Labor Operations Manager
I grew up in North Boston New York, a small town 30 miles southeast of Buffalo. I went to various schools in western New York and finally graduated from Hamburg Senior High in 1981. From there I went to Erie Community College where I graduated with Associate in Arts degree in Criminal Justice in 1983. After graduation, I moved to Arizona where I took a job ay Wells Fargo armored where I delivered cash to banks in the valley. In 1985 I applied for a job with the Arizona Department of Corrections and was hired. I worked at the Santa Cruz unit at the Perryville prison for 10 years. During that time, I went to night school where I earned an Associate of Science Degree and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Psychology. Immediately after this I began to promote within ADCRR. I retired as a Lieutenant in 2007. I was hired by Yavapai County Adult Probation Department and worked out of the Cottonwood office in the Verde Valley area with the hopes of moving my family there. The housing market crashed and I couldn’t sell my home. I resigned my position with the probation department and took a job with ACI.
I have worked with many inmates who excelled in our ACI programs and were hired by the private company they worked with upon their release from prison. One inmate in particular learned the job so well that he was hired as soon as he was released and eventually became an upper level manager for the company. He has been there for about 10 years and continues to excel. During this time he bought a home, got married and had children and leads a successful life – a true success story.
I believe in what ACI does for our department, the state of Arizona and the inmates. When people take advantage of the second chance to turn their life around they seem to do very well. When they decide to leave the criminal life behind and take advantage of one of our programs we are there to help them succeed. What I find most satisfying is the stories the inmates tell me about what ACI has done for them. When I hear the stories of what kind of life they were living before they came to prison and the life they want to lead when they get released with their newly acquired skill and what they plan to do with their new skill. It is very satisfying to know that we helped change someone’s life to the point that they made the decision – on their own – to leave their criminal life behind because they’ve recognized that there is no future for them in that lifestyle. We can’t change them, they have to make the decision to change on their own. We are here to give them a way to turn their lives around when they have decided to make that change.
The last family vacation we took was to California. We went to Sea World, Universal Studios, the beach, L.A., San Diego. We had a lot of fun.
