WEBVTT

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My name is Daniel Gerner and I'm the

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branch head of code 615 , the materials

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for hypersonic and advanced systems

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branch . I'm very excited to be here

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today with Johnny DeLoach to help

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interview him on his 40 year career

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with the Naval Surface Warfare Center

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at Carter Rock Division . He's been my

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direct supervisor for four years and

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I've been here since 2011 and he's been

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my second line supervisor since then .

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Hi , my name is Maria Pasada . I work

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for division 61 the materials and

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manufacturing technology division . Uh

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I've been here for the past 25 years .

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Um , and am excited to be here to

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celebrate Johnny's uh , accomplishments

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and be a part of the memories that

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he'll share and that we'll share about

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him in celebrating his career here at

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Carter Rock . Hi , my name is

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Alicia Tyre and I'm an administrative

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and technical specialist in the

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materials and manufacturing technology

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division . I've been with the division

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for 11 years and I'm excited to be here

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today to just chat with Johnny who has

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been my direct supervisor . Um , the

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entire time I've been here at Carter

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Rock and he's been an unofficial mentor

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for me . Um He's really helped me to

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grow professionally and in my personal

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life , um He's the reason that I'm

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finishing school and just completing

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some milestones . So I'm honored to be

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here just to pick his brain and

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hopefully leave a little bit of his

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legacy behind . Hi , my

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name is Akil Channer . I'm materials

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engineer with the additive

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manufacturing group code 618 and I'm

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excited to be here today to not only

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memory and celebrate Johnny's career ,

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but also learn uh how he's been able to

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get to the point where he's at . I've

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been here for five years and from the

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start , Johnny has been a uh

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commemorative figure and a mentor for

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me and a constant reminder that any

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achievement that I want to make I can

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get to with the right amount of

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motivation and , and drive .

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Hello , everybody . My name is Ashley

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Floyd and I'm Carter Rock Community

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Outreach and student engagement

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coordinator , which means I do all

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things field trips , getting into the

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school systems , underwater robotics ,

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you name it . But formerly I'm from the

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Welding non destructive testing ,

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evaluation and processing branch .

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Actually , that fell under Johnny

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DeLoach , who hired me 14 years ago , I

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get to actually interview him on his

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way out . So that's why I'm here today .

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I'm really happy to be here . Hi , I'm

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Johnny DeLoach . I'm with the Naval

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Surface Warfare Center , Carter Rock

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Division . Been here for about 40 years

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with the Navy and about 27 here at

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Carter Rock , my career is coming to an

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end in a few days and I'm really happy

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to get the opportunity to share some of

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my experiences , my hopes and dreams

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for the organization and a few

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perspectives with you . I'm honored to

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have the opportunity to share some of

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this with you and I hope you enjoy it .

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How you doing today , Johnny ? I am

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doing very well . How we're all with

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you ? Good , good , good . I'm

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excited . I'm about to say bittersweet .

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Yes , I was gonna say bittersweet but

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uh hopefully everybody got all their

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tears out and all their emotions

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because this is a listen , you guys ,

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you guys , you guys have told you , I'm

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just not gonna be in building 60 but

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I'm not going anywhere . Oh , you got

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my , my personal number . So y'all got

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the personal number . We're gonna make

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sure it's not the work phone , right ?

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OK . He awesome ,

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awesome . Um Well , yeah , like really

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excited to be here . Uh Just to , you

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know , hear about all the good times

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and all the fun times and talk about

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what this place has meant to you

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because you've been here for what ,

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like 23 years , something like that ,

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something like that . I've been here at

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uh I got here at Carter Rock uh July ,

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July 15th uh 1996 . So I've been

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here a little over 27 years , but I had

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13 years before that in Annapolis . So ,

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a total of 40 plus 40

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plus it's a long time , isn't it

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before computers ? No . Wait , wait ,

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wait , what did they do here before

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computers ? Wait . How are we all old

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enough to have this conversation

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anyway ? Yeah . Um , yeah . Well , we

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just wanna just , you know , ask you a

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few things to , um , just kind of

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capture some of that and , uh , we are

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really happy to have been asked to do

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this with you because if you think

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about it in 40 years , you've probably

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touched hundreds of people ,

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hundreds of people . I don't know how

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many like mentor advice , employees ,

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uh contractors , places you've went ,

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but you chose uh a special few ,

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special , a special few to , to kind of

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dig into that some . Um So yeah , if

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Alicia wants to get us started , uh we

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will love to have this opportunity . Ok .

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The one who will cry . Ok . So , um ok ,

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so I know personally through my career

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that I've learned a lot from and I'm

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curious to know in your own career .

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Are there any particular moments

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or lessons , experiences that stand out

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as significant and shaping who you are

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retiring with ? Sure . Wow , that's

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a lot . Um uh I'm gonna start at the

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beginning . You may need to , you need

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to get the popcorn , popcorn back . No ,

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actually , I will start at the very

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beginning when uh when I um

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interviewed for my job at Annapolis ,

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I had to interview with all the branch

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heads in the materials division . The

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last guy I interviewed with was a guy

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named Charlie Zanni and he ,

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and I hit it off and we hit it off . Uh ,

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because I said , oh , I see you're a

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Jets fan . He had jet stuff in the

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background and he and I just chatted

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and , and that message , the message

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that I got from that was that it was ok

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to share part of yourself . And I just

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kind of carried that along . So that

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was , that was number one . Number two

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wasn't as pleasant . So Maria can

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tell you that I'm really big on

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writing , technical writing . So my

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first experience that helped shape how

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I feel about technical writing was the

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first time I had to write a letter .

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And I , I fancied myself as a good

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writer . And uh you know , so I

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get this assignment to uh write a

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technical letter . And uh

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my boss Charlie said , OK , I want you

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to put this in a letter format . I want

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you to let uh Bill Lukins take a look

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at it and after he takes a look at it ,

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bring it to me . And back in those days ,

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you had to handwrite cursive , double

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space . All right . So , so I write out

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my letter and uh and I'm

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writing the letter in the same fashion

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that I write was writing narrative

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things at , at in school . So I give to

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this guy , Bill , he absentmindedly

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looks at it and he says it's ok . So I

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take it over to Charlie and I'm really

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proud I put it in front of him . He

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starts looking at it . He starts

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squinting . I'm standing right behind

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him . And then , and you know how

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people just start flipping pages ,

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right ? So he starts flipping pages and

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he says , did Bill look at this ?

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And I said , yes . And he said , I'm

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gonna have to have to have a talk with

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him and just , and just kind of tossed

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it at me . And so that was

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painful . But , but it made me dig

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in , it made me learn the value of

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first , you know , going to people with

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more experience , getting examples ,

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getting templates and , and um ,

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and so I'm a stickler on writing to

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this day and I think it , it started

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there . Um , you know ,

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going forward from that another thing ,

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a big lesson was when Annapolis closed

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down . So the reason I'm here at Carter

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Rock was that the lab in Annapolis

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closed down and it was part of the 1995

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brats . And so we had to pick up

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and , and move and that was traumatic

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for a lot of people . I was an air

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force baby . So I was used to , I went

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to like seven elementary schools . So I

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was used to stopping and starting but

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to see the impact that it had on people

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and how devastated some of them were ,

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it just taught me how much , how

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big ho how , how uh

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significant the workplace is to a lot

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of people and what a big part it is in

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their lives . And , and I , I tried to

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remember that when I became a manager

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that it's not just the place that you

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get a paycheck from Robert Denali uh

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became my division head

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and he was , well , he was my mentor

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when I was in Annapolis , he then

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became my branch head . He then became

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my division head . I probably , I would

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say not even , probably I learned more

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from him than any other person that

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I've worked with . And he gave me a lot

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of lessons . But the one that he , that ,

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that I go back to time and time again

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was when he told me , you know , never

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bite off your nose to spite your face .

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So what he was saying to me , there

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was to be patient , you know ,

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sometimes , you know , people do

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something and you don't like it and you

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feel like you've got to take action .

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But there's a risk that , that action

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that you take is really gonna

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demoralize somebody or put them in a

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position that , you know , they're not

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gonna be , you know , they're not gonna

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wanna stay or not gonna be able to be

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effective . And so based on that , I

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really thought hard about how I handle ,

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you know , difficult talks with people

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in difficult situations . And it just

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taught me to take the long view with

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people and , and mostly because people

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took the long view with me . I mean ,

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you know , um I gave people lots of

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opportunity um over the years to

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um just say , yeah , it's not gonna

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work out young man but they did , I go

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on and on and on . I mean , I get you

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guys , you , you guys all teach me

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lessons , man all , all the time . So

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um iii I think that's the , I think

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that's the , if I had to sum up the

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biggest one , um it's to be

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patient um with yourself , with your ,

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with your organization and with the

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people that you work with . I think

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that's something we all have noticed

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about you . Is that Yeah , you're very

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tasteful . Yeah , that's why

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Johnny put up with me .

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Yeah . Yeah , you're , you're

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definitely very delicate in dealing

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with , you know , matters that are

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delicate and that I have appreciated

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that personally . I'm sure we all have

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um we've all experienced that and we

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are thankful . So that , that brings me

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to another question . So

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knowing , you know that Ashley

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mentioned the large pool of people that ,

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that you work with and you've impacted .

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Where do you draw that ,

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that patience ? Where do you , where do

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you draw that strength to

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balance of your own internal struggles

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that don't come out when you talk to

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someone ? You , you've seen my stress

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balls . I'm I'm kidding . I you know ,

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I think how you , how you interact with

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people . A lot of times , you know ,

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some of it's kind of wired into you ,

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but a lot of it is your experiences and

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a lot of it is how people have dealt

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with you . So , uh II I mentioned that

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I moved around a lot and I was an air

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force baby . So you find yourself a lot

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of times just almost forced to be

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um considerate of

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other people and the way they think

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about things and the way they do things

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because so often I was the new person

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in the crowd and you know , throwing in

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that I was a , a little black boy most

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of the time growing up in a crowd of ,

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you know , white kids . Um I mean , it

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was the sixties and the seventies . So

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it was a , it was a thing . Um So

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just I learned early on how to navigate

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those situations and I think that

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that's , that's part of me now woven in .

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But I also give my parents a lot of

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credit , you know , when you move

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around a lot , you're , you , you're

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pretty um tight knit

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and , and your parents have to keep you

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going , right ? So , uh my mother

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was a saint . She was so

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patient with and always saw the best

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in people and no matter what you did ,

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she always made you feel better about

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yourself . And I always loved that

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about her . And and I tried to embody

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that . And my father , on the other

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hand , he was the one that would tell

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you like it was . But then he had this

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amazing ability right after he told you

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like it was to then talk you back

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and still make you feel good at the end

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of the conversation . And , and a

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couple of people recently have said

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that to me that , you know , whenever I

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came in and I had something going on

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and you and I have would have a talk ,

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I would feel better walking out . And

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that is one of the biggest compliments

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that , um that I can get because II , I

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tried to patter myself after my mother

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and father . They definitely , they

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definitely did that . And I think the

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last thing is growing up , uh

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black at the time that I grew up ,

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you couldn't , it wasn't about you , it

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wasn't about you . There were things

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that were going on that were affecting

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you and everybody , you know , in your

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race pretty much . And so the

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focus always had to be on , uh

16:21.950 --> 16:25.099
trying to make things better in general .

16:25.979 --> 16:29.590
And so what that did for me is it just

16:29.599 --> 16:32.820
caused me to not have to focus on

16:32.830 --> 16:34.960
myself too much and how things were

16:34.969 --> 16:37.859
gonna affect me . And I think that just

16:37.869 --> 16:41.789
helped me with my empathy

16:41.799 --> 16:45.690
muscle . Um , you know , even though I

16:45.700 --> 16:47.756
wasn't , I didn't even know what the

16:47.756 --> 16:49.978
word empathy was at the time or what it

16:49.978 --> 16:52.200
meant . But , but I think it was just ,

16:52.200 --> 16:54.422
it , it , it really enabled me to think

16:54.422 --> 16:57.099
about the other person a lot . And , uh ,

16:57.650 --> 16:59.761
and when I'm in those conversations ,

16:59.761 --> 17:01.817
that's what I'm doing . You know , I

17:01.817 --> 17:04.039
don't want to pretend that there aren't

17:04.039 --> 17:08.029
times where I wanna go . But , but I am

17:08.038 --> 17:10.298
able to put that to the back and I

17:10.308 --> 17:12.530
always remember that everybody's trying

17:12.530 --> 17:14.586
to do the best they can . You know ,

17:14.586 --> 17:16.697
everyone's trying to do the best they

17:16.697 --> 17:20.540
can . So now that I've uh still

17:20.550 --> 17:22.550
under your wings a little bit , but

17:22.550 --> 17:24.661
have now that you say it now that you

17:24.661 --> 17:27.290
left me behind , you just left me in

17:27.300 --> 17:30.119
the dust . When I'm in a difficult

17:30.130 --> 17:33.280
situation , I always pause

17:34.050 --> 17:37.819
and ask myself , what would Johnny do ?

17:37.839 --> 17:41.540
What would Johnny tell me ? And those

17:41.550 --> 17:43.829
words come up along with some other ,

17:43.839 --> 17:46.719
you know , phrases or , or messages

17:46.729 --> 17:50.660
that you mentioned and , and things

17:50.670 --> 17:53.339
get better and I'm able to not always

17:53.349 --> 17:56.189
get it right . But at least you come to

17:56.199 --> 17:59.219
mind immediately in this situation .

17:59.449 --> 18:03.239
Thank you . And I'm sorry , I

18:03.329 --> 18:05.839
think you're a transformational leader .

18:06.369 --> 18:08.369
You are . I think anyone who's been

18:08.369 --> 18:10.319
under you mentored by you has been

18:10.329 --> 18:12.564
trained , formed as a professional in a

18:12.574 --> 18:15.795
person . So yeah , that's what I , yeah ,

18:16.744 --> 18:18.966
and talking about transformations . And

18:18.966 --> 18:21.077
here at Carter Rock , I know at least

18:21.077 --> 18:23.300
for the last few years you've been very

18:23.300 --> 18:25.411
involved with diversity and inclusion

18:25.411 --> 18:27.466
and equity and accessibility efforts

18:27.466 --> 18:27.275
here at Carter Rock , you've even won

18:27.285 --> 18:29.724
an award for it , did you ?

18:33.170 --> 18:35.500
Um But just overall , I mean , thinking

18:35.510 --> 18:37.677
back on your 40 years of your career ,

18:37.677 --> 18:39.899
how have you seen Severine inclusion as

18:39.899 --> 18:43.479
a whole grow ? Um At Card Rock ? I mean ,

18:43.489 --> 18:46.469
there's still a long way to go . But

18:47.670 --> 18:50.229
when I , so I'll go back to the

18:50.239 --> 18:52.619
beginning when I started at Annapolis .

18:53.530 --> 18:55.270
Uh I was literally the only

18:57.209 --> 19:01.040
black technical person in the

19:01.130 --> 19:03.630
entire division and maybe in the whole

19:03.640 --> 19:05.869
department , um

19:08.160 --> 19:11.729
we had some interns that would come and

19:11.739 --> 19:14.579
go , but for a long time , it was just

19:14.589 --> 19:18.579
me and um obviously , now

19:18.949 --> 19:21.479
there's a lot more diversity , not uh

19:21.489 --> 19:25.050
uh racial diversity , not only uh more

19:25.060 --> 19:28.380
black folks , uh Hispanic Asian ,

19:29.589 --> 19:32.030
but we still have a long way to go . We

19:32.040 --> 19:34.810
still have a very long way to go . II I

19:34.819 --> 19:37.849
love the fact that it's part of the

19:37.859 --> 19:39.803
narrative . Now , that's a focus .

19:39.803 --> 19:43.609
There's an intentional nature about it

19:44.160 --> 19:46.569
and , you know , folks sitting at this

19:46.579 --> 19:49.760
table are , are a big part of that . Um

19:51.170 --> 19:53.939
You know , it's got , we used to have

19:53.949 --> 19:57.780
here , um We used to have uh

19:57.790 --> 20:01.229
these sessions where all the managers

20:01.670 --> 20:04.839
had to uh do a stand down

20:05.489 --> 20:09.420
and they would come to um I forget

20:09.430 --> 20:11.486
what they would call , but , oh , it

20:11.486 --> 20:13.541
was a diversity and inclusion summit

20:13.630 --> 20:15.741
and it was a requirement , there were

20:15.741 --> 20:17.908
requirements , diversity and inclusion

20:17.908 --> 20:19.852
requirements for managers and they

20:19.852 --> 20:22.069
could satisfy that requirement by

20:22.079 --> 20:24.910
coming to this summit . And I had the ,

20:25.050 --> 20:28.760
the , the , um , uh pleasure

20:28.770 --> 20:32.250
of , uh , of emceeing the , the , the

20:33.069 --> 20:36.560
deputy EEO at the time asked me , um ,

20:37.469 --> 20:39.358
Elaine mckinney , do you remember

20:39.358 --> 20:41.191
Elaine ? She was in , she was in

20:41.191 --> 20:43.080
Philadelphia and that's where our

20:43.080 --> 20:46.319
office was . But , um , I remember

20:46.329 --> 20:50.229
after the first one , just , it

20:50.239 --> 20:53.869
was all day thing and it culminated

20:53.880 --> 20:57.500
with , um , some , it was .

20:57.510 --> 21:00.589
Right . Right . Uh Right there in the ,

21:00.599 --> 21:03.709
in the auditorium culminated with

21:04.540 --> 21:08.280
some kind of presentations

21:08.719 --> 21:12.349
on uh things

21:12.359 --> 21:16.069
like um um

21:17.020 --> 21:20.569
bias , unconscious bias and other

21:20.579 --> 21:24.199
things like that . And just watching

21:24.410 --> 21:27.680
the crowd , you could see how

21:27.770 --> 21:31.640
extremely uncomfortable everybody was

21:31.650 --> 21:34.739
talking about that . And , uh ,

21:35.599 --> 21:39.500
and so , iiii I had to give

21:39.510 --> 21:41.939
the closing remarks and then I kind of

21:41.949 --> 21:44.116
went off script and I said , I can see

21:44.116 --> 21:46.338
it in your faces , I can see it in your

21:46.338 --> 21:48.310
faces . You're un you're totally

21:48.319 --> 21:51.020
uncomfortable with this and you're not

21:51.030 --> 21:54.349
sure , you know , there's ,

21:54.359 --> 21:58.099
there's a , there's a , a moral side

21:58.109 --> 22:01.319
to it and then there's a business side

22:01.329 --> 22:04.119
to it and I could tell some of you guys

22:04.130 --> 22:06.280
are struggling with the business side

22:06.290 --> 22:09.619
to it . Right . I said that's OK .

22:10.209 --> 22:12.729
That's ok . You can support it because

22:12.739 --> 22:14.961
it's the right thing to do , even if it

22:14.961 --> 22:16.795
doesn't make sense to you from a

22:16.795 --> 22:18.961
business standpoint in my , it doesn't

22:18.961 --> 22:20.906
have to make sense from a business

22:20.906 --> 22:23.072
standpoint . It's the right thing . To

22:23.072 --> 22:25.239
do , always being fair , give an equal

22:25.239 --> 22:27.739
opportunity to everybody . And I think

22:27.750 --> 22:31.180
over the years I , I see that more , I

22:31.189 --> 22:35.180
hear more managers talking about it and

22:35.189 --> 22:37.540
emphasizing it and , um ,

22:38.890 --> 22:42.020
and uh not only the diversity aspect

22:42.030 --> 22:45.609
but I , I see us doing things to make a

22:45.619 --> 22:48.390
diverse group of people feel included .

22:49.150 --> 22:52.660
And I think me personally , I think if

22:52.670 --> 22:54.948
you don't get the inclusion part right ,

22:55.199 --> 22:57.680
then the diversity is gonna be fleeting

22:58.619 --> 23:01.510
and uh like what you were doing

23:01.520 --> 23:04.709
yesterday at the holiday party and

23:04.719 --> 23:07.750
standing up the idea , er , g , you

23:07.760 --> 23:09.869
know , those are all , those are all

23:09.880 --> 23:11.979
wonderful things and , and I hope we

23:11.989 --> 23:14.310
can keep the momentum going . Yeah .

23:14.760 --> 23:16.982
Yeah , definitely . We're super excited

23:16.982 --> 23:19.260
from an , er , G perspective . Um , so ,

23:19.260 --> 23:21.482
I mean , you've been very involved even

23:21.482 --> 23:23.649
in the , er , G too . So what would be

23:23.649 --> 23:25.871
some of your hopes for Carter Rock as a

23:25.871 --> 23:28.038
future from AD N I perspective ? First

23:28.038 --> 23:30.969
of all , my , my first hope because I

23:30.979 --> 23:33.090
don't know what the right answer is ,

23:33.090 --> 23:34.979
but my first hope is that we keep

23:34.979 --> 23:36.923
searching for it that we don't get

23:36.923 --> 23:39.689
exhausted by it that we don't let you

23:39.699 --> 23:41.866
know . I got a little disappointed , a

23:41.866 --> 23:45.530
little discouraged . Um I'll just say a

23:45.540 --> 23:49.380
few years ago when I think we

23:49.390 --> 23:52.640
kind of lost our way . Right . We , we ,

23:52.650 --> 23:56.630
we kind of boxed ourselves in and

23:56.640 --> 23:59.359
organizationally convinced ourselves

23:59.369 --> 24:01.989
that , um , doing the right thing

24:02.000 --> 24:04.167
wasn't the right thing . You know , we

24:04.167 --> 24:06.167
didn't , we , we were , I won't get

24:06.167 --> 24:08.389
political or anything . But I think you

24:08.389 --> 24:10.339
guys know what I'm talking about ,

24:11.380 --> 24:13.569
there's a possibility that over the

24:13.579 --> 24:16.890
course of time , whether it's soon ,

24:16.969 --> 24:19.550
sooner or later that we might be back

24:19.560 --> 24:22.949
to that we might be back to a situation

24:22.959 --> 24:26.819
where , um , not everybody thinks

24:26.829 --> 24:29.109
focusing on diversity and inclusion is

24:29.119 --> 24:31.397
the right thing to do . And I just , I ,

24:31.397 --> 24:34.550
I hope that we have the perseverance to

24:34.560 --> 24:37.839
stick with it . And , um , and it , it ,

24:38.229 --> 24:41.189
it helps to have visionary leadership .

24:42.239 --> 24:46.089
Um , but , you know , our

24:46.099 --> 24:48.266
leaders come and go every couple three

24:48.266 --> 24:50.839
years and it's not guaranteed . So it's

24:50.849 --> 24:53.670
gonna be the people here that keep it

24:53.680 --> 24:56.280
going and , and , um ,

24:57.319 --> 24:59.880
yeah , I see lots of good signs . I

24:59.890 --> 25:02.112
love the fact that we're picking up all

25:02.112 --> 25:05.319
the , the activities and , you know ,

25:05.329 --> 25:07.680
the morale building stuff and I think

25:07.689 --> 25:10.420
that's , that's just , that's super

25:10.430 --> 25:12.790
important and I hope that , uh , and I

25:12.800 --> 25:16.729
would love to see just an

25:16.739 --> 25:19.729
organization that's kind of like this

25:19.739 --> 25:21.979
room . You know , I would love to see

25:21.989 --> 25:25.229
that I would love to see overall just

25:25.239 --> 25:27.406
that kind of diversity , the kind that

25:27.406 --> 25:30.109
we have in this room right now . So , I

25:30.119 --> 25:32.452
mean , that was like , really huge when ,

25:32.452 --> 25:36.109
um , the idea , er , g wasn't a

25:36.119 --> 25:39.079
thing yet but all the conversations and

25:39.089 --> 25:41.311
the experiences and all the people that

25:41.311 --> 25:43.530
joined on the groups . Um I wanted to

25:43.540 --> 25:45.900
kind of touch into like your DN I call

25:45.910 --> 25:47.939
that when the next the nation was

25:47.949 --> 25:49.849
searching for answers and we had

25:49.859 --> 25:51.692
questions and there were so many

25:51.692 --> 25:54.390
emotions that you pulled . Uh , and I

25:54.400 --> 25:57.089
remember like , it being 2025 people on

25:57.099 --> 25:59.900
that call that were , you know ,

25:59.910 --> 26:02.859
affected , feeling like directly , um ,

26:03.160 --> 26:06.609
they were like , just wondering like

26:06.619 --> 26:09.170
what's next , like for the state of

26:09.180 --> 26:11.236
everything , like , it just impacted

26:11.236 --> 26:13.660
everybody's core . And so like you had

26:13.770 --> 26:16.390
all ages from 80 year old employees on

26:16.400 --> 26:18.959
that call down to new hires on that

26:18.969 --> 26:22.599
call , business codes , detachments .

26:22.869 --> 26:24.813
Um Because at first it started , I

26:24.813 --> 26:26.647
think in the division , the call

26:26.647 --> 26:28.869
started division and people were like ,

26:28.869 --> 26:28.760
hey , we all want this like we need

26:28.770 --> 26:31.400
some more of these talks . And it was

26:31.410 --> 26:34.300
amazing to see you lead conversations

26:34.550 --> 26:38.239
about multiple sides of the same

26:38.250 --> 26:40.609
issue . And even when we talked about

26:40.619 --> 26:42.397
earlier , the caring and the uh

26:42.489 --> 26:45.060
patience and the understanding because

26:45.170 --> 26:47.699
one person on some of those calls would

26:47.709 --> 26:50.319
have a completely different view . And

26:50.329 --> 26:53.439
then , but the , if the leader of the

26:53.449 --> 26:55.727
call is being affected and moved by it ,

26:55.729 --> 26:57.896
then it kind of gives way for everyone

26:57.896 --> 27:00.062
else to have an excuse . Well , if the

27:00.062 --> 27:02.229
leader is gonna do it , then everybody

27:02.229 --> 27:04.062
else can say whatever . But when

27:04.062 --> 27:05.896
someone interjected an unpopular

27:05.896 --> 27:08.118
opinion , this is what it's called . Um

27:08.118 --> 27:11.660
you had a way of breaking that down and

27:11.670 --> 27:13.559
then giving place a safe , giving

27:13.559 --> 27:16.589
people a safe space to , um ,

27:17.770 --> 27:20.239
to just be themselves and still feel

27:20.250 --> 27:23.560
heard . Like , is there anything like ,

27:23.569 --> 27:26.260
from that effort that you would want

27:26.290 --> 27:29.109
others to kind of , like , know if

27:29.119 --> 27:31.599
those calls never happen again , if

27:31.609 --> 27:33.609
they keep on happening , if it goes

27:33.609 --> 27:35.887
down to one person or 50 people , like ,

27:35.887 --> 27:38.109
what is something that you would say is

27:38.109 --> 27:41.319
a sum of those calls and what you tried

27:41.329 --> 27:43.607
to do for starting that up at the time .

27:43.709 --> 27:46.042
Yeah . So for those that might not know ,

27:46.042 --> 27:48.280
um , what Ashley is talking about is I

27:48.290 --> 27:51.569
started a , a recurring Zoom call ,

27:52.030 --> 27:55.189
um about a week after um

27:55.560 --> 27:59.410
George Floyd was murdered . And I felt

27:59.420 --> 28:01.969
like I needed an outlet to talk about

28:01.979 --> 28:04.530
it . And I talked with my family . But

28:04.540 --> 28:06.707
I , then I thought , you know , they ,

28:06.707 --> 28:08.969
they're probably my , my friends and

28:08.979 --> 28:11.819
coworkers uh here might also need an

28:11.829 --> 28:14.040
outlet . And I talked to a couple of

28:14.050 --> 28:16.272
people . I think I talked to Ashley . I

28:16.272 --> 28:18.550
think I talked , I mean , uh uh Alicia ,

28:18.550 --> 28:20.383
I think I talked to uh Johnathan

28:20.383 --> 28:22.494
Hopkins and said , I'm thinking about

28:22.494 --> 28:24.828
this . You think it's a good idea ? And ,

28:24.828 --> 28:27.640
and they both might have said no , no ,

28:27.650 --> 28:30.130
they didn't say you , you said yes .

28:30.140 --> 28:32.307
And , and I was still apprehensive but

28:32.307 --> 28:35.550
I did it . But , but I knew , you know ,

28:35.560 --> 28:37.616
at the time , if you remember back ,

28:37.699 --> 28:40.540
you know , not everybody thought the

28:40.550 --> 28:43.180
same way about it . And so , II , I

28:43.189 --> 28:46.469
felt like it needed to just be

28:47.270 --> 28:50.729
um , a venue for

28:50.739 --> 28:53.380
people to get

28:54.239 --> 28:56.128
whatever it is they were thinking

28:56.128 --> 28:58.128
whatever that it was that they were

28:58.128 --> 29:01.520
feeling just , just give him a venue to

29:01.530 --> 29:05.280
talk about it . And so nonjudgmental

29:06.290 --> 29:10.199
was the key part . Um And

29:10.760 --> 29:13.609
I used to emphasize that on the calls .

29:13.619 --> 29:15.786
I don't have to do it now , but then I

29:15.786 --> 29:17.952
knew it was important to let everybody

29:17.952 --> 29:20.239
know that you , no judgment here .

29:20.250 --> 29:23.300
People , you don't have to agree but

29:23.310 --> 29:27.050
you don't judge . And , um , and for me

29:27.060 --> 29:29.227
personally , I thought that was really

29:29.227 --> 29:32.170
important because I was confused , like

29:33.219 --> 29:35.239
I know I saw it one way and I was

29:35.250 --> 29:37.139
confused how anybody could see it

29:37.139 --> 29:39.760
another way . But , but I knew the only

29:39.770 --> 29:41.659
way to do that was to hear , hear

29:41.659 --> 29:45.010
people out . And uh , so , so yeah ,

29:45.020 --> 29:47.760
that was , that's bad because we're ,

29:47.910 --> 29:49.966
we're still doing it . I mean , that

29:49.966 --> 29:52.077
was what June of 2020 because I would

29:52.077 --> 29:54.299
have been judging calls help me . And I

29:54.299 --> 29:56.466
was , I was , I was side eye and I was

29:56.466 --> 29:58.688
like , I'm judging anybody that doesn't

29:58.688 --> 30:00.577
think the same way . It's another

30:00.577 --> 30:02.799
testament to your story and the hardest

30:02.799 --> 30:04.910
one and Ashley brings this up , the ,

30:04.910 --> 30:07.650
the , the hardest one . although it was

30:07.900 --> 30:09.310
maybe

30:11.930 --> 30:13.939
number one or two in terms of most

30:13.949 --> 30:16.500
powerful was when we had the police

30:16.510 --> 30:18.750
officer , the ex police officer that

30:18.760 --> 30:22.430
came on and um , he

30:22.439 --> 30:24.589
gave us the , uh and he knew what he

30:24.599 --> 30:28.349
was walking into and , uh , but he , he

30:28.359 --> 30:30.449
gave us the other side of it , the

30:30.459 --> 30:32.126
other , the , the policeman's

30:32.126 --> 30:34.181
perspective and what you're thinking

30:34.181 --> 30:37.119
and the heat of the moment . And , and

30:37.130 --> 30:39.352
I was , that was the one I was probably

30:39.352 --> 30:41.739
most proud of because , you know ,

30:43.050 --> 30:46.829
no attacking just , uh , we maintain

30:46.839 --> 30:49.579
the , the spirit of the call . That was ,

30:49.589 --> 30:51.756
that was good . Yeah . At least I know

30:51.756 --> 30:54.760
I was still mad but I felt like the ice

30:54.770 --> 30:56.826
melting off the heart . Some , I was

30:56.826 --> 30:58.992
like , OK , all right . You know , and

30:58.992 --> 31:00.659
you know , if y'all had those

31:00.659 --> 31:02.770
experiences , like you'd be like , so

31:02.770 --> 31:02.400
like , oh , I'm so angry and then it's

31:02.410 --> 31:04.632
just like when you heard that side from

31:04.632 --> 31:06.854
a real person in the same environment ,

31:06.890 --> 31:08.946
they literally could see something a

31:08.946 --> 31:10.946
little bit different . The the cold

31:10.946 --> 31:13.410
heart was like , and it's , and it's a

31:13.420 --> 31:15.650
person that some of us knew , right ?

31:15.880 --> 31:19.219
So , you know , and we knew that he was

31:19.229 --> 31:21.062
a good guy , right ? So then you

31:21.062 --> 31:23.239
realize that good people can have a

31:23.250 --> 31:26.290
different viewpoint . Uh So that was

31:26.300 --> 31:30.199
really good . Um The one that was

31:30.209 --> 31:33.859
most emotional for me was

31:34.280 --> 31:37.839
the verdict happened to be on a Tuesday .

31:38.130 --> 31:41.640
The calls were on Tuesdays at 430 the

31:41.650 --> 31:43.979
verdict happened while we were on the

31:43.989 --> 31:47.750
call and I , I now about to get a ,

31:55.229 --> 31:58.979
it was emotional uh because

31:58.989 --> 32:01.670
I don't know what I would have done .

32:08.079 --> 32:11.859
Um If it had gone the other way and um

32:12.650 --> 32:14.594
yeah , and they , they , the , the

32:14.594 --> 32:17.010
verdict came , we were on the call and

32:17.020 --> 32:19.739
um it was a ,

32:20.910 --> 32:23.077
it was more relief than anything cause

32:23.077 --> 32:25.630
it was like , man , if , if , if ,

32:26.790 --> 32:30.119
if people can't see that for what it

32:30.130 --> 32:33.900
is , you know , everyone seen the video

32:33.910 --> 32:36.243
at that had seen the video at that time .

32:36.243 --> 32:38.859
I , I just felt like I don't know what

32:38.869 --> 32:41.170
else it was gonna take . So yeah , it

32:41.180 --> 32:43.859
was really special to , to share that

32:43.869 --> 32:46.091
moment with the folks on the call too .

32:46.091 --> 32:48.510
That was great . Yeah . And there's

32:48.520 --> 32:50.742
something that you said that really , I

32:50.742 --> 32:54.680
hung on to um was in your

32:54.689 --> 32:58.089
reflection of DN I at Car Rock and at a

32:58.099 --> 33:00.266
point where you're , you know , we are

33:00.266 --> 33:02.729
very far from where we started and

33:02.739 --> 33:04.850
where you saw it start . But the fact

33:04.850 --> 33:07.699
that , you know , in times come , we

33:07.709 --> 33:10.680
could be back to that um same position

33:10.689 --> 33:12.689
because of , you know , like we all

33:12.689 --> 33:14.578
know , history does repeat itself

33:14.578 --> 33:16.709
unless you take in uh that knowledge

33:16.719 --> 33:18.775
perspective and decide to learn from

33:18.775 --> 33:20.560
your mistakes . So I feel like

33:22.170 --> 33:24.949
I am like greatly in a representation

33:24.959 --> 33:27.800
of where you started from . And I do

33:27.810 --> 33:30.709
have my same aspirations to try to get

33:30.719 --> 33:34.349
to where you ended at . And so what I

33:34.359 --> 33:36.248
would want to ask is what kind of

33:36.248 --> 33:38.415
advice would you have for someone like

33:38.415 --> 33:40.829
me um in the beginning of their career

33:40.839 --> 33:43.349
to , you know , make that standpoint to

33:43.359 --> 33:45.709
extend their career to as vastly as you

33:45.719 --> 33:48.030
have . Well , first of all , such a

33:48.040 --> 33:49.707
size higher , that's number .

33:51.719 --> 33:55.550
Right . But I mean , you know ,

33:55.560 --> 33:57.560
surround to the extent that you can

33:57.569 --> 33:59.736
surround yourself with people that are

33:59.736 --> 34:01.625
supportive . If I look back on my

34:01.625 --> 34:03.847
career , I didn't appreciate it as much

34:03.847 --> 34:05.625
as I should have uh when it was

34:05.625 --> 34:07.729
happening . But there are so many

34:07.739 --> 34:10.020
people in my career that gave me a

34:10.030 --> 34:13.840
chance , treated me with more

34:13.850 --> 34:16.419
respect than I had actually earned at

34:16.429 --> 34:19.370
that point . Um And when you find those

34:19.379 --> 34:22.649
people that recognize them and , and

34:22.659 --> 34:24.437
cherish those relationships and

34:24.437 --> 34:26.889
cultivate those relationships , you

34:26.899 --> 34:30.820
know , beyond that , be good at

34:30.860 --> 34:33.138
whatever it is you're doing , you know ,

34:33.138 --> 34:37.080
be good at it . And , um , you know ,

34:37.090 --> 34:40.090
II I , in addition to being a singer ,

34:40.100 --> 34:42.044
I used to be uh a little bit of an

34:42.044 --> 34:43.933
athlete . So it have an athlete's

34:43.933 --> 34:45.919
approach to what I do . And if you

34:45.929 --> 34:48.129
wanna be good as an athlete , you

34:48.139 --> 34:50.429
practice and you don't just practice ,

34:51.500 --> 34:53.722
you know , you don't just come play the

34:53.722 --> 34:55.889
game . If you want to be really good ,

34:55.889 --> 34:57.833
you don't just practice . When the

34:57.833 --> 34:60.000
coach says it's time to practice , you

34:60.000 --> 35:02.167
practice all the time , same thing for

35:02.167 --> 35:05.060
a musician or , you know , and , and I

35:05.070 --> 35:08.489
would say , commit yourself to be

35:08.500 --> 35:12.419
excellent , but not just like I wanna

35:12.429 --> 35:14.762
be excellent , I aspire to be excellent .

35:14.762 --> 35:16.707
Commit yourself to doing what it's

35:16.707 --> 35:20.389
gonna take to become excellent . And ,

35:20.399 --> 35:23.379
um , and then be nice man .

35:24.320 --> 35:27.020
Be nice to you . You , you , you would

35:27.030 --> 35:30.229
have , I mean , being nice to people

35:31.050 --> 35:34.110
and respectful to people , um ,

35:35.489 --> 35:37.545
you know , it gets you a long way if

35:37.545 --> 35:39.767
it's genuine and that's the , the , the

35:39.767 --> 35:42.229
last thing just , you know , be

35:42.239 --> 35:44.300
authentic , you're gonna run across

35:44.310 --> 35:46.979
people telling you that , you know ,

35:46.989 --> 35:49.100
you have to be tall or you have to be

35:49.100 --> 35:52.189
short or you have to be , you know , um ,

35:52.199 --> 35:55.669
more this , more that some of that it's

35:55.679 --> 35:59.580
all well intended and ,

35:59.590 --> 36:02.550
and you listen to , um , um ,

36:02.560 --> 36:06.139
suggestions for improvements . But

36:06.280 --> 36:08.850
if you're not true to yourself , if you

36:08.860 --> 36:10.638
got , if you're masquerading as

36:10.638 --> 36:12.749
somebody that you aren't , it's gonna

36:12.750 --> 36:16.189
come out eventually and , and , you

36:16.199 --> 36:18.366
know , you need to have the confidence

36:18.366 --> 36:20.421
that you're , you're good enough . I

36:20.421 --> 36:23.689
can be me and , and

36:23.699 --> 36:27.469
Excel . Um , so that's what I would

36:27.479 --> 36:31.449
say . Now , you can't call me back 20

36:31.459 --> 36:33.348
years from now and say Johnny , I

36:33.348 --> 36:35.649
followed your advice and , and I'm

36:35.659 --> 36:38.399
still sitting here next to Alicia and

36:38.409 --> 36:42.300
Ashley in the cafeteria no , better off

36:42.550 --> 36:46.550
than I was . Yeah , kind of like , uh ,

36:46.560 --> 36:49.550
like echoing like , um , I love that .

36:49.560 --> 36:52.070
He had done a two part because I

36:52.080 --> 36:54.429
remember earlier on in , in my career ,

36:54.669 --> 36:56.836
um , I was like , starting to struggle

36:56.836 --> 36:59.002
and , and he said , uh , Johnny said ,

36:59.002 --> 37:01.225
Ashley , your personality is gonna take

37:01.225 --> 37:03.558
you really far , you know , you're nice .

37:03.558 --> 37:05.502
You know , you're doing your , the

37:05.502 --> 37:07.725
customer support and I , I get it . But

37:07.725 --> 37:07.139
he's like , if your work ethic doesn't

37:07.149 --> 37:09.229
keep up , then you're gonna get held

37:09.239 --> 37:11.760
back . And , and so I like that , he

37:11.770 --> 37:13.881
talked about like the nice part but ,

37:13.881 --> 37:16.048
and then the technical side because it

37:16.048 --> 37:18.103
kind of cool hand you could be super

37:18.103 --> 37:17.649
technical , but if you're like , nas ,

37:17.875 --> 37:21.235
I wouldn't want to work too nasty . But

37:21.245 --> 37:23.412
that was it , like , literally showing

37:23.412 --> 37:25.245
both is like a testament to like

37:25.245 --> 37:27.301
everybody here because we've kind of

37:27.301 --> 37:29.412
seen that . Like , even like , I like

37:29.412 --> 37:31.689
Alicia , you can speak to kind of like ,

37:31.689 --> 37:33.634
you know , your pivotal moment and

37:33.634 --> 37:35.689
getting your bachelor's and actually

37:35.689 --> 37:37.801
finishing up school . Um You know , I

37:37.801 --> 37:39.801
think that that's huge because it's

37:39.801 --> 37:42.023
like you're kind of like trying to , we

37:42.023 --> 37:41.735
all had this moment where we're trying

37:41.745 --> 37:43.935
to find our way so we could speak to

37:43.945 --> 37:46.167
that a little bit now . I probably will

37:46.167 --> 37:49.919
cry . So , so um to keep this youth

37:49.929 --> 37:52.096
center , this , we talked about this ,

37:52.096 --> 37:54.669
this , I will never forget advice that

37:54.679 --> 37:57.560
you gave me that I , I guess this is

37:57.570 --> 38:01.469
what piqued it for you um in the vein

38:01.479 --> 38:04.919
that time will pass you by no matter

38:04.929 --> 38:08.550
what . And I was looking at this

38:08.560 --> 38:10.060
goal as something that was

38:10.060 --> 38:12.282
insurmountable and that , oh , I have a

38:12.282 --> 38:14.449
late start , everybody's almost at the

38:14.449 --> 38:16.338
finish line or they passed it and

38:16.338 --> 38:18.504
they're coming around again . And your

38:18.504 --> 38:20.830
advice to me was so simple and logical ,

38:20.840 --> 38:24.209
which is just true to your personality .

38:24.219 --> 38:27.929
Just very kind , but very clear .

38:28.239 --> 38:32.239
And you told me , you know , four years ,

38:32.250 --> 38:34.860
four years will pass anyway and you'll

38:34.870 --> 38:38.060
look back and you'll say , oh , wow . I

38:38.070 --> 38:40.979
could have done it . And even if it

38:40.989 --> 38:43.045
took the four years that seemed like

38:43.045 --> 38:46.750
such a far goal , it'll go by . You ,

38:47.080 --> 38:49.360
you gotta live those four years anyway .

38:49.370 --> 38:51.648
You might as well do something with it ,

38:51.648 --> 38:55.439
not in , you know , the conventional

38:55.449 --> 38:57.860
manner , even if it's difficult and you

38:57.870 --> 38:59.926
have to stop as long as you continue

38:59.926 --> 39:02.840
and keep pushing and persevering , the

39:02.850 --> 39:05.072
time will pass . And the next thing you

39:05.072 --> 39:07.419
know , you look up and so that advice

39:07.429 --> 39:09.596
is what , I don't know why it was like

39:09.596 --> 39:11.818
a light switch , but I don't know why ,

39:11.979 --> 39:13.870
but you have this way of kind of

39:13.879 --> 39:16.157
putting things into perspective and it ,

39:16.157 --> 39:19.139
it lends itself to earlier . Um

39:19.639 --> 39:23.350
Maria mentioning how you can just have

39:23.360 --> 39:25.669
a conversation with someone and they

39:25.679 --> 39:27.959
walk out better . Uh They walk out

39:27.979 --> 39:31.250
transform . So , um I , I think that's

39:32.000 --> 39:34.830
just indicative of you who you are .

39:34.840 --> 39:37.540
I've always told people that you , you

39:37.550 --> 39:40.889
remind me of like our Obama .

39:43.070 --> 39:46.590
I always ii I was like , he

39:46.600 --> 39:49.439
reminds me of Obama how he's very down

39:49.449 --> 39:52.500
to earth and kind and Obama is very

39:52.510 --> 39:55.340
smooth and always has really good ,

39:55.350 --> 39:58.659
very sage advice . And so I

39:58.669 --> 40:01.159
know , and I'm sure we all know that

40:01.169 --> 40:03.899
you actually got to meet President

40:03.909 --> 40:07.360
Obama and there is lore that there's a

40:07.370 --> 40:10.090
photo floating around of the two of you

40:10.100 --> 40:12.267
together , which I think is iconic and

40:12.267 --> 40:14.750
I want it on a T shirt . So I vote for

40:14.760 --> 40:18.219
Johnny for president . Next . So could

40:18.229 --> 40:20.229
you tell us like , how did you meet

40:20.229 --> 40:22.451
Obama ? Did you guys play golf ? What's

40:22.451 --> 40:24.618
the story and the picture , especially

40:24.618 --> 40:26.729
the picture which we all should get a

40:26.729 --> 40:29.570
copy of the Wolfram and golf . Um I

40:29.580 --> 40:32.800
think I could . So um no , I had the

40:32.810 --> 40:36.050
opportunity to be part of a AAA

40:36.060 --> 40:38.790
project . It was an initiative that

40:38.800 --> 40:42.239
President Obama stood up to create uh

40:42.250 --> 40:45.379
regionally uh focused

40:45.580 --> 40:47.739
manufacturing innovation institutes

40:47.750 --> 40:50.159
around the country . And there was one

40:50.169 --> 40:52.639
institute that was stood up in Detroit ,

40:52.919 --> 40:55.141
that was being managed by the Office of

40:55.141 --> 40:57.308
Naval Research . And then we worked on

40:57.308 --> 40:59.530
the contract and then we found out that

40:59.530 --> 41:01.719
the White House wanted to do a formal

41:02.080 --> 41:05.629
signing . Um And um

41:06.810 --> 41:09.032
and then we found out that we would all

41:09.032 --> 41:12.570
get invited to that formal signing . So

41:13.199 --> 41:17.189
we , we show up couple

41:17.199 --> 41:20.850
hours before not anxious but

41:20.860 --> 41:23.919
didn't want to be late when I walked in

41:23.929 --> 41:27.530
with uh Julie Criado , who was um uh

41:27.560 --> 41:29.782
who was the person that had asked me to

41:29.782 --> 41:33.570
do it . And lo and behold , there were

41:33.580 --> 41:35.780
like 20 people that had already done

41:35.790 --> 41:38.012
the same thing . So we were all kind of

41:38.012 --> 41:41.070
anxious and I'm , I'll get to the

41:41.080 --> 41:43.629
picture , but this , I'm gonna tell you

41:43.639 --> 41:45.750
the part one part of the day that was

41:45.750 --> 41:49.419
really meant a lot to me . The uh so

41:49.429 --> 41:51.540
the government lead was a government

41:51.550 --> 41:54.179
program manager that was me . And then

41:54.189 --> 41:56.389
the institute had a lead that was

41:56.399 --> 42:00.330
called the executive director . And um

42:01.699 --> 42:03.810
as fate would have it , the executive

42:03.810 --> 42:06.669
director is also uh Black . His name is

42:06.679 --> 42:09.239
Larry Brown . I've known him for years

42:10.459 --> 42:14.409
and he came in and he saw me sitting

42:14.419 --> 42:17.739
at a bench um and he came and he sat

42:17.750 --> 42:20.780
down next to me and after we said our

42:20.790 --> 42:22.901
hellos , we're just sitting there not

42:22.901 --> 42:25.068
really saying anything kind of lost in

42:25.068 --> 42:29.030
thought . And at one point I turned to

42:29.040 --> 42:32.669
him and he turned to me and I , and ,

42:32.679 --> 42:34.846
and I think I can't remember which one

42:34.846 --> 42:38.699
of us said , but we were like , do you

42:38.709 --> 42:40.876
know what's about to happen ? Just the

42:40.876 --> 42:44.189
thought of the two of us meeting

42:44.320 --> 42:46.310
President Obama , the first black

42:46.320 --> 42:49.540
president . I , I literally , I'm

42:49.550 --> 42:51.739
getting chills . Thank I , I literally

42:51.750 --> 42:53.909
get chills every time I , I say this

42:53.919 --> 42:57.629
talk about this , but the gravity of

42:57.639 --> 42:59.695
that , how much it was just , it was

42:59.695 --> 43:02.090
amazing . It was amazing . So we're

43:02.100 --> 43:05.570
mulling around and um this

43:05.580 --> 43:08.469
uh uh person called JJ W

43:08.479 --> 43:12.419
woman , this lady called JJ uh Rayner ,

43:12.679 --> 43:16.489
she was a White House uh uh advisor um

43:17.070 --> 43:20.209
that I've gotten to know as part of the

43:20.219 --> 43:22.552
project . She , she said , hey , Johnny ,

43:22.552 --> 43:24.663
I've been looking for you , come with

43:24.663 --> 43:27.709
me and they , and she took me into the

43:27.719 --> 43:31.649
blue room which um , is blue ,

43:31.659 --> 43:35.250
everything in there is blue . Um , and

43:35.260 --> 43:39.229
I walk in and I recognized a guy

43:39.239 --> 43:41.659
named Frank Kendall who at the time was

43:41.669 --> 43:44.040
like the third highest civilian in the

43:44.050 --> 43:46.272
Pentagon . I recognized him because I'd

43:46.272 --> 43:50.010
seen him on TV . I saw

43:50.020 --> 43:53.909
Rahm Emanuel who was the um mayor

43:53.919 --> 43:55.975
of Chicago at the time because there

43:55.975 --> 43:58.141
was a second interview being uh second

43:58.141 --> 44:01.570
Institute being um stood up and it was

44:01.580 --> 44:05.199
in Chicago and those of you that you

44:05.209 --> 44:07.320
might know that he's a good friend of

44:07.320 --> 44:09.598
President Obama's . So he was in there .

44:09.598 --> 44:13.489
Um I think the , the head of the ,

44:13.810 --> 44:16.290
the Department of Energy was in there .

44:16.510 --> 44:20.040
It's just a bunch of folks and um

44:21.429 --> 44:23.485
and we still didn't know why we were

44:23.485 --> 44:26.659
there . Um And then all of a sudden

44:27.689 --> 44:31.479
someone walks in and says , OK ,

44:31.489 --> 44:33.899
you will pay attention . You're all

44:33.909 --> 44:36.500
about to meet President Obama . He's

44:36.510 --> 44:38.621
gonna be here soon and we were like ,

44:38.621 --> 44:39.621
oh , you know ,

44:43.449 --> 44:45.560
I thought , I thought it was gonna be

44:45.580 --> 44:49.439
the person . No , no , no ,

44:49.449 --> 44:53.100
but just as cool , right ? So , so they

44:53.110 --> 44:55.550
said he's gonna come in this door and

44:55.560 --> 44:57.560
we all need you like this is what's

44:57.560 --> 44:59.671
gonna happen . You all stand shoulder

44:59.671 --> 45:01.782
to shoulder and , and he's gonna come

45:01.782 --> 45:03.600
in and you know , you introduce

45:03.610 --> 45:05.810
yourself and shake his hand and then

45:05.820 --> 45:08.530
keep it moving , right ? So we're all

45:08.540 --> 45:12.120
standing there . Um

45:13.159 --> 45:17.050
The a person that had just gotten

45:17.270 --> 45:20.469
appointed to a very high position at

45:20.760 --> 45:23.159
the Pentagon was standing next to me

45:24.209 --> 45:26.431
and I , I'm going like this because she

45:26.431 --> 45:28.889
was very short and she's standing next

45:28.899 --> 45:31.649
to me and she's like , we had been

45:31.659 --> 45:33.770
chatting a little bit before that and

45:33.770 --> 45:35.992
she's like , Johnny , I'm too nervous .

45:35.992 --> 45:38.103
I , I don't know why I'm so nervous .

45:38.103 --> 45:40.381
Like I know all kinds of famous people .

45:40.381 --> 45:42.548
I come from New York and there are all

45:42.548 --> 45:42.169
kinds of famous people . I don't know

45:42.179 --> 45:44.401
why I'm so nervous . I'm like it , it's

45:44.401 --> 45:46.401
all right . All you gotta do is say

45:46.401 --> 45:48.568
your name . It's cool . Right ? You'll

45:48.568 --> 45:50.679
be fine . And so we're all doing that

45:50.679 --> 45:53.600
and then , and then uh maybe probably

45:53.610 --> 45:55.832
three minutes before he was supposed to

45:55.832 --> 45:58.100
come , somebody rushes in and , and

45:58.110 --> 46:00.110
just for a second and they say he's

46:00.110 --> 46:02.110
coming in the other door . He's not

46:02.110 --> 46:04.166
coming in this door , he's coming in

46:04.166 --> 46:06.332
that door . Everybody was like , oh my

46:06.332 --> 46:05.919
God , what are we gonna do ?

46:06.550 --> 46:09.179
Everybody's just frozen , right ? And ,

46:09.189 --> 46:11.879
and , and , and um so there was a table

46:11.889 --> 46:13.778
big table behind us and we're all

46:13.778 --> 46:16.000
standing there like that and people are

46:16.000 --> 46:17.778
looking around like waiting for

46:17.778 --> 46:19.945
somebody to tell them what to do and I

46:19.945 --> 46:22.260
give myself credit for this . I said ,

46:22.270 --> 46:24.270
hey , everybody , how about we just

46:24.270 --> 46:26.437
walk around the table and stand on the

46:26.437 --> 46:28.603
other side and they were all like good

46:28.603 --> 46:32.020
idea . Good idea . So , so we go we

46:32.030 --> 46:34.439
stand over there and he eventually

46:34.449 --> 46:37.129
comes in and I'm telling you , they

46:37.139 --> 46:39.083
opened the door and it was like an

46:39.083 --> 46:42.239
orange glow , you know , his aura was

46:42.250 --> 46:45.060
there . It was , um , it was amazing

46:45.879 --> 46:48.399
and he comes in and he was so cool ,

46:48.570 --> 46:51.340
you know , the , the Frank Kendall and

46:51.350 --> 46:54.939
the , and the um headed of doe

46:55.669 --> 46:57.669
and a couple of other folks that he

46:57.669 --> 46:59.947
knew were at the beginning of the line .

46:59.947 --> 47:02.629
And so he's coming in hugging and , you

47:02.639 --> 47:04.639
know , tapping people up and all of

47:04.639 --> 47:07.409
that . It's very cool . And uh then he

47:07.419 --> 47:09.586
gets to the folks that he doesn't know

47:09.586 --> 47:11.586
and it gets a little bit more , you

47:11.586 --> 47:14.370
know , businesslike , he gets to the

47:14.379 --> 47:17.070
person that I mentioned . Uh um and ,

47:17.080 --> 47:19.770
you know , she's maybe like 411 and

47:19.780 --> 47:22.090
he's so tall , right ? And he gets to

47:22.100 --> 47:25.929
her and she's looking like this and she

47:25.939 --> 47:27.770
says hi

47:29.739 --> 47:32.219
and then he giggles and he's like ,

47:32.229 --> 47:35.080
yeah , I am Barack Obama . Nice to meet

47:35.090 --> 47:38.330
you . And it was amazing . And then he

47:38.340 --> 47:42.110
got to me and I managed to say , you

47:42.120 --> 47:44.550
know , nice to meet you , Mr President ,

47:44.560 --> 47:47.590
I'm Johnny DeLoach and , and for

47:47.600 --> 47:50.010
whatever reason , instead of just doing

47:50.020 --> 47:53.340
the handshake , I did the handshake

47:53.350 --> 47:56.620
where you grab the other arm and he had

47:56.629 --> 47:58.685
a little bit of reaction to that . I

47:58.685 --> 48:01.350
don't know . But um , but then we went

48:01.360 --> 48:04.560
on through , uh he shook everybody's

48:04.570 --> 48:07.260
hand and he standing in front of us and

48:07.270 --> 48:09.214
he's giving us a pep talk and he's

48:09.214 --> 48:12.270
thanking us for um you know , our

48:12.280 --> 48:14.613
willingness to be a part of the program .

48:14.613 --> 48:16.836
He's telling us how important it is for

48:16.836 --> 48:18.947
the economy , growth of the economy .

48:19.830 --> 48:23.770
And um and then he says , so

48:24.719 --> 48:28.169
how about we take a photo ? So the ,

48:28.179 --> 48:30.330
the first photo I didn't even know my

48:30.340 --> 48:32.396
picture was getting taken . But he ,

48:32.396 --> 48:34.618
the photographer took the photo while I

48:34.618 --> 48:36.784
was shaking hands . But then President

48:36.784 --> 48:38.784
Obama says , OK , how about a group

48:38.784 --> 48:42.620
photo ? And he slides in right

48:42.629 --> 48:46.280
next to me and I'm like

48:46.290 --> 48:49.219
this , you know , I'm looking and I'm

48:49.229 --> 48:51.451
like , I don't think I'm supposed to be

48:51.451 --> 48:53.340
standing here and I thought I was

48:53.340 --> 48:55.620
saying it to myself and then he said ,

48:55.770 --> 48:58.360
you're fine because obviously I was

48:58.370 --> 49:01.409
saying it out loud . Yeah . And um and

49:01.419 --> 49:05.350
so , um but later I told people , you

49:05.360 --> 49:07.969
know , for that little bit of time , I

49:07.979 --> 49:11.939
was his right hand man because I

49:11.949 --> 49:15.840
sent my father before um I

49:15.850 --> 49:18.300
met President Obama before he came in .

49:18.310 --> 49:21.139
We were all on the blue room . And I ,

49:21.149 --> 49:23.580
I said , hey , to somebody , would you ,

49:23.590 --> 49:25.757
would you mind taking my photo ? And I

49:25.757 --> 49:28.760
sat in one of the chairs and uh they

49:28.770 --> 49:31.550
took the photo and I , I texted it to

49:31.560 --> 49:33.419
my father and uh

49:35.949 --> 49:39.010
and um he called me right back , right ?

49:39.020 --> 49:41.076
But I couldn't answer right . And uh

49:41.076 --> 49:43.209
later he told me he said , I know

49:43.219 --> 49:45.750
people were crazy . He used to pick ,

49:45.760 --> 49:48.850
uh , uh , my youngest daughter up from

49:48.860 --> 49:52.149
school . He said I was in the , I was

49:52.159 --> 49:54.399
in the line , you know , you drive up ,

49:54.409 --> 49:56.409
you get there early . He said I was

49:56.409 --> 49:58.298
getting out of line walking up to

49:58.298 --> 50:00.409
strangers saying that's my son . Look

50:00.409 --> 50:02.520
at my son at the White House . It was

50:02.520 --> 50:04.919
so he was , oh my God . Yeah , that was

50:04.929 --> 50:07.229
just amazing . Thanks for asking about

50:07.239 --> 50:09.500
that . That , that gives me another

50:09.510 --> 50:12.969
question . When you were younger . Did

50:12.979 --> 50:15.146
you want to be president when you grew

50:15.146 --> 50:18.209
up ? Like most kids ? You know what I

50:18.219 --> 50:21.090
was . So um

50:21.870 --> 50:25.209
from like 6.5 to

50:25.219 --> 50:28.120
11 , I lived in London

50:29.120 --> 50:32.520
and uh and going through

50:32.530 --> 50:35.290
elementary school and I was in the

50:35.300 --> 50:38.469
fifth grade and uh was the only ,

50:39.479 --> 50:43.459
you know , black kid , little beatty

50:43.469 --> 50:45.580
head , black boy in the , in the , in

50:45.580 --> 50:48.350
the class in the Yeah , look , keep it

50:48.360 --> 50:50.580
low . The class picture . I'm the only

50:50.590 --> 50:54.590
black kid there . And um I remember Mr

50:54.600 --> 50:58.209
Cor Cordoba back then you get the paper

50:58.580 --> 51:00.780
report cards and the teachers would

51:00.790 --> 51:03.260
write stuff in the report on the report

51:03.270 --> 51:07.149
card and he wrote Johnny is

51:07.159 --> 51:09.326
the vanguard of the class and I didn't

51:09.326 --> 51:12.090
even know what vanguard meant . Um

51:13.360 --> 51:16.770
and he , he said he'll be president in

51:17.080 --> 51:19.750
it was , I don't know , some year 2000

51:19.760 --> 51:22.090
and something . And that made me start

51:22.100 --> 51:24.156
thinking about it at that point that

51:24.156 --> 51:25.489
made me start talking .

51:28.540 --> 51:30.429
Well , that's true . I'm a little

51:30.429 --> 51:30.270
younger .

51:35.739 --> 51:38.010
We will be your committee . Oh , there

51:38.100 --> 51:40.211
we go . So he'd be like , look back ,

51:40.211 --> 51:42.267
you know what ? I need a White House

51:42.267 --> 51:44.378
committee back to this conversation .

51:44.378 --> 51:46.433
Like I want these people around me ,

51:46.433 --> 51:48.767
right ? Like , uh like even speaking to .

51:48.767 --> 51:50.760
Uh so you've like , from your

51:50.770 --> 51:53.139
leadership , you've bred more managers

51:53.290 --> 51:55.510
and leaders and leadership programs ,

51:55.639 --> 51:57.820
people getting degrees , their dream

51:57.830 --> 51:59.860
jobs and all that from a personnel

51:59.870 --> 52:01.739
perspective . But what about the

52:01.750 --> 52:04.409
technical side ? Like , are there , you

52:04.419 --> 52:06.419
know , 1 to 2 projects where you're

52:06.419 --> 52:08.308
like , you know what that was the

52:08.308 --> 52:10.419
project at that moment at that time ,

52:10.419 --> 52:12.610
with that need for our fleet , for ,

52:12.770 --> 52:14.937
you know , their desires and passion .

52:14.937 --> 52:17.103
We're at a research center like , what

52:17.103 --> 52:19.570
was that for you ? Yeah . So there were

52:19.580 --> 52:21.949
a couple of things um I got involved in

52:21.959 --> 52:24.989
all kinds of failure analysis . Um and

52:25.149 --> 52:28.270
a lot , well , that too , that too ,

52:28.280 --> 52:31.080
but a lot of failure analysis that of ,

52:31.090 --> 52:33.199
you know , really major components ,

52:33.209 --> 52:35.153
important , critical components on

52:35.153 --> 52:37.790
submarines and spent a lot of time , a

52:37.800 --> 52:40.239
lot of late nights and whatnot and made

52:40.250 --> 52:43.070
a lot of friends and really got

52:43.080 --> 52:46.889
inspired by people that were um were

52:46.899 --> 52:50.389
um not only brilliant but just totally

52:50.399 --> 52:52.419
dedicated to the mission . A lot of

52:52.429 --> 52:55.330
stuff on hy 80 castings in particular .

52:55.979 --> 52:58.909
But I tell you the , the , the , the

52:58.919 --> 53:02.070
technical program that I think did the

53:02.080 --> 53:05.679
most for me in all kinds of uh

53:06.290 --> 53:08.989
ways was um ,

53:09.899 --> 53:13.889
back in the early nineties ,

53:14.969 --> 53:17.320
there was a program called a submarine

53:17.330 --> 53:20.429
program called Sea Wolf . And it was

53:20.439 --> 53:22.709
supposed to be the first submarine that

53:22.719 --> 53:26.620
used hy 130 plane . And

53:26.629 --> 53:29.820
um , and there was

53:30.350 --> 53:33.169
we cracking that happened and it was a

53:33.179 --> 53:35.800
big deal . It was on the front page of

53:35.810 --> 53:38.310
the Washington Post and um ,

53:40.239 --> 53:42.820
and I got hand picked from Annapolis to

53:42.830 --> 53:45.139
go work at the Navy yard to help them

53:45.149 --> 53:48.010
sort that out . And uh

53:49.219 --> 53:51.441
and that was a , that , that experience

53:51.441 --> 53:55.070
in and of itself was , was huge for me

53:55.360 --> 53:57.638
and we didn't figure out how to fix it .

53:57.638 --> 53:59.582
We basically had to start over and

53:59.582 --> 54:02.870
scrap and it was like $100 million bill

54:02.959 --> 54:06.729
ish . Um At least that's , that was the

54:06.739 --> 54:08.961
public number and that was , that was a

54:08.961 --> 54:11.183
lot of money now . But back then it was

54:11.183 --> 54:13.699
a whole lot of money . And the reason

54:13.709 --> 54:17.030
it , it was so significant was it was

54:17.040 --> 54:19.790
the first time really , I worked on a

54:19.800 --> 54:22.919
collaborative effort . There was a guy

54:22.929 --> 54:26.100
at the time named Larry Becker and he

54:26.110 --> 54:28.054
was the head of the Virginia class

54:28.054 --> 54:32.050
program and he would be one of the

54:32.060 --> 54:34.889
recipients of this new technology . So

54:34.899 --> 54:38.639
he was at this big meeting um that I

54:38.649 --> 54:41.060
had arranged and organized and co

54:41.070 --> 54:43.610
ordinated . Like two days after the

54:43.620 --> 54:46.810
meeting happened , my department head

54:46.969 --> 54:50.510
uh called me into his office . He said ,

54:50.520 --> 54:53.760
um Larry Becker , the

54:54.510 --> 54:56.760
head of the Virginia , the program

54:56.770 --> 54:59.250
manager with the Virginia class program

54:59.260 --> 55:02.649
came to see me . He told me about the

55:02.659 --> 55:06.510
meeting that you held and he told me

55:06.610 --> 55:10.379
that he had never seen anybody

55:10.389 --> 55:12.611
command the respect of that many people

55:12.620 --> 55:14.731
the way you did during that meeting .

55:15.010 --> 55:18.649
And my confidence went through the

55:18.659 --> 55:21.179
roof at that point . You know , that

55:21.189 --> 55:23.739
was the , that , that was the time that

55:23.750 --> 55:26.719
I really felt like I belonged . The

55:26.729 --> 55:28.340
thing that I'm most proud of

55:28.340 --> 55:30.790
technically is , is

55:31.760 --> 55:35.209
um well , two things , one was friction

55:35.219 --> 55:38.959
ST welding and that uh Maria took over

55:39.270 --> 55:42.500
and , and did a fantastic job with um

55:42.510 --> 55:44.510
that was , that was huge , that was

55:44.510 --> 55:48.110
taking a , a technology um

55:48.489 --> 55:51.760
and just , you know , advancing it and

55:51.770 --> 55:53.659
proving out that it could be used

55:53.659 --> 55:55.939
safely for , for navy applications .

55:55.949 --> 55:57.838
And that was , there was a lot of

55:57.838 --> 55:59.893
collaboration there , a lot of great

55:59.893 --> 56:03.370
work from a huge team of people . And

56:03.379 --> 56:05.601
then the other one was where we've come

56:05.601 --> 56:08.219
with additive manufacturing . I mean ,

56:08.320 --> 56:10.580
um I mean ,

56:11.570 --> 56:13.403
we weren't , you know , additive

56:13.403 --> 56:15.979
manufacturing was not on our map at all .

56:16.649 --> 56:18.705
You know , it wasn't on our radar at

56:18.705 --> 56:21.500
all and uh to see where it is now .

56:22.280 --> 56:25.179
Um And where it's gonna go

56:26.159 --> 56:29.820
and , you know , um it's humbling , but

56:29.830 --> 56:31.997
I'm also proud to know I was , I had a

56:31.997 --> 56:34.219
little part in all of that stuff . So ,

56:34.699 --> 56:36.866
so 40 years , I mean , that's a really

56:36.866 --> 56:39.088
long time when you talked earlier point

56:39.088 --> 56:43.030
that out . Yes .

56:43.520 --> 56:45.949
Um , you talked earlier about how you

56:45.959 --> 56:48.181
started off and you had to , you know ,

56:48.181 --> 56:50.403
there weren't really computers around .

56:50.403 --> 56:50.310
So you had to write things down with

56:50.320 --> 56:52.376
pen and paper and write reports with

56:52.376 --> 56:54.487
pen and paper and without computers ,

56:54.487 --> 56:56.653
you know , you're doing f analysis and

56:56.653 --> 56:58.820
you're doing all of these , you know ,

56:58.820 --> 57:00.876
amazing technology areas . So , um ,

57:00.876 --> 57:03.042
are there any other things that you've

57:03.042 --> 57:05.153
seen in the workplace as a whole that

57:05.153 --> 57:07.431
you've seen change throughout the year ,

57:07.431 --> 57:09.598
throughout the year ? Well , obviously

57:09.598 --> 57:11.870
computers is the , is the biggest one .

57:13.189 --> 57:15.467
in fact , I was cleaning out my office .

57:15.467 --> 57:17.578
I was telling a couple of people this

57:17.578 --> 57:21.350
earlier and I found the first three

57:21.800 --> 57:25.149
biweekly highlights that I had to write

57:25.159 --> 57:27.215
when you were a junior engineer back

57:27.215 --> 57:29.326
then , you had to tell your boss what

57:29.326 --> 57:31.437
did I do and they were all handwrit .

57:31.437 --> 57:33.159
My penmanship was immaculate .

57:33.479 --> 57:37.270
Absolutely immaculate . But , um , but

57:37.280 --> 57:40.649
yeah , besides that , I mean , it's so

57:40.659 --> 57:43.320
much easier . I mean , there's so many

57:43.330 --> 57:46.570
more small groups that are coming up

57:46.580 --> 57:49.409
with big things now . It's , it's

57:49.419 --> 57:51.475
amazing that used to be , you know ,

57:51.475 --> 57:54.610
you had places like Bell Labs or , you

57:54.620 --> 57:56.729
know , these big organizations and ,

57:56.739 --> 57:59.250
and innovation belonged to them , right ?

57:59.659 --> 58:02.000
Because they had the pockets . But now ,

58:02.010 --> 58:03.659
you know , it's kind of been

58:03.669 --> 58:06.300
everybody's , uh , everybody's

58:06.310 --> 58:10.030
wheelhouse . Um , but the

58:10.040 --> 58:12.100
biggest technological change

58:13.780 --> 58:16.649
in , in my 40 years besides computers ,

58:16.659 --> 58:19.389
in terms of say , materials and in

58:19.399 --> 58:22.679
manufacturing , technology , added

58:22.689 --> 58:25.709
manufacturing and , and stuff and

58:28.379 --> 58:30.590
yeah , yeah , it's amazing . It is ,

58:30.600 --> 58:32.600
but not only that , it , it had the

58:32.600 --> 58:35.830
attention of very high level people

58:36.580 --> 58:38.636
that it , you know , sometimes you ,

58:38.636 --> 58:41.060
you push a solution out that , you know ,

58:41.070 --> 58:43.790
it's a great thing but with additive

58:43.800 --> 58:46.270
manufacturing , it was something that

58:46.280 --> 58:48.949
we were doing that . But it was also

58:48.959 --> 58:50.959
hey , we need to reach down from up

58:50.959 --> 58:54.510
high and say we need this and there was

58:54.520 --> 58:58.199
almost an immediate use case uh or an

58:58.209 --> 59:00.389
openness to use that . Um And to

59:00.399 --> 59:02.510
demonstrate that it works . So yeah ,

59:02.510 --> 59:04.677
it's pretty amazing . No , and that it

59:04.677 --> 59:07.030
goes on to this day , right ? I think ,

59:07.370 --> 59:09.537
I mean , we've been able to answer the

59:09.537 --> 59:11.429
bell and do a lot of great things

59:11.439 --> 59:14.729
because , you know , uh uh there were ,

59:15.030 --> 59:18.020
we prepared ourselves , we kind of kind

59:18.030 --> 59:20.389
of saw it and said there's potential .

59:20.889 --> 59:23.510
And then we , we , we had a small core

59:23.520 --> 59:25.409
group of people that kept getting

59:25.409 --> 59:27.742
bigger . And so when the time was right ,

59:27.742 --> 59:29.964
and when that visibility came , we were

59:29.964 --> 59:32.649
ready , right ? But most technologies ,

59:32.659 --> 59:34.939
Maria is absolutely right . You know ,

59:34.949 --> 59:37.370
you're , you're , you're trying to push

59:37.379 --> 59:40.629
it along , you know , from the bottom ,

59:40.639 --> 59:42.649
maybe you got a couple of people up

59:42.659 --> 59:45.429
higher than you that are supportive .

59:45.439 --> 59:48.000
But added manufacturing is like he , he

59:48.649 --> 59:52.300
today we don't even have a choice at

59:52.310 --> 59:54.477
this point . I mean , people are gonna

59:54.477 --> 59:56.699
make us do it at this point . Very high

59:56.699 --> 59:59.629
level people . So , so , yeah , I , I

59:59.639 --> 01:00:03.449
won't use the , the 40 years but , uh ,

01:00:03.820 --> 01:00:07.239
I , I would , but I , I would say that ,

01:00:07.250 --> 01:00:10.020
uh , you know , for decades you've been

01:00:10.030 --> 01:00:12.919
here a little bit and ,

01:00:13.780 --> 01:00:17.520
and so , so what's , you know , you ,

01:00:17.780 --> 01:00:20.209
I know that you've had opportunities to

01:00:20.219 --> 01:00:22.275
go work in different places , you've

01:00:22.275 --> 01:00:25.120
been asked to come work for us and then

01:00:25.129 --> 01:00:28.659
some of them are pretty positions . Um ,

01:00:28.669 --> 01:00:32.600
and , um and , and um I

01:00:32.610 --> 01:00:35.620
know that you've always

01:00:35.629 --> 01:00:39.270
maintained that you want to stay at

01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:42.120
Carter Rock and , and uh so just

01:00:42.129 --> 01:00:45.739
wondering what motivated you to want to

01:00:45.750 --> 01:00:48.409
stay here at , at Carter Rock and

01:00:49.439 --> 01:00:52.500
how do you keep that enthusiasm to , to

01:00:52.510 --> 01:00:55.979
show up every day ? So what

01:00:55.989 --> 01:00:59.949
motivated me to stay here ? I actually

01:01:00.199 --> 01:01:03.969
wanted to go into the military . My

01:01:03.979 --> 01:01:06.146
father was in the Air Force . I wanted

01:01:06.146 --> 01:01:08.510
to follow in his footsteps . But , you

01:01:08.520 --> 01:01:10.520
know , he was in the Air Force , he

01:01:10.520 --> 01:01:13.300
joined the Air Force in the 19 fifties .

01:01:13.310 --> 01:01:17.010
And that wasn't very cool uh for black

01:01:17.020 --> 01:01:19.870
folks at that time in the Air Force and ,

01:01:19.879 --> 01:01:22.120
or in the military in general . And so

01:01:22.389 --> 01:01:25.360
he really discouraged me and my

01:01:25.370 --> 01:01:28.439
siblings from going in . It means

01:01:28.449 --> 01:01:31.030
something to me to serve . It means ,

01:01:31.040 --> 01:01:33.120
you know , I think the mission is so

01:01:33.129 --> 01:01:36.969
important and I also

01:01:36.979 --> 01:01:40.889
never wanted a job as an

01:01:40.899 --> 01:01:43.760
engineer , I never wanted and I don't

01:01:43.770 --> 01:01:45.881
know why I even thought about this at

01:01:45.881 --> 01:01:48.909
the time . But I never wanted to be in

01:01:48.919 --> 01:01:52.520
a position where there was tension

01:01:53.020 --> 01:01:56.949
between what the

01:01:56.959 --> 01:01:59.790
right technical thing to do was and

01:01:59.800 --> 01:02:02.610
what's the thing that's gonna make us

01:02:02.620 --> 01:02:04.879
the most money . And I felt like if I

01:02:04.889 --> 01:02:08.050
had gone into industry , even industry

01:02:08.060 --> 01:02:11.350
that was supporting , um , the , the

01:02:11.360 --> 01:02:15.030
dod , I would have found myself in

01:02:15.050 --> 01:02:18.389
situations where I was frustrated

01:02:18.399 --> 01:02:20.343
because we weren't doing the right

01:02:20.343 --> 01:02:22.590
thing because it wasn't profitable

01:02:22.600 --> 01:02:25.239
enough . But , but we're mission

01:02:25.250 --> 01:02:27.830
focused and I'm just a mission focused

01:02:28.120 --> 01:02:31.610
type of person . The enthusiasm , I

01:02:31.620 --> 01:02:34.709
mean , I've been here for years , but I

01:02:34.719 --> 01:02:37.229
feel like I've had in that 40 years ,

01:02:37.239 --> 01:02:39.889
10 different jobs , you know , because

01:02:39.899 --> 01:02:42.709
I work with different people . I got ,

01:02:42.719 --> 01:02:45.239
you know , II , I amassed a pretty

01:02:45.250 --> 01:02:48.750
significant , um , you know ,

01:02:48.760 --> 01:02:52.419
external group of contacts and I've

01:02:52.479 --> 01:02:54.257
gone to different countries and

01:02:54.257 --> 01:02:56.929
continents and it's just , you know ,

01:02:56.939 --> 01:02:59.129
it's just been , it's not , I haven't

01:02:59.139 --> 01:03:01.820
been doing the same thing for 40 years .

01:03:02.330 --> 01:03:04.274
I think that's a great thing about

01:03:04.274 --> 01:03:06.274
working at Carter Rock in general .

01:03:06.274 --> 01:03:08.629
Like you could be here a long time and

01:03:08.639 --> 01:03:10.528
technically , you know , have one

01:03:10.528 --> 01:03:14.310
employer but , you know , have several

01:03:14.320 --> 01:03:17.310
different jobs that are all interesting .

01:03:17.320 --> 01:03:20.429
So that's what's kept me here . And you

01:03:20.439 --> 01:03:22.717
guys , I mean , who the heck was going ?

01:03:22.717 --> 01:03:24.883
I was waiting for it . Hey , was y'all

01:03:24.883 --> 01:03:26.939
waiting for that ? Because I was , I

01:03:26.939 --> 01:03:26.080
was waiting , I was like , you better

01:03:26.090 --> 01:03:28.423
say something about the people . I mean ,

01:03:28.423 --> 01:03:30.889
come on I mean , come on , you know ,

01:03:31.449 --> 01:03:35.179
it's just listen , I , I've been , I've ,

01:03:35.189 --> 01:03:37.189
I've worked with some of the nicest

01:03:37.189 --> 01:03:40.860
people . Uh Thank you and

01:03:40.870 --> 01:03:41.629
Ashley .

01:03:45.280 --> 01:03:48.399
Yeah , thanks for asking that . So I'm

01:03:48.409 --> 01:03:50.465
not gonna mention how long it's been

01:03:50.465 --> 01:03:52.631
because to me it's been a short time .

01:03:52.631 --> 01:03:54.798
That's right . That's right . But it's

01:03:54.798 --> 01:03:58.229
better than the kill . But in that

01:03:58.239 --> 01:04:00.461
short amount of time you got to see a ,

01:04:00.461 --> 01:04:02.979
a quite a big deal of things . So like

01:04:02.989 --> 01:04:05.100
getting a chance to reflect on that .

01:04:05.100 --> 01:04:07.939
Is there anything still on the docket

01:04:07.949 --> 01:04:10.570
that you wish you had seen before ? You

01:04:10.580 --> 01:04:13.100
know , your short time leaving ? Like

01:04:13.110 --> 01:04:16.429
you'd like to see a car if I was a

01:04:16.439 --> 01:04:18.661
technical person right now and I wasn't

01:04:18.661 --> 01:04:20.717
a manager , I would , I would not be

01:04:20.717 --> 01:04:24.090
retiring . I'm so fascinated by what

01:04:24.100 --> 01:04:26.500
they're doing in additive manufacturing

01:04:26.510 --> 01:04:28.530
and trying to implement it . Uh you

01:04:28.540 --> 01:04:31.600
know , metal additive , it's a couple ,

01:04:31.620 --> 01:04:34.820
a couple years away from really making

01:04:34.830 --> 01:04:38.500
a big uh impact with uh getting

01:04:38.510 --> 01:04:42.199
metal additive uh implemented . And I'm

01:04:42.209 --> 01:04:45.129
sorry , I'm gonna , I'm gonna miss that .

01:04:45.340 --> 01:04:46.899
Um We're gonna call you

01:04:48.989 --> 01:04:52.649
organizationally . I

01:04:52.659 --> 01:04:54.239
think we're on the path .

01:04:56.199 --> 01:04:59.879
I'm , I'm , I would love to see more

01:04:59.889 --> 01:05:03.260
diversity at , in the

01:05:03.270 --> 01:05:06.350
leadership positions because I think

01:05:06.360 --> 01:05:09.360
that's , I , I think that's , I think

01:05:09.370 --> 01:05:11.290
that's critical . I think that's

01:05:11.300 --> 01:05:15.120
critical . Um You know , it , it , it

01:05:15.129 --> 01:05:17.760
hurts me a little bit that uh Deidre is

01:05:17.770 --> 01:05:21.110
the only other uh uh

01:05:21.840 --> 01:05:25.830
African American uh division head in

01:05:25.840 --> 01:05:29.040
the , in the technical codes . Um

01:05:29.570 --> 01:05:32.419
So I would have loved to , but we're on

01:05:32.429 --> 01:05:34.596
the right track . I'm not , you know ,

01:05:34.596 --> 01:05:36.762
I'm not depressed about it or anything

01:05:36.762 --> 01:05:38.873
because we're , we're trending in the

01:05:38.873 --> 01:05:41.096
right direction , we're trending in the

01:05:41.096 --> 01:05:40.639
right direction . Sounds like I hear

01:05:40.649 --> 01:05:42.482
you saying , Maria for technical

01:05:42.482 --> 01:05:46.310
director . But that's the last

01:05:46.320 --> 01:05:48.376
point that I wanna make though , the

01:05:48.376 --> 01:05:50.542
other thing and this is why I hope you

01:05:50.542 --> 01:05:52.653
guys take me up , man . You got my uh

01:05:52.653 --> 01:05:55.350
II I , I'm gonna long ago ,

01:05:57.360 --> 01:06:00.879
the most joy . My , my real source of

01:06:00.889 --> 01:06:04.860
joy in the job was , was

01:06:04.870 --> 01:06:07.129
seeing people whose lives I touched a

01:06:07.139 --> 01:06:09.939
little bit . Just do well , you know ,

01:06:09.949 --> 01:06:13.949
and um you know , I hope I

01:06:13.959 --> 01:06:17.340
stay connected enough to you and , and ,

01:06:17.350 --> 01:06:20.330
and to others that , you know , I can ,

01:06:21.090 --> 01:06:23.312
you can show me snippets , you can keep

01:06:23.312 --> 01:06:25.870
me abreast of how you're going . Um

01:06:26.050 --> 01:06:28.217
Because I , I get excited about that .

01:06:28.379 --> 01:06:32.290
Uh I look around and , and I see , see

01:06:32.300 --> 01:06:34.467
where some folks have gone . It's just

01:06:34.467 --> 01:06:37.989
like , uh that's , that's really ,

01:06:38.010 --> 01:06:39.870
that's really rewarding . So my

01:06:39.879 --> 01:06:43.530
question is given all we talked

01:06:43.540 --> 01:06:45.151
about at the table , all the

01:06:45.151 --> 01:06:47.318
experiences the highs didn't have many

01:06:47.318 --> 01:06:49.699
lows , which is good . You would like .

01:06:50.760 --> 01:06:52.820
What do you want your legacy to be ?

01:06:52.830 --> 01:06:55.820
What do you want everyone to remember

01:06:55.830 --> 01:06:58.209
about your career and your contribution

01:06:58.219 --> 01:07:01.899
to Carter Rob , to the war fighter , to

01:07:01.909 --> 01:07:04.076
the federal government and to personal

01:07:04.076 --> 01:07:06.187
lives . What do you want that to do .

01:07:06.939 --> 01:07:08.199
If I'm honest ,

01:07:10.649 --> 01:07:14.629
I , I'd , I just want people to say

01:07:14.649 --> 01:07:17.739
that he was a really nice guy . I mean ,

01:07:19.340 --> 01:07:22.780
yeah , that's what I want people to say .

01:07:22.939 --> 01:07:26.250
And I also want people to say , wow ,

01:07:26.260 --> 01:07:28.593
that Maria Passata , she's really great .

01:07:28.593 --> 01:07:30.870
And somebody remember . Yeah , she used

01:07:30.879 --> 01:07:34.770
to work for Johnny . It just

01:07:35.189 --> 01:07:37.411
so that , that , that , that's , that's

01:07:37.411 --> 01:07:40.580
really it , you know , as I'm , I've

01:07:40.590 --> 01:07:42.701
been thinking a little bit about this

01:07:42.701 --> 01:07:45.040
but as I'm coming down to it to the end ,

01:07:45.629 --> 01:07:48.879
I mean , II I , I've worked on a lot of

01:07:48.889 --> 01:07:52.600
stuff technically , when I think back

01:07:53.709 --> 01:07:56.639
the things that just spontaneously pop

01:07:56.649 --> 01:08:00.610
into my head are people's faces

01:08:00.620 --> 01:08:03.860
or , or these little snippets of time ,

01:08:03.870 --> 01:08:06.870
these little , you know , just ,

01:08:07.909 --> 01:08:11.030
I don't know , somewhat random

01:08:11.040 --> 01:08:13.659
occurrences that I guess they come to

01:08:13.669 --> 01:08:15.550
me randomly but they're just

01:08:15.560 --> 01:08:17.950
interactions , interactions , that'll

01:08:17.959 --> 01:08:20.649
stick with me , you know , people

01:08:20.660 --> 01:08:23.588
that'll stick with me and , you know ,

01:08:23.599 --> 01:08:26.909
the technical work was backdrop , you

01:08:26.918 --> 01:08:30.449
know . So , so how , um how I'd like to

01:08:30.458 --> 01:08:32.347
wrap this up ? That was a perfect

01:08:32.347 --> 01:08:35.429
catalyst for um I feel what we're doing

01:08:35.438 --> 01:08:38.548
to grab and take all this

01:08:38.559 --> 01:08:41.984
amazing experience of four decades . Uh

01:08:42.285 --> 01:08:45.015
No , to the people but um just around

01:08:45.024 --> 01:08:48.645
the table , um wanted you to take

01:08:48.654 --> 01:08:50.765
something away from this as well . Um

01:08:50.765 --> 01:08:53.615
So if we could go around the table and

01:08:53.625 --> 01:08:56.705
uh take a minute or two to just , um

01:08:56.714 --> 01:08:58.658
you know , pour your heart out and

01:08:58.658 --> 01:09:00.381
express to Johnny , you know ,

01:09:00.381 --> 01:09:02.658
hopefully you'll get him to some tears .

01:09:02.658 --> 01:09:02.455
But no , that's not the goal , the goal

01:09:02.464 --> 01:09:05.055
to also highlight like what he meant

01:09:05.064 --> 01:09:07.245
for each of you individually . Um

01:09:07.254 --> 01:09:09.476
Because I think that that's important ,

01:09:09.476 --> 01:09:11.587
like I think , and , and , and I know

01:09:11.587 --> 01:09:13.532
this actually factually from other

01:09:13.532 --> 01:09:15.698
friends and other industries and other

01:09:15.698 --> 01:09:17.643
workplaces , they don't like their

01:09:17.643 --> 01:09:19.865
bosses or they don't like their jobs or

01:09:19.865 --> 01:09:21.976
they don't like their coworkers . And

01:09:21.976 --> 01:09:23.976
you have someone here that's stayed

01:09:23.976 --> 01:09:26.198
here , like you said , and , and pursue

01:09:26.198 --> 01:09:28.310
the different technologies and manage

01:09:28.310 --> 01:09:28.259
the people , but mentored the people

01:09:28.270 --> 01:09:30.381
and , and came to the holiday parties

01:09:30.381 --> 01:09:32.326
and had um you know , all of these

01:09:32.326 --> 01:09:34.326
interactions with calamari on these

01:09:34.326 --> 01:09:37.279
travel trips . And um but what ,

01:09:37.669 --> 01:09:39.870
why was it important for each one of

01:09:39.879 --> 01:09:43.830
you all to be here at this table for

01:09:44.109 --> 01:09:47.779
me that my

01:09:47.790 --> 01:09:48.629
background .

01:09:51.849 --> 01:09:55.580
Uh So Hispanic uh female , I

01:09:55.589 --> 01:09:59.279
was raised by a single parent that had

01:09:59.290 --> 01:10:03.229
a third grade education . Um And

01:10:04.439 --> 01:10:07.490
school was not , you know , a huge

01:10:07.500 --> 01:10:09.810
focus . It was mostly survival , right ?

01:10:10.459 --> 01:10:12.930
And so my , my way of

01:10:15.270 --> 01:10:19.100
giving back to my mom was to

01:10:19.109 --> 01:10:21.220
do the best that I could , you know ,

01:10:21.220 --> 01:10:24.100
it was , it was , it was good to come

01:10:24.109 --> 01:10:26.759
to an organization that supported that

01:10:26.770 --> 01:10:30.240
development of the person . Um

01:10:30.609 --> 01:10:33.580
And , you know , I never had a , a

01:10:33.589 --> 01:10:37.129
father figure um

01:10:37.160 --> 01:10:41.040
and having a male

01:10:41.049 --> 01:10:44.919
role model , like a male mentor that

01:10:44.930 --> 01:10:48.399
supported me like a father Um

01:10:48.859 --> 01:10:52.810
and , and so that , that really has

01:10:53.450 --> 01:10:55.561
in , you know , in the core has , has

01:10:55.561 --> 01:10:58.399
helped me in my career and to have

01:10:58.410 --> 01:11:02.000
someone care about me

01:11:02.009 --> 01:11:05.479
personally and see the , the skill and

01:11:05.490 --> 01:11:07.546
the goodness that I could bring to a

01:11:07.546 --> 01:11:10.359
technology and help develop that . Um

01:11:11.100 --> 01:11:13.520
uh that is something that I had not

01:11:13.529 --> 01:11:16.100
experienced ever . And I think that was

01:11:16.640 --> 01:11:20.290
a huge driver for my success . And

01:11:20.299 --> 01:11:23.500
II , I owe it completely . I would say ,

01:11:23.779 --> 01:11:27.569
well , not maybe 99% 1% was me

01:11:28.149 --> 01:11:31.879
was my ability um to , to his belief in

01:11:31.890 --> 01:11:34.330
me . Um And I would , I would tell you

01:11:34.339 --> 01:11:37.310
that your legacy doesn't end with us .

01:11:37.759 --> 01:11:40.350
It carries forth your life shines

01:11:40.359 --> 01:11:42.248
through to all the people that we

01:11:42.248 --> 01:11:44.581
interact with because I know personally ,

01:11:45.129 --> 01:11:48.330
uh you have shaped me as a person and ,

01:11:48.479 --> 01:11:52.069
and hopefully that and I aim to , to

01:11:52.080 --> 01:11:54.319
carry that forward to other people to

01:11:54.330 --> 01:11:56.497
carry that towards a lot . Thank you .

01:11:56.720 --> 01:12:00.180
Thank you . Thank you . Oh , I'm way

01:12:00.189 --> 01:12:03.029
too emotional . We gonna start crying

01:12:03.040 --> 01:12:06.520
in like two seconds . But um you just

01:12:06.529 --> 01:12:08.819
the last few years that you've been my

01:12:08.830 --> 01:12:11.439
direct supervisor have been amazing .

01:12:11.930 --> 01:12:15.490
Um You are one of the nicest

01:12:15.500 --> 01:12:18.359
people that I've really met . Uh one of

01:12:18.370 --> 01:12:20.537
the nicest bosses that I've ever had .

01:12:20.930 --> 01:12:24.609
Um You believed in me , you

01:12:24.620 --> 01:12:27.370
believed that I could do it . I know

01:12:28.879 --> 01:12:31.046
you believe in me . You believe that I

01:12:31.046 --> 01:12:33.212
could do it in terms of being a branch

01:12:33.212 --> 01:12:35.709
head . Um Not just that in terms of the

01:12:35.879 --> 01:12:38.101
diversity and inclusion , I mean , I've

01:12:38.101 --> 01:12:40.229
just , I've learned so much from you

01:12:40.240 --> 01:12:43.680
just from that aspect as well . Um And

01:12:43.689 --> 01:12:46.890
then just as important , if not the

01:12:46.899 --> 01:12:50.509
most important in my mind is the

01:12:50.520 --> 01:12:52.779
family aspect . Um That's not actually

01:12:52.790 --> 01:12:54.901
been something we talked about during

01:12:54.901 --> 01:12:57.012
this interview . But um I know your ,

01:12:57.012 --> 01:12:59.068
your wife has an extremely important

01:12:59.068 --> 01:13:01.234
head , I guess she's retired but had a

01:13:01.234 --> 01:13:03.123
very important job and you really

01:13:03.123 --> 01:13:05.290
stepped in and supported her and you

01:13:05.299 --> 01:13:07.355
and I have talked about that a lot .

01:13:07.549 --> 01:13:10.040
And so just the work life balance

01:13:10.049 --> 01:13:13.109
aspect of it . And I really , I , I

01:13:13.120 --> 01:13:16.049
look up to you for , you know what

01:13:16.060 --> 01:13:19.839
you've done , think we gonna let a

01:13:19.850 --> 01:13:22.750
kill go last just in case I kill you go

01:13:23.189 --> 01:13:26.250
last . I know these are my favorite

01:13:26.259 --> 01:13:27.759
scissors . I gonna get out

01:13:29.930 --> 01:13:33.819
if you were done . I'm gonna , that was

01:13:34.000 --> 01:13:37.810
a good one . So , um I guess I just

01:13:37.819 --> 01:13:41.149
snowballing here . So , um IW ,

01:13:42.299 --> 01:13:45.149
so I can actually relate a lot to Maria

01:13:45.160 --> 01:13:47.459
and also the things that Daniel said ,

01:13:47.470 --> 01:13:50.000
um I think I , I wrote on your

01:13:50.009 --> 01:13:52.176
retirement poster that you are like an

01:13:52.176 --> 01:13:54.398
unofficial dad . To me . You , I , I've

01:13:54.398 --> 01:13:56.453
never expressed that to you , but it

01:13:56.453 --> 01:13:58.009
was almost just having that

01:13:58.009 --> 01:14:00.759
encouragement from a male role model

01:14:00.770 --> 01:14:02.937
who just wanted to see the best in you

01:14:02.937 --> 01:14:06.370
just believed in you and advocated for

01:14:06.379 --> 01:14:08.689
you . And you have done that for me as

01:14:08.700 --> 01:14:10.770
a non technical person in a very

01:14:10.779 --> 01:14:13.839
technical space . Uh you've always been

01:14:13.850 --> 01:14:16.410
an advocate and very supportive just

01:14:16.419 --> 01:14:20.209
from my first interview . So , um

01:14:20.979 --> 01:14:24.790
that has always been something that's

01:14:24.799 --> 01:14:26.799
propped me up in , in my career . I

01:14:26.799 --> 01:14:28.966
always knew that if there was anything

01:14:28.966 --> 01:14:32.029
I wanted to try or explore that you

01:14:32.040 --> 01:14:35.979
would be supportive and help me to ,

01:14:36.339 --> 01:14:38.561
you know , really rationalize and think

01:14:38.561 --> 01:14:40.672
about if something was beneficial for

01:14:40.672 --> 01:14:43.339
me . And so I've gotten to do a lot . I

01:14:43.350 --> 01:14:47.089
um I have gosh

01:14:47.100 --> 01:14:49.419
experience a lot in my , even just

01:14:49.430 --> 01:14:52.129
personal life over the course of the 11

01:14:52.140 --> 01:14:54.196
years that we've worked together and

01:14:54.459 --> 01:14:57.790
you have always just been there in ways

01:14:57.799 --> 01:15:01.089
that I don't think other supervisors or ,

01:15:01.100 --> 01:15:03.211
you know , colleagues would be , that

01:15:03.211 --> 01:15:06.020
have meant a lot to me just personally .

01:15:06.140 --> 01:15:08.759
And um yeah , they're coming

01:15:10.859 --> 01:15:14.830
and um so , um so for

01:15:14.839 --> 01:15:17.850
me , it was important to be here to

01:15:17.990 --> 01:15:21.479
thank you to thank you for um being

01:15:21.490 --> 01:15:24.450
selfless , to thank you for um being

01:15:24.459 --> 01:15:28.290
authentic and for being an

01:15:28.299 --> 01:15:32.080
advocate for those of us who , you know ,

01:15:32.779 --> 01:15:35.890
don't always get opportunities or don't

01:15:35.899 --> 01:15:38.430
always know how to find our place . And

01:15:38.439 --> 01:15:42.350
uh and I will probably always use

01:15:42.359 --> 01:15:45.009
your real cell phone number because you

01:15:45.020 --> 01:15:47.509
are an important person like that . So

01:15:47.520 --> 01:15:50.169
I thank you and your legacy definitely

01:15:50.540 --> 01:15:54.459
live on . Yeah , I got to let

01:15:54.669 --> 01:15:57.339
go last because I , you know , you know ,

01:15:57.350 --> 01:15:59.572
speaking of diversity , I , I'm OK with

01:15:59.572 --> 01:16:01.794
being a woman and crying on screen . So

01:16:01.794 --> 01:16:04.609
that's why we have him go last . Um And

01:16:04.620 --> 01:16:06.842
it's like , you know , this summer I've

01:16:06.842 --> 01:16:09.064
been here 14 years and , you know , the

01:16:09.064 --> 01:16:12.129
technical side , my technical side got

01:16:12.140 --> 01:16:16.009
better because of

01:16:16.020 --> 01:16:17.242
those conversations .

01:16:20.189 --> 01:16:22.990
People gonna say I was nice . I know it ,

01:16:24.810 --> 01:16:28.700
my work ethic caught up because of

01:16:28.709 --> 01:16:31.020
those hard conversations .

01:16:32.229 --> 01:16:35.580
Um But then also the personal , when we

01:16:35.589 --> 01:16:38.950
go through personal things , I remember

01:16:38.959 --> 01:16:41.126
when I got a call that wrecked my life

01:16:41.390 --> 01:16:44.939
and I came into your office just

01:16:44.950 --> 01:16:47.109
feeling just like I dropped to the

01:16:47.120 --> 01:16:50.359
bottom of a 50 ft . Well , he's like ,

01:16:50.370 --> 01:16:52.592
let me sit there . You let me cry , let

01:16:52.592 --> 01:16:55.509
me talk . And then you said , do you

01:16:55.520 --> 01:16:58.580
need to go home ? And I had friends at

01:16:58.589 --> 01:17:00.899
the time where they were forced to

01:17:00.910 --> 01:17:03.040
still do their work because of their

01:17:03.049 --> 01:17:05.970
jobs and you let me go home and told me

01:17:05.979 --> 01:17:08.620
to call EAP when I didn't even remember

01:17:08.629 --> 01:17:11.700
that we had that as a resource . Um

01:17:12.040 --> 01:17:14.649
Like so many of these memorable times

01:17:15.180 --> 01:17:17.779
that like the rest , we've all been

01:17:17.790 --> 01:17:19.959
here different times and how we are

01:17:19.970 --> 01:17:23.240
each e echoing the same is

01:17:23.250 --> 01:17:26.859
huge . And so like , I know I would not

01:17:26.870 --> 01:17:30.740
be in my dream job if it wasn't for

01:17:30.750 --> 01:17:34.689
you . And sitting

01:17:34.700 --> 01:17:36.879
here being able to say thank you and

01:17:36.890 --> 01:17:39.410
have this conversation and we can show

01:17:39.419 --> 01:17:41.879
this , it's this family feel like I

01:17:41.890 --> 01:17:43.946
don't know if other groups ever felt

01:17:43.946 --> 01:17:46.168
like this . But , and I know that , you

01:17:46.168 --> 01:17:48.168
know , P A Os got this great team .

01:17:48.168 --> 01:17:50.390
They probably feel like family , family

01:17:50.390 --> 01:17:53.609
with this . But I felt feeling

01:17:54.790 --> 01:17:58.330
and they felt like family to have a

01:17:58.339 --> 01:18:01.419
place you spend more hours away from

01:18:01.430 --> 01:18:03.990
your family to then also . Yes , bumps

01:18:04.000 --> 01:18:06.056
and screw scrapes . We had our , you

01:18:06.056 --> 01:18:08.990
know , our times . But for , I've never

01:18:09.000 --> 01:18:11.167
thought I would ever have been able to

01:18:11.167 --> 01:18:13.333
experience as a little girl coming out

01:18:13.333 --> 01:18:15.333
of college just trying to get a job

01:18:15.333 --> 01:18:17.222
anywhere during the height of the

01:18:17.222 --> 01:18:19.389
recession to come to a job that I have

01:18:19.389 --> 01:18:21.779
loved a career that I've enjoyed . And

01:18:21.790 --> 01:18:23.901
to also feel like I'm going to see my

01:18:23.901 --> 01:18:26.939
other family . It's just because of the

01:18:26.950 --> 01:18:29.006
umbrella that you've had here . So ,

01:18:30.060 --> 01:18:33.750
thank you . Thanks so much . All right ,

01:18:40.509 --> 01:18:42.731
even though I can't , I , I don't think

01:18:42.731 --> 01:18:45.390
Bob is gonna be , we've already been

01:18:45.439 --> 01:18:49.080
feeling , uh because giants , you

01:18:49.089 --> 01:18:51.910
know , again , it's been uh a short

01:18:51.919 --> 01:18:55.009
time for me , but it's been , you know ,

01:18:55.020 --> 01:18:57.839
every bit as meaningful the , the whole

01:18:57.850 --> 01:19:01.490
time because from the start of things

01:19:01.500 --> 01:19:03.444
all the way up until being in this

01:19:03.444 --> 01:19:06.770
moment and understanding that , you

01:19:06.779 --> 01:19:09.620
know , for this , this moment , it ,

01:19:09.899 --> 01:19:13.529
it's just a reflection back that , you

01:19:13.540 --> 01:19:16.660
know , what I or a verification of what

01:19:16.669 --> 01:19:18.910
I've always felt that , you know , you

01:19:18.919 --> 01:19:21.509
wanted to see me do well , you wanted

01:19:21.689 --> 01:19:24.629
uh good for me from the beginning and

01:19:24.640 --> 01:19:27.080
it's just important and

01:19:28.410 --> 01:19:30.790
reflects that , you know , what I was

01:19:30.799 --> 01:19:33.850
feeling was , was correct . And , you

01:19:33.859 --> 01:19:37.479
know , I've always been surrounded

01:19:37.490 --> 01:19:41.439
by strong women in my family . Um

01:19:44.160 --> 01:19:46.160
the men's side , you know , they're

01:19:46.160 --> 01:19:48.160
there , they're there , but they've

01:19:48.160 --> 01:19:51.229
never made um as big of an impact on uh

01:19:51.250 --> 01:19:55.060
myself for the achievements that I

01:19:55.069 --> 01:19:59.000
had and being able

01:19:59.009 --> 01:20:02.709
to see you and then get the ,

01:20:05.459 --> 01:20:08.819
the care enough to individually look

01:20:08.830 --> 01:20:11.259
out for me . And I know you always ,

01:20:11.270 --> 01:20:13.381
every once in a while trying to check

01:20:13.381 --> 01:20:15.669
in on me , even if it wasn't directly

01:20:15.680 --> 01:20:17.879
from me , I know that the comments

01:20:17.890 --> 01:20:20.399
coming down asking how I'm doing was

01:20:20.410 --> 01:20:22.819
coming uh from a relate message from

01:20:22.830 --> 01:20:26.220
you and that , that's just been a

01:20:26.229 --> 01:20:28.069
supporting factor of like any

01:20:28.080 --> 01:20:30.136
opportunity that , you know , you've

01:20:30.136 --> 01:20:32.689
seen me in and maybe it might be

01:20:32.700 --> 01:20:34.759
unexpected that you know , what's he

01:20:34.770 --> 01:20:37.160
doing here kind of thing . Uh It's

01:20:37.169 --> 01:20:39.899
always the reflection back of when you

01:20:39.910 --> 01:20:42.077
make eye contact that , you know , you

01:20:42.077 --> 01:20:44.689
are proud that I , I am in that , that

01:20:44.700 --> 01:20:47.350
setting and it's , you know , just spun

01:20:47.359 --> 01:20:51.009
up uh a determination for myself to

01:20:51.279 --> 01:20:54.299
uh fill the shoes that you , the big

01:20:54.310 --> 01:20:57.310
shoes that you laid here . Um and try

01:20:57.319 --> 01:20:59.640
my darndest to uh

01:21:01.200 --> 01:21:03.256
do what you've done for me , for the

01:21:03.256 --> 01:21:05.629
other people coming behind and be being

01:21:05.640 --> 01:21:09.290
that symbol of inclusion for me because

01:21:09.299 --> 01:21:11.680
seeing you in that position again ,

01:21:11.689 --> 01:21:14.459
like I was saying , for , you know , my

01:21:14.470 --> 01:21:16.470
reason in getting to talk to you is

01:21:16.689 --> 01:21:20.569
that you represented that I can

01:21:20.580 --> 01:21:22.950
shoot and achieve that opportunity of

01:21:22.959 --> 01:21:25.379
being the , that leadership figure .

01:21:25.390 --> 01:21:28.740
And I , and I can then take that and

01:21:28.750 --> 01:21:31.450
make an impact on those coming . It's

01:21:31.459 --> 01:21:33.515
like it's not to say that that's the

01:21:33.515 --> 01:21:35.403
only way , but it's , it's made a

01:21:35.403 --> 01:21:37.459
difference for me . And II , I wanna

01:21:37.459 --> 01:21:39.737
thank you for that . Thank , thank you .

01:21:40.069 --> 01:21:43.290
So this was on here for 40 more years ,

01:21:43.509 --> 01:21:46.620
like , right ? What would you say to

01:21:46.629 --> 01:21:48.740
the future employees that would watch

01:21:48.740 --> 01:21:52.729
this ? You know ,

01:21:52.740 --> 01:21:55.799
I , I think I would say that um

01:21:59.220 --> 01:22:03.069
we , we have a , a vast array of

01:22:03.080 --> 01:22:06.240
technologies that we work here . And

01:22:06.250 --> 01:22:09.089
even within each technology , there's ,

01:22:09.160 --> 01:22:12.709
you know , countless uh technical areas

01:22:12.720 --> 01:22:15.640
and there's lots of opportunity to do

01:22:15.649 --> 01:22:19.509
well um and make a difference . But I

01:22:19.520 --> 01:22:22.569
think if you listen to this from start

01:22:22.580 --> 01:22:25.240
to finish , I hope you take people ,

01:22:25.250 --> 01:22:27.306
take away the importance of people ,

01:22:28.419 --> 01:22:32.279
the importance of , of developing

01:22:32.290 --> 01:22:34.512
relationships and trying to get to know

01:22:34.512 --> 01:22:36.740
people and just being a good person and

01:22:36.750 --> 01:22:39.990
trying to help do your part . Um You

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:42.399
know , you guys , this the focus of

01:22:42.410 --> 01:22:46.240
this was me , but there are tons of

01:22:46.250 --> 01:22:48.139
people that helped me . Mentioned

01:22:48.139 --> 01:22:50.660
family , my wife Lauren , I traveled a

01:22:50.669 --> 01:22:53.919
lot during my traveling heyday and we

01:22:53.930 --> 01:22:57.649
have three girls at home and , and yeah ,

01:22:57.660 --> 01:22:59.850
I held her down but she held me down

01:22:59.859 --> 01:23:02.729
too . Um And uh

01:23:03.580 --> 01:23:07.419
um I always remembered , I think

01:23:07.430 --> 01:23:10.879
having three girls kind of helped shape

01:23:10.890 --> 01:23:13.490
me also . Three daughters . I , I think

01:23:13.500 --> 01:23:15.556
that , that shapes me being a girl ,

01:23:15.556 --> 01:23:17.611
dad does something to you . It makes

01:23:17.611 --> 01:23:19.667
you see life in a certain way . Uh ,

01:23:19.667 --> 01:23:21.556
and I , I think it helped with my

01:23:21.556 --> 01:23:24.189
empathy and , and uh you know , and ,

01:23:24.200 --> 01:23:26.910
and being considerate and trying to

01:23:27.609 --> 01:23:31.500
understand uh other people's um um

01:23:32.029 --> 01:23:33.973
what they might be going through .

01:23:33.973 --> 01:23:37.479
Right . And if in , in the process of

01:23:37.490 --> 01:23:40.379
going through and being excellent at

01:23:40.390 --> 01:23:43.020
whatever you're doing , you also pay

01:23:43.029 --> 01:23:45.669
attention to the people in your life ,

01:23:45.680 --> 01:23:47.902
the people that are supporting you that

01:23:47.902 --> 01:23:50.013
aren't there with you every day , the

01:23:50.013 --> 01:23:52.790
people that are , are supporting you on

01:23:52.799 --> 01:23:55.560
the job and the people that you're

01:23:55.569 --> 01:23:58.319
supporting , if you really have a focus ,

01:23:58.330 --> 01:24:01.339
an outward focus on , on those people ,

01:24:01.549 --> 01:24:05.009
then um people is where your mark is ,

01:24:05.270 --> 01:24:09.220
is really made and , and um I ,

01:24:09.229 --> 01:24:12.500
I hope people take that away from this .

01:24:13.180 --> 01:24:16.240
Um I'm trying hard to hold it together .

01:24:16.250 --> 01:24:18.417
I have so many things I want to say to

01:24:18.417 --> 01:24:20.700
each of you , Maria . I don't know that

01:24:20.709 --> 01:24:23.649
I've met and I literally mean this

01:24:23.660 --> 01:24:27.379
anybody with the , the

01:24:27.390 --> 01:24:30.020
determination that you have and the

01:24:30.029 --> 01:24:32.310
work ethic that you have combined with

01:24:32.319 --> 01:24:34.720
just being brilliant and compassionate .

01:24:34.729 --> 01:24:38.370
Uh just uh amazing .

01:24:38.379 --> 01:24:41.060
Danielle , you've got an energy about

01:24:41.069 --> 01:24:44.129
you and an authenticity about you , a

01:24:44.299 --> 01:24:46.919
desire to do well and just make

01:24:48.040 --> 01:24:51.140
whatever environment you're in better .

01:24:51.879 --> 01:24:55.129
And I respect that . Alicia , I've told

01:24:55.140 --> 01:24:57.450
you since we met how talented I think

01:24:57.459 --> 01:25:00.990
you are . And um I ,

01:25:02.200 --> 01:25:06.080
and you know , Alicia was the one

01:25:07.160 --> 01:25:10.310
when she sat outside my office , Alicia ,

01:25:10.319 --> 01:25:13.479
you were on those , on those days that

01:25:13.490 --> 01:25:16.160
weren't going particularly well . You

01:25:16.169 --> 01:25:18.336
were the one that made me feel at home

01:25:18.620 --> 01:25:22.569
because you were the one that come

01:25:22.580 --> 01:25:24.413
in and talk about the movie Boom

01:25:24.413 --> 01:25:26.413
Boomerang . And we talk about , you

01:25:26.413 --> 01:25:28.636
know , Kendrick Lamar , we had the same

01:25:28.636 --> 01:25:30.410
taste in music and I would say

01:25:30.419 --> 01:25:32.620
sometimes that you're the only person

01:25:32.629 --> 01:25:34.629
in this building that I can talk to

01:25:34.629 --> 01:25:36.890
about that . You uh you get me . That's

01:25:36.899 --> 01:25:40.810
right . Um You know , Ashley ,

01:25:40.819 --> 01:25:43.379
man , everybody knows Ashley , you just ,

01:25:44.080 --> 01:25:47.169
you , you just a , just a burst of

01:25:47.180 --> 01:25:50.100
positivity no matter where you go and

01:25:50.109 --> 01:25:52.299
you and I , yeah , we , we had some

01:25:52.310 --> 01:25:55.930
hard discussions but , but I always

01:25:55.939 --> 01:25:57.279
felt like you were ,

01:25:59.169 --> 01:26:02.640
you wanted to do well and I'm so

01:26:02.649 --> 01:26:05.399
happy for you . I feel like more than

01:26:05.410 --> 01:26:07.743
anybody else . One of the things that I ,

01:26:08.910 --> 01:26:11.970
one of my highlights is the fact that I ,

01:26:11.979 --> 01:26:15.430
I truly believe that you are in the

01:26:15.439 --> 01:26:18.040
exact place that you're supposed to be

01:26:18.049 --> 01:26:20.259
at the exact time that you're supposed

01:26:20.270 --> 01:26:22.720
to be there , that every , all the

01:26:22.729 --> 01:26:25.299
things that you've gone through good

01:26:25.310 --> 01:26:27.729
and bad have been leading you to this ,

01:26:27.779 --> 01:26:30.069
to this moment in this position . I , I

01:26:30.080 --> 01:26:32.720
couldn't be happier for you and then a

01:26:32.729 --> 01:26:36.410
keel um I , I

01:26:36.419 --> 01:26:40.100
saw little snippets of myself in you

01:26:40.109 --> 01:26:43.520
and I'm just like , so I'm gonna make

01:26:43.529 --> 01:26:46.740
sure I'm gonna keep an eye on him . I'm

01:26:46.750 --> 01:26:49.299
not gonna hover . I know Jonathan kept ,

01:26:49.310 --> 01:26:51.588
got tired of me saying , ok , Jonathan ,

01:26:51.588 --> 01:26:53.699
I haven't seen a kill . What's a kill

01:26:53.699 --> 01:26:55.977
up to ? Let's make sure a kill is good .

01:26:55.977 --> 01:26:58.032
Come see me , Akel , you know . Um ,

01:26:58.589 --> 01:27:00.680
because it's , I , I'll admit it's

01:27:00.689 --> 01:27:03.020
important for me as , as a black man to

01:27:03.029 --> 01:27:05.029
see another young black man get the

01:27:05.029 --> 01:27:07.240
opportunities that I got , right ? And

01:27:07.250 --> 01:27:09.583
I had people looking out for me too and ,

01:27:09.583 --> 01:27:12.740
and I see a lot of potential in you and

01:27:12.750 --> 01:27:14.750
all of you . So I wish you guys the

01:27:14.750 --> 01:27:17.390
best . Thank you so much for

01:27:18.359 --> 01:27:21.140
doing this . It means a lot . It's not

01:27:21.149 --> 01:27:23.500
an accident or random that you guys are

01:27:23.509 --> 01:27:25.509
sitting here . You all have special

01:27:25.509 --> 01:27:28.339
place in my heart . You always will .

01:27:30.899 --> 01:27:33.910
You almost got me . I think we got it

01:27:33.919 --> 01:27:34.919
done .

01:27:40.149 --> 01:27:43.689
Thank you so much . This is

01:27:43.919 --> 01:27:46.609
not the end and it's , it's the

01:27:46.620 --> 01:27:49.609
retirement but passing of that baton

01:27:50.629 --> 01:27:54.060
and that's us . And so , you know ,

01:27:54.069 --> 01:27:56.930
this is like our charge to ourselves .

01:27:56.939 --> 01:27:58.995
We've talked a lot about legacy . We

01:27:58.995 --> 01:28:01.879
talked a lot about um mentorship and ,

01:28:01.990 --> 01:28:04.100
and careers and so many different

01:28:04.109 --> 01:28:06.276
aspects . I know Daniel touched on the

01:28:06.276 --> 01:28:08.442
work life balance . There's so much of

01:28:08.442 --> 01:28:10.620
this multifaceted life that we're

01:28:10.629 --> 01:28:12.959
sitting here and now we're like the

01:28:12.970 --> 01:28:15.290
four flag . But now you imagine like

01:28:15.299 --> 01:28:18.100
different tracks running , right ? And

01:28:18.109 --> 01:28:21.359
that exponential reach that we have

01:28:21.509 --> 01:28:24.180
because of , you know , this , this

01:28:24.629 --> 01:28:28.500
monumental person , Johnny , monumental

01:28:28.509 --> 01:28:31.589
career . And now we've each have this

01:28:31.600 --> 01:28:34.479
fourth leg and now spreading that

01:28:34.490 --> 01:28:36.601
because we're in completely different

01:28:36.740 --> 01:28:40.160
realms and stages of career and areas ,

01:28:40.169 --> 01:28:42.839
business that , you know , thank you

01:28:42.850 --> 01:28:45.850
for giving us um that baton

01:28:46.169 --> 01:28:49.310
because we run it . You know , we put

01:28:49.359 --> 01:28:51.248
on our good shoes , we put on our

01:28:51.248 --> 01:28:53.415
running shoes after this . But we , we

01:28:53.415 --> 01:28:56.620
have accepted that from you that all of

01:28:56.629 --> 01:28:59.359
what you've done , even in retirement

01:28:59.370 --> 01:29:02.339
being the end of the career . Like ,

01:29:02.709 --> 01:29:06.069
what would Johnny do is going to go and

01:29:06.080 --> 01:29:08.660
ripple through um , so many different

01:29:08.669 --> 01:29:11.002
areas that you probably will never ever ,

01:29:11.002 --> 01:29:13.770
ever , ever even imagine her dream or

01:29:13.779 --> 01:29:16.080
just grasp because of that fourth leg

01:29:16.089 --> 01:29:18.520
and , and we have , of course , just

01:29:18.529 --> 01:29:21.229
five people here , but I , I can almost

01:29:21.240 --> 01:29:23.850
guarantee that there's a lot of other

01:29:23.859 --> 01:29:26.620
people that have that fourth um baton

01:29:26.640 --> 01:29:29.479
in their hands and I'm really glad that

01:29:29.490 --> 01:29:31.546
we were able to bring that out . And

01:29:31.546 --> 01:29:33.601
now everybody watching that video is

01:29:33.601 --> 01:29:35.768
now gonna have that fourth baton too .

01:29:35.768 --> 01:29:37.879
So , thank you for the conversation .

01:29:37.879 --> 01:29:39.189
Thanks . Thanks . Thanks .