Name
Warren Parrish
Age
39
Company/Organization
Berrien County – Equalization Department
What Does Your Company/Organization Do?
The Berrien County Equalization Department has many functions and roles but principally studies of the level of assessment in each Township and City, by property classification, via property valuation analysis. There is an elaborate and vast reporting component between our department and the Michigan Department of Treasury as well as the local units of government. The Equalization Department also performs damage assessment during emergencies.
Education
Michigan Master Assessing Officer, MMAO (4)
Accomplishments
I am a renowned expert in my field, which is something I accomplished at record speed. I have, at times, authored what has become official guidance and I have developed various methodologies or tools that are utilized by many throughout the state.
What else do you hope to accomplish by the age of 40?
My current focus is the wellbeing of my family.
Current City
Saint Joseph, Michigan
Place You Were Born
Traverse City, Michigan
What was your first job?
Auxiliary kitchen staff at a restaurant. That or general laborer for a construction company.
What’s the best advice you ever got?
It takes at least six months in a new role to become comfortable with it.
Who inspires you most?
Captain Jean Luc Picard
That one thing about you we’d be most surprised to learn.
I am obsessively private and generally avoid the spotlight. I do not typically wish to be well-known or recognized.
What do you love to do in your downtime?
Spreadsheets: Planning, logistics, optimizing, strategy, automating, organizing. Applicable to all areas in life but typically very useful for gaming.
What book are you reading now?
I haven’t read a book recreationally in many, many years. All my reading these days is either academic, legal, or technical.
Volunteer activity you love the most.
I don’t volunteer for things anymore. My wife does, and I often help her as needed. 🙂
What motivates you to give back to your community?
Poverty is rampant, the middle class is non-existent, the cost of living is untenable for many (if not most), and so many people are working harder than ever, but are unable to thrive. In a country that has enough wealth to see its entire population well taken care of, several times over, the situation is unacceptable.
What Superpower would you most love to have?
The ability to, at will, acquire, retain, and comprehend any desired knowledge. Also, the ability to forget any particular knowledge at will.
What would you like to leave behind as your legacy once you are gone?
The things I would like to achieve are so fantastic and unrealistic that they probably aren’t worth mentioning. That said, I would hope people would remember that I genuinely cared about the wellbeing of everyone.
What does the honor of being named to the 40 Under 40 most mean to you?
It is nice that I made it. When I first learned about 40 Under 40, I was probably in my late 20s and thinking that I had a long way to go before I would ever consider myself eligible. Now, with my 40th birthday just months away, I do feel accomplished. But also, I am wondering where the time went.
