David Goodwin

Business Owner, Workforce Development & Financial Education

Both my wife and my roots stretch back into rural communities beyond modern records to a time best documented in the local grave yards. In 1986 at the age of nineteen we married. In 1987 while I working and attending the University of Nevada Reno as a full time metallurgical engineering student we purchased our first house to rehab and turn into a rental. In the three plus decades since we have owned and operated various businesses and investments.

In 1996 with the addition of two children we knew it was time to return to the isolated often overlooked world of the far North Eastern corner of California that had shaped our very being. I resigned the position I had worked so hard for in corporate America, we sold our motel in South Lake Tahoe and devoted ourselves to raising the next generation of small town Americans. It has been our passion to bring as much energy, money, and awareness to our rural community as we could.

Our first venture into the nonprofit arena occurred in 2007 when Surprise Valley Scholarships incorporated (SVSI) a 503-C nonprofit was created. This organization which is owned by the students and guided by a few caring adults has brought thousands of dollars to students in the form of scholarships. Its activities have brought many times more dollars into the local economy. Most importantly it has given great confidence to many isolated rural young people when dealing with people from urban communities.