About Danny Choriki

  • Ray, Doris, and Danny Choriki in the 1950’s along Mendenhall in Bozeman.

I was born in Bozeman and educated in towns and cities across Montana starting in Moccasin and graduating from Great Falls HS. I left in 1984 to pursuit an education and a career in New York City as an environmental social scientist. That was also the year my parents moved from Great Falls to Billings. In 2012 I came back for my dad’s 80th birthday and realized if I wanted to spend time with my parents, I needed to come back to Montana as soon as possible. I spent the last six years as primary care giver for Ray and Doris Choriki and I hope I gave them some joy and comfort in their final years. The among the gifts I received from them was a sense of responsibility for the community where I live, the understanding that outcomes matter more than intentions or beliefs, and that you always try to leave a place better than you found it.

During the decades I lived in NYC, I was a student, a policy analysis, an information technology expert, and a consultant on how information and decisions flow within organizations (process engineering). Because of these experiences I view the world and the human experience as a set of systems. I am trained in analyzing complex problems in search of root causes. And like any good shade tree mechanic after analysis, I kept testing possible solutions, and don’t stop until the problem is fixed.

We live in a time when we are just starting to understand the complexity of life and how to use that understanding to make the lives of as many people as possible better than they were. In many ways, this has been my life work. Our grandparents understood that we need to be guided by what works and not blinded by ideology. I try to live by that standard. When we see a problem, we try to analyze the cause of the problem and try to fix it. If the first thing you do doesn’t work, analyze what happened, come up with a new plan and try that. Ideology is easy and often comforting.  But it is outcomes that matter.

Some favorite thoughts from Danny

We live in a time of constant, unrelenting change. We all have fears about a going into an uncertain future.

Danny Choriki

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy

We must face the future with hope, faith in each other, and with public policies that are driven by outcomes and not by ideology.

Danny Choriki

Let’s build something together.

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