The magic kingdom and happiest place on Earth works hard to make sure that all the products Disney sells or gives away for promotions meet safety, environmental and labor standards for manufacturing.   This is a big job!  There are around 65K requests for product reviews each year.  My team and I delivered the custom system that manages the workflow to track all these requests.

I'm here with Mick, we both are black belts!  Fantasia!

Sr. Project Manager, Sr. Systems Analyst: 

Early in the 21st Century, Southern California Edison (SCE) made a substantial investment in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system called SAP.  Essentially the Utility was over 100 years old, and this investment was a quantum leap for an aging information technology system, into a new era.

A Corporate Information Factory was created, where the technical environment would provide information from a single source of truth.  It touched most areas of the Business, and took hundreds of people to put into place.​

My role filled a very thin layer of expertise monitoring all the change, and keeping track of all the work:  scope and schedule for the "Enterprise Asset Management" module.  The Chief Information Officer (CIO) Dashboard, which I managed, was one of many new components to become available to SCE after the launch of SAP and the Business Intelligence platform.

While there were many other experiences I had at SCE, this was a very exciting time in my career.  Fantastic people, talent and accomplishments.  Bravo!​

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President, Ecopreneur, Partner:

Idaho Blue Insulation was one of many businesses to rise during a major Sustainability movement in Idaho.  The enthusiasm was high with retailers, builders and architects were all committed to the green industry.  While President of Idaho Blue Insulation, peers at a USGBC elected me to the Board of Directors.  I served in that capacity for one year guiding the various activities of the local Idaho Chapter.

 Project Engineer:

Mickey Strauss & Gary Peterson - American Landscape Companies.  These guys were pioneers in their industry, with annual sales over $60M at their peak.

My contributions were small in comparison, but I learned the other side of the coin.  From the contractor's point of view, it is an accomplishment to be this successful.

Capital Projects Coordinator & Public Arts Administrator: 

Most people think of Disneyland with the mention of Anaheim.  It is very much an influence on the City, as was agriculture in its early history.  Citrus Park was a tribute to this era planned with murals of Citrus crate labels painted by artist Emigdio Vasquez.  The original Park Development throughout the City set several notable landscape architects on to their humble beginnings.  In Anaheim, they designed parks which have great features like a moonscape and a Grecian themed Amphitheater. 

Capital Projects:  These photos are representative of various phases of the Park and Art construction projects for which I had oversight.  My role was active from selection of the Design team through completion of Construction.  I assisted with the interviews for architects and engineers and work with them to resolve problems during construction.  During design I would conduct integration reviews of project blueprints, then during construction remove obstacles for contractors, conduct aesthetic inspections and work with Field Engineering Building & Safety for progress payments and project closure.

While with the City, I was personally responsible for construction of an aggressive $40 million investment (not sure of present value) to the City of Anaheim's Park infrastructure.  All in all, it consisted of 35 acres of new park development and 70 other Public Works improvements to municipal facilities. 

Arts Administration:  The Anaheim Arena was awarded to Turner Construction with a requirement of 1% for the Arts, which I administered for three major commissions totaling $600,000.  The commissions were guided by an Art Advisory Council of citizens, and contract negotiations were lengthy and specific to the artist’s rights.  Once selections were made, negotiating the Arena Architect and engineers was another interesting aspect.

The art works are important more so with their interpretation, I’ll share here: (when you visit, see if you can find them!)

VIDEO ARCH - NAM JUNE PAIK.  Considered the father of video art, Nam June is known for his profound works in video and television.  Here he created a architecturally conservative arch, which blended with the building architecture, originally intended to display the video’s he created with some Anaheim Images.  The crew, artists themselves, came from Chicago for the installation.

ANAMORPH – RICHARD TURNER, MICHAEL DAVIS AND ANN PRESTON.  The Anamorph was inspired by the deceptive size of the Arena’s interior.  It is a sculpture, which plays as a device used to reflect, in proportion, the distorted images created of mosaic.  The mosaics are stretched images of a diskobolus, a lyre player, and an Athenian actor.  When reflected in the mirror their true form appears.  There are other tricks of the eye built throughout the artwork and surrounding area.  The mosaic was delivered in sections and pieced together on site; the sculpture took over one year to plan, build and deliver. 

MUSICAL GATEWAY – NANCY MOOSLIN, SANDRA ROWE (Visual Artists), and STEVE STUCKY (Composer).  Steven Stucky composed original scores of music for this artwork.  The four sculptures are each an interpretation of one of the parts of music, engaged by pushing a button on the wall.  Mooslin contributes an accurate representation of the harmony, rhythm and timbre of each musical part through color.  Rowe’s more subjective and emotional response, form, contributes the structural interpretation of the music.

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​Parks and Recreation Coordinator  Looking back, the most important thing I accomplished at the City was kicking off the Summer Concert Series in 1987.  The concerts still takes place on many weekend Summer evenings in Memorial Park.

The park has changed since then, but my love for flowers, perennial and annual was divulged with a budget for beautifying the City's public rights-of-way. ​

​The City of La Cañada Flintridge is a unique and beautiful place to live, work and play. Incorporated since November 30, 1976, the City is a “contract city.” It has a small full-time staff and contracts for many of the services provided to its citizens.

​Receiving Supervisor:  This was fun, the guys had wheels, (forklifts) and I didn't.  Just out of college, I was the "supervisor."  I'm not sure who was supervising who, but our team took control of the inventory and kept track of it with higher accuracy though automation. 

Rain Bird was started in early 1933 in the California Citrus groves.   Clement LaFetra began helping  make and market the sprinklers that had slower rotation and more efficient watering than other sprinklers of that era.  In 1935,  Clement and Mary Elizabeth LaFetra, bought the business, and their descendants still operate the company today.