Experience

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  Boeing

  Jan 2000 - Jun 2006

  Led F-22 Program Lean activities at Boeing and worked closely with Lockheed Martin personnel in Marietta, GA. Lean activities during this timeframe helped us reduce the flow of wings from 75 to 35 days and aft fuselage from 60 to 35 days while reducing factory floor space by 40% and tripling the throughput from one to three units a month. Our F-22 Assembly Center was recognized as the 'Best in Boeing' in 2003 and 2004. Led development of the F-22 Assembly Center's strategic lean plan and ultimately responsible for implementing this plan. Our focus was on stabilizing and then improving the many processes utilized in assembling F-22 wing and aft fuselage sections and used tools such as value stream mapping, 3P, improvement workshops, 5S, TPM, theory of constraints (TOC) and Six Sigma. Responsible for the Quality Assurance, MR&D, NC Programming and Mechanical Engineering organizations supporting the Composites Center in Seattle. During 2000, we reduced the cost of quality by 54% compared to 1999 and received multiple special incentive awards for business performance. As Sea Launch Lean Manager, we reduced the flow time for assembling the payload structure by 45% in 2000 compared to 1999 with a drastic reduction in man-hours.

  • F-22 Program Lean Manager

    Jan 2002 - Jun 2006

  • F-22 Process Engineering, MR&D and Lean Manager

    Jan 2001 - Jan 2002

  • Composites Fabrication and Assembly Center Technical Team Manager

    Jan 2000 - Jan 2001

  • Sea Launch Lean Manager

    Jan 2000 - Jan 2001
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  Dale carnegie training

  Jan 2003 - now

  Professional leadership trainer

  During evenings I teach the Dale Carnegie Course (8 weeks, 1 night/week, 3.5 hours/night) and am consistently rated as a Top 50 trainer in the world (over 3,000 trainers). In 2005 I was the 2nd ranked trainer worldwide.

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  The berg companies

  Apr 2007 - Jun 2007

  Hr and lean manager

  Led lean activities enabling the 3,000 gallon rubber fuel tanks to triple their rate in less than 2 weeks. I also started the Human Resources department and enhanced many of Berg's policies and procedures.

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  Berg integrated systems

  Jul 2007 - Oct 2009

  General manager

  As General Manager of this company started in 2006, we established a lean management systems that is enabling our 80+ person workforce to produce 210,000 gallon rubber fuel bladders (one per day) and Expandable Shelter Systems (one per week) faster than anybody else in the world.

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  Dickson consulting services, llc

  Sept 2009 - Jun 2010

  Owner and president

  Established in 2009, I founded this Spokane-based lean consulting company that focuses on partnering with senior leaders during their company's lean transformations. Over the years I've had many contracts with both private industry and government agencies, including Berg Integrated Systems, the Community Colleges of Spokane, WorkSource Spokane and the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council.

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  Worksource spokane

  Jul 2010 - May 2011

  Administrator

  As Administrator at WorkSource Spokane, my responsibilities included running the day to day operations of our region's one-stop led the implementation of many 'lean' techniques to improve service quality for our center's job seekers and employers and implemented a very successful Quality Management System.

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  Employment security department

  Jun 2011 - Feb 2013

  Area director

  As Employment Security Department's Area Director for Spokane County, my responsibilities include working with the Workforce Development Council, our educational institutions and hiring agencies to enable our region's job seekers to find employment more quickly and employers to get highly qualified personnel, now and in the future.

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  Spokane county

  Mar 2013 - Nov 2021

  Chief operations officer

  As Spokane County's Chief Operations Officer (COO), I'm responsible for the overall leadership, performance and continuous improvement of county operations. This includes the planning, organizing and directing of county government management to provide timely, cost effective, efficient systems and programs with a focus on high quality customer service.

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  Spokane county united way

  Nov 2021 - Aug 2023

  Chief executive officer
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  Employment security department

  Jul 2023 - now

  Eastern regional director