Engineer Quality Control

Donald E. Soards – Emergency Management Project Analyst Resume

Executive Summary: The key to on-time delivery of emergency system components is to create a sense of urgency in every human involved in the supply chain. During my 12 years as an Emergency Management Chief for the US Army Corps of Engineers I created a sense of urgency by having each key player develop a sense of ownership about their part in the process. I then informed them of our progress, to keep them focused on the job. I also monitored each critical path by having them inform me about their progress.

I was born on March 28, 1948 in Rapid City, SD. I grew up in a military engineer environment since my father was Chief of Design at White Sands Missile Range during the height of the Cold War. I worked at the Holloman Test Track when they shot the Saturn booster down the track and then a year later put it in the Apollo for the first moon landing. I was a math/physics major at NM Tech in Socorro for three years and then switched to civil engineering.

I graduated from the University of New Mexico in August 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. I have NM Professional Engineer License #7926.

1971-1972: Residential construction superintendent (Odenton, MD) with 26 subcontractors and 100 homes. (I am familiar with labor-management issues in the trades and coordinating with subcontractors to stay on schedule). I was a surveyor for NM State Highway on I-40 road construction through Grants, NM.

1972-2003: Civil Engineer with the Albuquerque District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Work performed included: Office Engineer at Cochiti Dam (424-item pay estimates for over a million dollars each month, modifications, claims, contract negotiations, estimates, staff supervision, quality control, project show-and-tells, audits, quantities for the world’s 9th largest earth-filled dam); riverine hydraulics and hydrology for Flood Insurance Studies and flood control project studies; A/E contract writing, negotiation, estimating, and administration; and in 1983 conceptual planning in which I did all phases: formulate potential projects, hydrology, hydraulics, cost estimates, and presentations of potential projects. El Paso, TX selected and constructed one containing a dam, channels (earth and concrete), bridge, levees, sump, and a golf course (Painted Dunes in NE El Paso). This was followed by four more years of highly complex hydrology and hydraulics, including three dams and channels in southeast El Paso and the Pikes Peak Flood Warning System (real-time computer model) for the Colorado Springs area (I do large complex computer models if the job requires them). In 1988 I switched to Emergency Management and Inspection of Completed Flood Control Works. I worked on civil defense (both nuclear and anti-terrorist), troop mobilization and I had a top secret security clearance. Established a lessons learned program (I am committed to quality control and the preventive opportunity it presents) to capture more than five decades of flood control project feedback from over 100 flood control projects constructed by the Albuquerque District in a three-state area (I am used to extensive travel) that were turned over to local entities to maintain, and posted (with the help of many people) a 7,000 page website to share results. Was Chief EM from 1991 to 2003 (I am very comfortable with both management and analysis of emergency systems), responding to many varied emergencies including the Los Alamos fire in 2000. We completed 24 projects at a cost of over $25 million that summer. We had 88 temporary workers assisting us, many that I personally interviewed and hired to assist us. I worked with natural disaster victims and all manner of agencies (federal, state, and local) on numerous small floods requiring engineering expertise, sandbags, and sensitivity. I prepared annual budgets, supervised two professional civil engineers, three Army Reservists (two Lieutenant Colonels and one Major), and student hires; and was responsible for EOC property inventory.

2003 to present: Tried to obtain funding for an Internet national medical center (for patient diagnosis) based on my lessons learned system with a 7,000-page website. Wrote and web published “Drive It Longer!” based on my research in golf club speed bio-mechanics. I am currently trying to obtain funding from the National Cancer Institute to reduce residential insecticide use with a non-spray technology I developed. I worked with quantitative finance (huge Excel data bases). I obtained a class A rating at Western Chess (on Internet) (I love analyzing systems).