Chat Room:Todd Roberts

Name: Todd Roberts
Age: 41
Marital Status: Married to Kelly Kiser Roberts
Children: Nicholas, 5 and Natalie, 2.
Occupation: Director of Continuum Services at Peninsula Village, an adolescent residential treatment facility.

What was your first paying job?
"Wynn’s, in the sporting goods department. I worked there for years while I was trying to get through college, and it was such a great place to work, I really didn’t really want to leave when I finally finished school."

If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you take?
"Matches, I guess. I never could figure out how to start a fire rubbing two sticks together."

If you could do one impulsive thing, unrestricted by cost, what would it be?
"Retire, play golf, and travel."

What task or activity have you still not gotten around to doing?
"Losing the few extra pounds I have been talking about wanting to lose for a while now."

What are you guilty of?
"I guess it depends on who you ask. Myself, I would have to say I watch a little too much sports on TV."

What is your favorite material possession?
"Probably my collection of ball caps and golf caps. I don’t really even wear them that much anymore, but I have some good ones I’ve collected over the years."

What’s your favorite television or movie quote?
"Attitude reflects leadership, Captain," from ‘Remember the Titans.’ I think about it when we have personnel issues at work and automatically start to wonder how we, as the organization’s leaders. may be involved to some degree."

Who has been the most influential person in the 20th century?
"Unfortunately, it was probably Hitler. I can’t think of anyone else who had more of a profound impact on as many people."

What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t?
"Play golf at Augusta National."

What was your most embarrassing moment?
"Several years ago we had a work social at a Knoxville Cherokees hockey game, and I got selected to go onto the ice to participate in a radio station contest. After a little old lady and an 8 year old kid made their goals, I proceeded to miss three consecutive times and cost us the prize. The crowd booed me off the ice, and my co-workers acted like they didn’t know me when I got back to my seat. It was humiliating, to say the least."

Why did you pursue the career you chose?
"I always enjoyed working with young people, and that is why I came to the Village in the first place. Over time, I became more interested in the administrative side of the business and have been blessed by the opportunities I have been given to pursue that."

What is one word others often use to describe you and why?
"Organized, unfortunately at times it borders on obsessive/compulsive."

When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
"A professional baseball player for the New York Yankees."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
"I speak my mind a little too often and a lot of times without thought. I need to learn how to rein it in a little."

What do you hate?
"Lazy and unmotivated people looking for a handout or a free ride. Not those folks who can’t work, just those that won’t."

What’s your favorite quote?
"Winning isn’t everything, but it sure beats the heck out of coming in second."

Rebels, Tornadoes, Mountaineers or Governors?
"I was a Mountaineer, but my kids are going to Alcoa. I imagine I will evolve into a Tornado before too long."

If you could go back in time for a week, what time period or year would you visit?
"It probably would be pretty cool to go back as a teenager or college-aged person during the 1960s. While I was there I could check up on my parents to see if they were really as well behaved as they let on."

What is the best present you ever received?
"I can’t remember if it was a birthday or Christmas, but my dad got me my first real set of golf clubs. To this day, I can still remember the feeling I had."

What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
"If you can’t say anything nice, just don’t say anything at all. She still has to tell me this sometimes even after all of these years."