over a year.
Nathan received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Oregon’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. They were even so kind as to give him an award for his pursuit of Entrepreneurship!
Following graduation, Nathan landed a job with Symantec and worked as a Technical Support Engineer for the Core Unix Team and provided advanced support for the Veritas/Enterprise product line.
After Symantec, Nathan worked for Intechgra Database Solutions as a .NET Developer and played an active role in product development and user interface design for their radiology information system.
Nathan is now seeking development and consulting opportunities.
