Experience

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  THE WILLOWS FOUNDATION INC

  • Orange County, California Area

  • Director of Landscaping

    • Nov 2019 - Present
    • Orange County, California Area

    Director of Landscaping at The Willows Foundation. The Willows is a Christian Science Active Living Community.

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  Self-Employed

  • Southern California

  • Landscape Architect & Water Conservation Consultant

    • 2009 - Present
    • Southern California

    I'm a self-employed Landscape Architect licensed in the state of California. I design irrigation plans for other landscape architects and municipalities. I also enjoy teaching "Residential Landscape Water Management Workshops"​ for water agencies in Southern California. At these workshops, I teach homeowners how to significantly decrease water use while still enjoying beautiful landscaping.

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  LandCare LLC

  • North Orange County, CA

  • Branch Manager - North Orange County, CA

    • Mar 2018 - Dec 2019
    • North Orange County, CA

    LandCare's Core Values are:Delight our customers. Every time.Lead with confidence and integrity.Work hard, smart, and safe. Every day.Inspire others with meaningful environments.Have fun. With a commitment to teamwork.Lots of companies have values and mission statements which most of their employees and even senior management aren't familiar with. The leadership at LandCare consistently promote our core values by sharing them, training on them, and living them. It's inspiring and gratifying to work with a company that so passionately believes in values that the vast majority of people would recognize as being noble and good. At LandCare, I've been thrilled to have the opportunity to help the people in our branch learn and grow by attempting to model and share our values. I'm committed to teaching irrigation and horticultural principles to any of my crew members that want to learn and grow.

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  Rose Hills Memorial Park (a Dignity Memorial Provider)

  • Whittier, CA

  • Senior Manager Cemetery Operations

    • Jan 2016 - Sep 2017
    • Whittier, CA

    I was recruited for and accepted the position of Senior Manager of Cemetery Operations for Rose Hills Memorial Park in January 2016. One of the responsibilities of that position was managing the landscape maintenance of the park. I led a group of 66 individuals in the interment department and 10 individuals in the landscape/irrigation department. Rose Hills Memorial Park was awarded the 2016 winner of the American Cemetery Excellence Award. With more than 1,400 acres, Rose Hills is the largest cemetery property in North America, conducting more than 9,000 interments annually. More than 1.5 million vehicles drive though it's main gate every year. I loved serving the men of the interment and landscape/irrigation departments at Rose Hills but resigned in September 2017 to focus my energy on the landscape industry and to teach water conservation.

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  Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary (a Dignity Memorial Provider)

  • 1702 Fairhaven Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705

  • Grounds Manager and Landscape Architect

    • Aug 2010 - Jan 2016
    • 1702 Fairhaven Ave. Santa Ana, CA 92705

    Directed landscape maintenance, landscape installations/renovations, and all interment services for a 77 acre, one hundred year old memorial park. Directed the design and installation of a modern irrigation system for the cemetery. Significantly decreased labor costs for all activities involved in landscape maintenance through the use of "Six Sigma Lean" methods. Instituted daily exercise program which decreased the number of workers compensation claims. Taught all crew members the common and botanical names of all of the different types of trees in the park. Taught an ESL program for Spanish speakers that was held during lunch time on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's.

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  Metropolitan Water District (MWD)

  • Southern California

  • Instructor - California Friendly Landscape Training (CFLT)

    • 2009 - 2012
    • Southern California

    CFLT instructor to landscape professionals, municipal employees and residents for member agencies within MWD's service area and for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Additional classes taught: Sustainable Landscape Design, Irrigation Practices and California Native Plants. The irrigation classes I taught were not simply class room based, but were "hands-on" where the participants handled valves, pop-ups heads, rotors, pipes, fittings and all different types of drip irrigation. They had the opportunity to take things apart and attach components together. I taught the class how to retrofit existing systems using MP Rotator nozzles for lawns and drip or micro-irrigation for planters. I brought in "Smart" irrigation controllers in order to teach students how to program them, and to teach the basics of scheduling. I demonstrated how to repair broken pipes and sprinkler heads and how to adjust pop-ups spray heads and rotors. Typically one class was three hours long and met once a week for four weeks. My goal for each class was to give the participants knowledge they could use immediately to help save water on their landscape.

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  UCLA Extension

  • Los Angeles

  • Instructor for Department of Landscape Architecture

    • 2003 - 2010
    • Los Angeles

    Instructor for the following courses: Irrigation Practices, Materials & Methods of Construction, Landscape Water Management, Landscape Lighting, Sustainable Design and the LARE intensive review sections A,B,C, and D. The LARE is a professional examination that all graduates of an accredited university landscape architecture program must pass in order to become a licensed landscape architect in the United States and Canada. The intensive reviews I taught were, Legal and Administrative Aspects of Practice, Analytical Aspects of Practice, Planning and Site Design, and Structural Considerations and Materials and Methods of Construction.

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  Albert A. Webb Associates

  • Riverside, CA

  • Director of Landscape Architecture

    • Apr 2007 - Dec 2009
    • Riverside, CA

    Delivered landscape architecture and irrigation plans to key clients in commercial and public works departments in the cities of Ontario, Perris, Rialto, Riverside, and the county of Riverside. Developed recycled water use plans for water agencies in Riverside County.Improved conceptual design plans to be more visually compelling through the use of Autocad, Sketch-Up and Photoshop software; created company brochures featuring landscape architecture services. Joined the Riverside County Water Task Force and became a trainer for Metropolitan Water District’s “California Friendly Landscape Training” course for professionals and consumers.

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  Upper Crust Landscaping

  • Orange County, California Area

  • Principle and Owner

    • 1987 - 2007
    • Orange County, California Area

    Owned, developed and operated a design/build landscape firm that served residential, commercial and institutional properties. My firm specialized in designing and installing water conserving landscapes. A part of my business was focused on designing, installing, and trouble shooting irrigation systems. We also performed landscape maintenance on the larger jobs that we installed. We maintained shopping centers, industrial parks and large estate homes.

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  South Coast Plaza

  • Costa Mesa

  • Program Director, Event Exhibit and Competition Gardens, Annual Spring Garden Show

    • 2002 - 2005
    • Costa Mesa

    After achieving a 'first place' award in the design competition, joined the event management team with responsibilities for garden competition planning and execution, including management of all aspects of garden operations and related budgets. Directed 170 participants with 42 unique gardens on how to drive sales leads from the event.