Read was raised outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and came to Sandpoint after a career in the U.S. Navy and GE. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 1972 and entered the Navy nuclear program. His last of 3 ship tours was chief engineer in USS CALIFORNIA (CGN36), a nuclear powered cruiser. During that tour, he married Peg Orcutt, a Navy pediatrician. He also taught at the Naval Nuclear Power School. As an Engineering Duty Officer he attended MIT completing an S.M. in nuclear engineering and the Nuclear Engineer degrees in 1989. At the Navy engineering headquarters, he served as director Ship Research Development and Standards group, leading the Navy’s ship electric drive and gas turbine developments, retiring in 1998 with the rank of Captain. Read joined GE Aviation’s Marine business as an applications engineer. He worked U.S. and international navy shipbuilding programs, as well as the cruise, LNG carrier and container ship markets. He developed combined cycle ship power plant concept designs including equipment sizing, performance and economic modeling. He retired in 2016. Read and Peg, moved to Sandpoint in 2014. They have 2 children, both naval officers, and 2 grandchildren. Since retiring, he has pursued an interest in STEM education. He developed a laboratory exercise for sixth graders where students explored magnetism and electricity, building Faraday’s first electric motor and performed other experiments. He also served as a judge for the Future Cities program.