Shane Heil  

Responsibilities:
I have owned marine aquariums for over 10 years now. Like many of my good friends, what began as a hobby has ultimately become a lifestyle. I plan most of my activities - even vacations, to include or work around my reef keeping hobby. I suppose there are less productive things I could be doing with my time and money.

Speaking of money; I enjoy saving it - so I encourage and participate in many do it yourself projects. But I have learned that DIY and saving money do not necessarily equal one another. Sometimes you just have to pay the price - as painful as it may be.

I have learned so much on my journey through the reef keeping hobby. I've learned more biology and chemistry through my aquarium than I ever gleaned in a classroom. I've learned to appreciate the reefs of the world and how dependent we are on their continued success. I've learned that a community of hobbyists can have far more success (and fun) than any single person on their own. Most importantly, I've learned patience and tolerance for the opinions of others (even if they're wrong) and these lessons will be with me long after my tanks are dry.

Shane Silcox

Responsibilities: Assistant Web Master

I was born and raised in Sandy. I currently work for Siemens as a Developer / Cisco integrator. My wife stays at home with our 15 month old daughter who I think is as addicted to this hobby as I am.
I grew up loving animals, but because my parents didn't like the added work and responsibility of a furry pet, they got me fish, hence started the addiction. As most I started with freshwater fish, and kept them for quite a while until one of them died and the rest of the tank crashed. I got quite dismayed and gave up on fish for quite a while. Then last year while checking out turtles at the aquarium with my wife, we got interested in saltwater, and toward the end of my research for my new tank I ran across the WMAS. I wish I would have known about it sooner! The assistance and knowledge transfer that I have gotten from so many people here has been invaluable. I look forward to many great years with my new friends. Thanks WMAS!

Other Responsibilities:  Historian

Rob and I have had aquariums our whole lives. Isn't that weird how 2 fish nerds find each other? Now, we share our obsession of aquatic design (Although, I'm more into design, and he's more into living creatures). We have 4 tanks now: a reef tank, a community tank, and an aggressive tank. They are built into the wall and connected by a big sump, so we only have to "tinker" with one system. We also have a small specimen tank we are starting. We are looking for the perfect "specimen" right now!
Rob and I have been WMAS fish nerds almost since it's conception. We have met some really cool people and even some very famous authors. Most of our corals are from the WMAS. All of our corals have been shared with other club members and every fish store show tank in our part of the valley. We have watched our club expand and change and evolve into a very impressive group of wonderful friends! Thanks, WMAS!

As far as the presidency goes, my job is to sit quietly in the corner and wait for someone to ask me a question.  I guess I see my role as being an advisor, or possibly as someone to comment on previous aquarium society issues.

On a personal note, I have a beautiful wife, and she has a cute little dog.  We are pretty much the happiest people you will ever meet.  Also, we are always looking for a few more friends to accompany us on this wonderful ride of life.

Other Responsibilities: Public Relations

The name is Jamison...like the Irish Whiskey. Dad claims that's how I was conceived. Thus began a life of awe and passion for all animal life. I focused all my energy as a child on ignoring household chores, homework and personal hygiene in an effort to spend more time outside turning over logs and rocks, sticking my arms into unidentified burrows and summiting everything climbable (usually small hills or cherry trees) in hopes to witness nature's fascinating creatures. I loved all the critters I found and to my mother's horror, brought most of them home. She is still adamant that it was my fault she got stung on the butt by a bumble bee. Though I was interested in bugs, birds, small mammals and amphibians, my obsession has always been reptiles. As a youngster, I aspired to become a snake doctor. As an adult I came to realize that snakes' HMO plans suck, and I couldn't make a living curing "bad scale days" pro bono. I still harbor an unquenchable affinity for snakes (specifically venomous). Darwin's theory would have been proven multiple times already, but his fatal flaw was wildly underestimating the determination of a controlling wife in preventing her loving, if somewhat reckless husband, from doing ANYTHING fun or mildly life-threatening.

As an alternative to keeping anything slimy, scaly, venomous or scary looking (Hey! Wait a minute...), I got into reef keeping. I've been going strong now with a 120 gallon aquarium (this is my first fish tank ever) for almost 3 years. It has been a roaring success. I think we can all agree that my hair algae is fuller, my cyanobacteria slimier, and my skimmate doesn't even stink. Reef keeping has become a passion. I love the diversity of life, the beauty in form and colors only seen underwater, and the challenge of creating a happy little eco-system in my living room.

 After tooling around for a couple of years in Germany, I spent the better part of a decade (7 or 8 years) in college. I started up in Logan at USU where I successfully demonstrated why they call their mascot "Big Blue". I will fill you in when the statute of limitations has been exceeded. In my spare time (about 16 hours a day) I conned lots of young and impressionable female students that in exchange for home-cooked meals, I could grant them access to a specific rite of passage only fully understood by other True Aggies. I then got serious about my education and transferred to the U of U, where I coined the phrase "C's get degrees and tuition reimbursement". By trade, I am an Investment advisor rep for a very large brokerage firm. I push pencils, count beans and receive daily affirmations that everyone in the world has more money than me.

Other hobbies include golf (what I lack in talent, I compensate for in swearing), fly fishing, and writing. I recently wrote a children's book that I hope to get published while my kids still qualify as children. I also enjoy spending time with my beautiful wife (former Bountiful High cheerleader) and my two kids, Lauren and Everett.

WMAS is an inspiration to hobbiest clubs everywhere. I owe every ounce of success I've had in this hobby to the advice and support I received here. We have a first rate message board, outstanding monthly meetings and a group of generous people that will literally drop everything to help out a fellow hobbiest.

My main objective as a new WMAS presidency member is to give back to the club for what I have received. I'm excited to work with such a great group of people and look forward to getting to know each of you a lot better. Keep your water hard and your carpet dry!!!

Other Responsibilities: Membership Coordinator

I was born and raised in Salt Lake City.  I have lived here all of my life with a few exceptions of my job.  I will talk about that in a minute.  My hobbies as growing up include, RVing, Radio controlled cars and trucks and Skateboarding.  I once skateboarded from 90th south to the capitol and back on State Street in one day.  Most of my vacations consisted of camping out at the Little Sahara sand dunes with 2 of my 5 brothers.  I own a 2005 Yamaha Banshee.  Every July over the 24th Utah holiday weekend, we would drive to the sand dunes of St Anthony, Idaho.  We were one of the first to discover the sand there.  This was back in the early 80�s.  It�s Kind of like discovering oolitic sand and LBTR.  It�s always been there but someone decided it was great to put into our tanks.

I have worked for the same company for 13 years, and have been threw 2 mergers.  My present position is Assistant Branch Manager of a Company that supplies veterinarians everything they need to heal or help animals.  So I guess you could say that I save lives for a living, or that I am a drug dealer to veterinarians, hehehehe.  I have been to many other branches within the company across the US.  I just recently returned from Des Moines, Iowa.  I ran the Branch for 4 months and hired 6 employees and a Branch Manager.

This will be my first year as a Presidency council member (2007).  I am very excited in helping out any way I can.  Currently I am filming meetings for those that are unable to make it.

Last but not least I want to introduce my wife.  Lisa and I have been happily married since 1998 and in August of 2006, we had a baby girl.  I have had a name for a girl for many years and I am happy that I have received support from Lisa and agreeing with the name of Chemistry.

Thank you for taking interest in reading my short Bio.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had writing it.

Other Responsibilities:  SeaStar Editor

Salt Water was very intimidating to me - mostly I stuck w/ fresh water and bettas. My first tank would have to be the classic 10gal, then I had to get bigger! My husband and I got a 20gal that sat on our kitchen counter in our first apt. We loved getting the fishies to fill it up. Back then, there wasn't as much support as we have now, we were pretty much amateurs. Both of us left the hobby for a couple years and got roped back in when my brother in-law purchased his first betta. We babysat it for a week and I instantly wanted to jump back in. From there I started getting rare and wild bettas to breed. I was roaming around the internet looking for a good deal and came upon Utahreefs.com.

I would have to thank Adam Blundell for his pm's encouraging me to snatch up good deals and giving me the confidence to start in the marine hobby world. I would also like to thank Mark Peterson for 1. getting me the f-r-e-e materials and 2. letting me pick his brain.

Currently, I have many-many tiny tanks for my fresh water bettas. My marine tank is a 27gal bow-front w/ mostly soft corals and (3) awesome fishies (clown, cardinal, and watchman goby). The tank is in dire need of a upgrade, so the empty 90-gal is in my living room waiting for funding to kick in. My only pet that's non-marine is my 4-yr old mutt-dog Kona.

I'm married to a wonderful guy named Brad. We have one 7-yr (soon to be 8 ) son, named Lucas. You'll probably see him running around the meetings. . or bored off his keister (hopefully the older they get, the more into the hobby they will be).

During the days, I work as an office manager in a computer networking company. I handle all the accounting and HR aspects.

During the nights, I go to school to finish my Bachelors in Business and Accounting. . .

Where do I fit in the water changes?? (weekends!)

Other Responsibilities:  Web Master

I have loved fish and animals my whole life.  I setup my first saltwater aquarium when I was 12 years old.  As soon as I was living on my own I filled my house with aquariums.  I am an entrepreneur at heart and have owned various businesses related to aquariums and pets including both retail and wholesale.  I currently work in the computer industry and still run the CoralPlanet and a couple other businesses associated with the industry including the aquaticdatabase.com.  Besides fish and corals I also enjoy scuba diving, camping, board and card games, computers, electronics, traveling, and helping people start and run small businesses.

Other Responsibilities:  Merchandise

First of all I have to say that I have loved being a member of this society and have enjoyed meeting all the people that are involved.  As for myself, my family had FW tanks when I was a child and I have always kept fish since then.  I started looking at SW in 2002 but decided that the suggested set-ups were way too much work.  Then in 2003 I bought �Salt water fish for Dummies� and liked their easy better.  I set up a tank, carefully measured the salt to the ounce and got excited about all the great fish.

The first fish I bought was a dragonet.  We brought it home and started to read about what it needed.  This started our first �emergency� trip to the LFS where we bought our first live rock.  Soon my tank had everything the first books suggested, but the hobby really took off when 2 years latter I joined the club. 

Now our house if full of tanks we have over 500 gallons of captive water ranging from my daughters 12 gallon nano to our  125 gallon reef with 55 gallon sump.  In fact there is either a FW or SW tank in every room of our house (except bathrooms)

As for work I recently started my own carpentry business and have enjoyed being able to make canopies and stands for my tanks as well as others.

Will Spencer

Other Responsibilities:  Treasurer

I have loved fish and aquariums all my life.  I can barely remember a time when there wasn�t a fish tank to enjoy.  For most of my life I�ve had freshwater tanks, but in 2003 I took the plunge into saltwater.  Shortly after staring my first saltwater tank I found this club and learned that I had done pretty much OK, but could have done better.  Since the first meeting I attended I have been hooked not only on the hobby, but on this club.  I now have several salt water tanks, but have never lost my love for freshwater tanks and I also keep several of those.  I love keeping corals and have many beautiful soft coral and LPS specimens, but my real love is for fish.  My current favorites in my tanks are my Powder Blue Tang, my Fairy Wrass and my Lionfish. 

The rest of my life is taken up by my work.  I am a tax accountant and have recently been put in charge of handling IRS audits in my office.  I have a beautiful wife Kristy, whom I get to see far too seldom due to our crazy schedules.  Her love is for Horses and she has gone overboard on them about as far as I have on fish.

I am always willing to visit with other aquarists and will eagerly make time to have club members come over and view my tanks.  WMAS is great!  See you at the next meeting.

Other Responsibilities:  Refreshments

Born and raised here in Salt Lake City.  I always grew up with pets, but the only person with an aquarium was my grandparents when I was very young.

I was introduced into the fresh water fish when my wife and daughters bought me a 29 gallon freshwater setup for Christmas 1999. I soon grew bored with freshwater and in march of 2003 decided to get my birthday present which was a 65 gallon tank and stand from Marks Ark. After finding out the cost of setting up saltwater, I almost backed out. Luckily I found equipment on the internet and finally had water in the tank by June 2003.  I lost many fish at first, not knowing much at all until a friend of mine told me about a club here in Utah and that one of the Presidency council members lived real close to me.  I found the club on the internet, and finally came to my first meeting in November of 2003. From there on, it has been never look back.  I have met some wonderful people here in our club and I'm happy to help out any way I can.

Shawn Winterbottom

Other Responsibilities:  Tank of the Month Coordinator

I have lived in Sandy area since I was eight years old and graduated from Jordan High School.  In 1993, after received my Associates Degree, in Computer Information Systems, I started working for Qqest Software Systems as a Computer Programmer.  I have always loved the aquarium hobby started with a 55 gallon FW aquarium in my office.  I also had a 35 gallon FW tank at home.  I especially enjoyed cichlids and eels.  Another of my favorites were my Oscar and Clown Knife.  My boss, not be out done, decided to start a 150 gallon SW fish-only tank also in the office.  In 2002, our family relocated to a larger home.  I inherited the 150 gallon tank from my boss and traded my FW tank in on a 75 gallon SW reef aquarium and never looked back.  I first joined the WMAS in early 2003.  It has been great!!.  With five sons, I am also very involved in the Boy Scouts of America, and am currently serving as Scout Master.  Some of my other hobbies are (when and if I have time) rocketry, RC trucks, hunting, camping and fishing.   Other pets include, dogs, frogs, lizards, birds, and rats.   Yes my house is a zoo.