Nope, US, based out of CA, but he was from the Midwest.

It was funny as when I met him a few times he responded the same way.

"You're Minnesota? Can I talk to you about hunting? They told me I shouldn't do that in CA..."

I didn't hunt but I let the man tell his story ;)

I usually feel pretty disconnected from executive types and so on but I liked that guy.

I had an exec at my last job that came in like that. He was so transparent and likable that I immediately became suspicious. He had tons of stories so I assumed he was a bullshitter, but nope, it seems he had just been there and done that. I basically owe my career to that dude, he took a chance on me (I was about as low on the org chart as it gets) and it was the break I needed to show what I could do.

Sometimes there are actually great leaders in the sea of self-serving assholes that populate the business world.

As someone in tech from the rural Midwest who loves hunting, I can appreciate this little fact a lot. In my 10 year career I've worked for some well known larger tech companies and meeting people with this interest is somewhat rare.