In May of 2020, I retired from 40+ years in industry, where I started as a shop worker and culminated as a President & CEO. Following retirement, my wife Graciela and I sold our Camarillo, CA property, intending to move back to San Diego. After several empty-handed house hunting trips, we joined friends (also Seabrook Islanders) on a coastal Carolina vacation that wrapped up in the Kiawah / Seabrook Island area. Smitten, we followed up quickly with a house hunting trip. We concluded Seabrook Island was a better fit and fell in love with and bought a house on Marshgate Drive, which has been our primary residence since January 2021. We have made many great new friends since moving in and are taking full advantage of all the Island has to offer, especially golf, kayaking, pickleball, walking and hosting the steady stream of family (including three children and two grandsons) and friends who visit.
I am currently on the BOD of The Croal Open to Fight MS, a 501c3 dedicated to eradicating Multiple Sclerosis. We are the largest private fundraiser in the state of Wisconsin, having raised nearly $1M since our inception. This year alone we raised nearly $100K. Further, I have worked with various community organizations, including Rady Children’s Hospital and The San Diego Food Bank. Additionally, Graciela and I have contributed significant time and treasure to various other church, civic and charitable organizations. Finally, I have served as a youth sports coach and a mentor to several aspiring business leaders.
Having led business units and operating companies within multi-billion dollar publicly traded entities (Eaton, AMETEK and Steel Partners) across a variety of industries, I have come to know what good leadership looks like and does. I am relentless in pursuit of goals, and believe my skills and experiences align well with those necessary to serve on the Nominating Committee, including developing, implementing and executing process to evaluate, attract, develop and retain Top Talent (“A” Players), collaborating with internal and external teams (including BODs) to achieve consensus, and leading diverse, high-performance teams to deliver continuously improving results.
Recognizing that I was rarely the smartest person in the room, I always surrounded myself with strong, diverse, capable, independent-minded people to support achieving our Vision and Strategic Goals. To achieve a Vision as reaching as SIPOA’s requires exceptional leadership dedicated to the cause. I have and continue to develop a network within the Seabrook Island community. As a member of the Nominating Committee, I would view my principal role as ensuring we uncover and attract Talent with not only the right skillset and experience, but also with a mindset that is consistent with and embraces fulfilling the SIPOA Vision, and would draw from the network I am growing.
Seabrook Island is a terrific place to live. I’d like to be part of the team that keeps it that way, and hope to contribute by serving the SIPOA board and the Seabrook Island community on the Nominating Committee.
