The Basics
- Years of service: Three
- Division: Environmental Management & Real Estate
- Tell us about your role: I work with the Engineering, Environmental, Accounting, and Legal groups in City Light and external individuals, companies, nonprofits, cities, counties, the state — just about everyone! Many customers lease City Light property, or sometimes we need to acquire new property rights for different projects.
We protect City Light’s infrastructure and surrounding land in different projects. There are overlapping and complex property rights throughout the state. I track down and examine historical records and files (often going back to the 1940s) and piece together what has since happened. After analyzing a situation, we problem solve and negotiate a beneficial solution for all stakeholders. A crucial part of the job is bringing together different perspectives and needs to ensure customers are treated fairly and given the best service while following various regulations. Luckily, our group has a broad range of experience and specialties to draw on and support each other. All in all, I deal with a wide variety of projects and issues, which keeps things from getting boring!
Background
- Hometown: Spokane, Wash.
- Alma Mater: North Seattle College. After a short summer break of 17 years, I finished my associate’s degree in 2017. It’s not easy to juggle work, classes, and a three-year-old, so I was happy to get that wrapped up! I’m currently taking a senior-level certification class from the International Right of Way Association and look forward to completing that soon.
- Tell us about your family: My wife Karen and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary. Our daughter, Gretchen, is in second grade. We love our cats, Spud and Gizmo. This year Karen began beekeeping, and we have two hives in the backyard that are going quite well. We live in the Ballinger neighborhood of Shoreline and love it.
Just for Fun
- Which City Light value do you align most with and why? Safety for myself, co-workers, and the public is always critical! Some of the most complicated issues the Real Estate group deals with circle back to keeping City Light infrastructure and surrounding land as safe as possible for the public and our workers.
- If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? A super-speed ability to finally finish a million projects I have cooking around the house!
- Where is your favorite place you have traveled? We took a fantastic family trip to New Zealand a few years ago. We particularly loved the fjords and waterfalls in Milford Sound; the city of Christchurch was a fun place to hang out and explore. We also like camping in northwestern and northeastern Washington.
- What would we most likely find you doing on the weekend? I am most likely fixing something around the house, tinkering in the garage, playing guitar, riding bikes, or reading with my daughter.
I love live music and can’t wait to see more soon. My mother was a music and piano teacher, but I was a born rock-and-roller! I started playing guitar when I was 10. I moved to Seattle in 1999 with my band at the time. After playing in different bands for 20 years, I took a break to hang out with my daughter; now that she’s older, I hope to get back to it.
- What is your motto or personal mantra? I probably say “BE CAREFUL!” to my kid more than anything else. Does that count?
Also, a random fact about me, that my name, Jean, is pronounced like Jean-Luc Picard or Jean Claude Van Damme, rather than Gene.