Candidate for
Assessor; County of Contra Costa

Ross is one of the most qualified Administrators with over 25 years of political, business and administrative experience. He has worked with budgets over $40 million, managed staffs of 70+ employees from the U.S. to France, Russia, Germany and other countries and enjoys working with people. "Working as Assessor with Contra Costa Constituents will be my way of giving back to what our County has given our family (education and quality of life)."

Ross Erin Butler is a transplant of many areas of the country, from Oregon, Washington, D.C., Chicago and including Victoria, British Columbia. Growing up as a farm boy, Ross tackled everything from moving irrigation pipe, driving tractors to harvesting wheat, corn and potato's + eventually becoming the Farm Foreman of a 5,000 acre farm at the age of 17. "Hard work taught me many things + how to enjoy and appreciate the sweat of a good days work and how to manage and get along with the other farm hands," recalls Ross. This work ethic would eventually benefit him in the labor force and owning his own business.

Ross is a graduate of Brigham Young University and holds a BS degree in Business Finance. While in his sophomore year, he formed a software company named XauTek, Inc., the Russian spelling for "high tech." The company had software programming offices in Moscow, Russia and the United States + programming for the Aerospace Industry. XauTek was later sold to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) based in Zhukovsky, Russia.

Ross started his political experience in a patronage position in the U.S. Senate Post Office. "The early 80's were magical years for the Senate; there was true statesmanship, bipartisan cooperation and consensus among the Senators" Butler recalls. "Many times I would volunteer my help in processing the mounds of mail for Senators Robert Byrd and Bob Dole, both brilliant men in the Democrat and Republican leadership. One day Senator Dole's office called and asked if I wanted to work with them on a more permanent basis: that's where I learned true bipartisanship. It was a perfect fit since my mother is a Democrat and father is a Republican who cancels each other's vote at election time." Butler also served on the Vice President's Council on Aerospace when the aerospace industry was deregulated and was a Supervisory Director of the Senate Employees' Credit Union.

AllAdvantage was a revolutionary idea in the fledgling .com arena. It was founded as an internet advertising company that paid its members back for surfing the web. Although it did not survive the .com bust, it was highly successful during its heyday. Ross joined AllAdvantage as International Corporate Accountant, and was later promoted to Controller of the International Division. During its pinnacle year, AllAdvantage employed over 700 people in offices in the U.K., Germany, France, Australia, and Japan while developing new offices in Asia, Central and South America. Ross's international business background was invaluable in setting up these international corporations, their accounting and exchange hedging methodology. Ross managed the International Division operating budget of over $40 million, designed and mapped the international accounting system for Oracle, opened and hired hundreds of staff members for the offshore offices.

When the dot com bust came to the Bay Area, Ross was one of the last employees to leave AllAdvantage. "Wrapping up businesses in other countries is not as easy as you think it is" says Butler. "After AllAdvantage I wanted to get back to what I really loved and that was Finance and Investment + So I became an Investment Advisor/Stock Broker." After joining Securities America, Ross obtained his Security Licenses 7 and 66 and started working with individuals plan and transition into retirement. Today, Butler works with Syndicated Capital Broker/Wheeler & Mote, LLC. (RIA) and manages millions of dollars of assets for his clients and has been very successful in maintaining positive portfolios, even in the most challenging economic times the U.S. has seen since the depression.

Meet the Family:

The Butler Family has a very rich heritage. On the Butler side of the family, Ross E. Butler, Sr. was one of the original founders of Ore-Ida Foods, which invented the "Tater-Tot." Granddad would tell us the story about how there was so much potato waste going out the door from the production of fries, that Granddad and the Grigg Brothers (founders) would head to their workroom late at night to figure out a way to "glue" the potato scraps together. When he got to the part of actually telling us how he did it + he'd stop and say, "Well the rest of the story is a secret." We never did figure out how they did it." Before Ross, Sr. passed away, he was bestowed the highest awards from the Boy Scouts of America + the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope for his 70 years of service.

On the Christiansen side of the family, Ole Christiansen was the original organizer of the AFL-CIO Steel Union for the United States/Geneva Steel Mills. According to Ole's diary, "the working conditions for employees were so bad with management, that we never knew if we were going to have a job the next day." Ole describes his working behind the scenes with hourly employees + on threat of being fired. His wife Georgie remembers, "After we successfully unionized the Steel Mill, Grandpa never could get a job advancement. If he went into Management, they would have fired him on the spot + Management knew he had organized the Steel Mill and they wanted him out at any chance they got."

Ross is the oldest of seven children born to Rusty and Danielle Butler and is married to his sweetheart Darya, with five children of his own + Taylor 17, Ross IV 16, McKay 14, Audrey 12 and Nathan 6. For over 12 years the Butler family has lived in Alamo and enjoys one of the best school systems within the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

Some of Ross' hobbies that he shares with his family are Bee Keeping, Hiking, Soccer, Camping and Genealogy.