Born: Kansas City, Kan.

Family: Diane Minear (spouse), Emily Minear and Jessica Minear (daughters), Matthew Krause, Adam Krause and Jacob Krause (stepsons), three daughters-in-law and four grandchildren, Makhia, Max, Sadie and Liam.

Occupation: Enterprise architect (IT department) for Payless Shoesource. Minear oversees email and voice communications for the company.

Dream job as a child: Minear wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force.

Digging deeper: Minear’s parents grew up in KCK, but his parents moved them to Piper when Minear was in the sixth grade.

“It was partly to get out in the country, but also to make sure we went to smaller schools,” Minear said.

He played basketball and ran cross country in high school. After high school, Minear went to the Air Force for basic training, as he was going to be in the reserves while he went to college. Bad knees kept him from making it through, and he was sent home. Minear went to college at Emporia State University, and majored in business with an emphasis in computer information systems.

After college, Minear installed computers in K-12 schools around Kansas and Oklahoma. He met his wife while working for that company. After a one-year stint in Dallas, they moved to the Kansas City area, where Minear went to work for AMC Theatres in the company’s IT department. His wife, Diane, went to college and law school — while raising small children.

Minear is an avid landscape photographer. He said he loves playing with technology (he’s a self-proclaimed computer geek), and watching his children in extra-curricular sports.

Minear has been active himself. He just ran two half-marathons in the last month.