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without an increase in the cost.

The State of California has passed laws requiring increased recycling of Organic Waste, with the
goal of reducing disposal of organic waste by 50 percent compared to 2014 levels, by 2020.
Please provide your experience with recycling and solid waste in addressing this issue.

I haven't been directly involved with it since the law was past. I have dealt with reducing organic waste
from the landfill portion - increasing the collection. I ran a large compost facility in Lodi in the '90s. I know
the hurdles that are facing communities with organic waste because the facilities are few and far
between. What I did learn in Berkeley - is that we also did that in the commercial sector - I have a good
amount of experience in working with contractors in educating restaurants in how to divert food waste.
You have to do the education very quickly - you have to keep it concise. And you have to go in more
than once to make sure restaurants are doing it correctly. I have been in the trenches to make sure that
it works. I understand the difficulties or just how hard it is to run a facility well.

What is your experience managing diverse groups of employees, mentoring and growing them, and
what employment issues and challenges have you faced in communicating with different personality
types?

I have managed large groups of employees from diverse background. I am ultimately responsible for 70
+ employees currently ­ running three recycling plants ­ with City of Berkeley 110 employees. These
employee groups run the gamut of ethnic groups, different outlooks on life, levels of education and
everything in between. Given my years of experience I feel that I am on the backside of my career and I
am becoming a lot more comfortable with the mentoring side. I like the fresh ideas of younger
employees and the opportunity to mentor and coach. In my current job, I was hired to turn around a
region that needed some help. I needed plant managers ­ and ended up hiring two supervisors, one
was a black man and one was a black woman. And I hired them and now they are running their own
plants and I'm very proud of that. So that was nice and made me feel good. I do seem to be able to get
along with drivers and people who aren't managers.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional strength? What is something you
would like to improve?

My greatest professional strength is my knowledge-base. I really do have a good knowledge
base. From so many different viewpoints. It's not really the technical knowledge base. It's more
that I have seen so many organizations and how they work. I have seen so many types of
culture - or things that make an organization that not run well. That hard to define soft skill to
create a great team atmosphere.

Anything else you would like to add? If out of area? Are you willing to relocate to the Merced?

Empty nesters - can relocate to Merced

I was offered a similar job in Sonoma County - Sonoma County had a waste authority that was
encountering some issues. They wanted to hire an Executive Director - I was in a closed-door board
meeting - there was the Mayor of Santa Rosa and a number of other cities, and others. A large
gathering. I felt very comfortable in that role. The role was rather political. You have to make sure that all
of the stakeholders all feel good about the situation when it comes to rates.

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