Q&A

Explain what you do for a living in 20 words or fewer.
Construction and Engineering Manager for the past 22 years for the Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Ameritech, SBC, and AT&T in Dayton, Ohio.

What is the favorite part of your job?
Taking care of our internal and external customers!

When do you feel the most frustrated professionally?
Not completing a project on time.

Fiber or Copper for the future?
Fiber -- new technology with expanded capacity will require more and more fiber to be deployed within the infrastructure!

What are the qualities you like most in a colleague?
Honesty, integrity, and teamwork!

What treat do you keep hidden in your office/desk/truck that helps you through an OSP day?
Coffee and protein bars.

Where would you vacation if money were no object?
Europe: Rome and the Swiss Alps.

What is the trait you deplore most in yourself?
Not keeping in shape.

What is the trait you deplore most in others?
Dishonesty.

If you had only ONE OSP tool, what would it be?
OSP Central; staying current on technology.

Where and why do you read OSP magazine?
Anywhere; to stay current with technology.

When do you feel the most satisfied professionally?
Taking care of and mentoring employees!

What’s your favorite quote?
“Safety and Quality is not an act,
it is a habit.”

Tell us the funniest customer experience you’ve experienced or seen in the field.
We had a property owner insisting that we move a manhole out in front of their house because they felt a government base was inside of it and they were spying on their family.

Tell us the most extraordinary/unusual experience you’ve had out in the field.
When I was a technician years ago, I observed a gun battle with machine guns across the street from where I was working! I had to take cover underneath a mobile home!

Tell us how you got into telecommunications. By chance or plan?
By chance; a college friend recruited me for a summer job.

If you could have your perfect job in telecom, what would it be?
My current position: a Network Process and Quality Manager.

If you could ask a hard question to your leadership or the industry at large, what would it be? (Come on -- challenge them!)
Where will our industry and technology be in the next 5, 10, and 15 years?

Safety Q&A

What’s your biggest safety concern?
Having someone get hurt on the job.

What is one simple thing AT&T teams can do to remain safe?
Educate and incorporate safety in everything we do!

What safety no-no do you see in the field (with other companies, of course) that irks you?
The lack of work-area protection that puts themselves and the public at risk.

Why did you become so interested in safety?
I owe it to myself and my family to come home every day!

What’s your most important safety-oriented tool?
All of them! No one safety tool is more important than another!

What’s the most dangerous situation you’ve been in and how did you get out of it?
I had a 13.2kV electric line break loose from a cross arm on a utility pole that came down over my head. I ducked down in by bucket on the aerial lift truck I was operating and avoided contact with the power conductor.

 I was born in Dayton, Ohio, in October of 1960 and have lived in the Dayton area all of my life. I’m the 6th child out of 8 children in a family of 10! I was hired by the Ohio Bell Telephone Company in 1989 within the Local Network Services Organization - Outside Plant Construction and Engineering organization. Soon after, I married my wife of 22 years and am currently happily married with 2 beautiful children! My 19-year-old son attends Ohio State University and my 16-year-old daughter is in high school. I attended college and have degrees in Law Enforcement and Electrical Engineering/Telecommunications. I’m an avid Ohio State Buckeye, Cincinnati Reds and Bengals fan!