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37 Years and Counting
When
Gilbert Ivey started at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California back in 1970 at the age of 17, he was a chauffeur for
women staff members who the organization didn’t trust to drive
company cars themselves. It’s safe to say some things have changed
at “Metropolitan.” Yet some have not – such as Ivey on the payroll.
Now, some 37 years later, the organization’s chief administrative
officer and one of the newest additions to the CBAPP advisory board
continues to work for his first and only employer because he wants
to develop and mentor young professionals within the organization,
work that is also mirrored in his role on the advisory board. [Full
story] The Metropolitan is a wholesaler that provides water to 26 municipal districts in a 200-square-mile coverage zone, from the city of Los Angeles to the City of San Diego. And as unknown as the organization is, Ivey says that what must happen before water flows through the taps is just as mysterious. “Just like most people, I had taken for granted that water wasn’t a big deal. I turned on the tap and there it was. But it’s an incredibly complex system that involves bringing water to Southern California from the Colorado River and the Bay Delta in northern California, treating it, managing it, and distributing it,” says Ivey. That complex system means that as many business professionals are involved at Metropolitan as in any large enterprise. The organization has more than 2,000 professionals in fields like legal, finance, human resources, real estate, outreach, personnel, engineering, and so on. “All the jobs you could find in the corporate world, are here at Metropolitan,” he says. In turn, as the organization’s CEO, his job is focused on managing all of these various departments while also responding to the board of directors, who implement the policies that he must then relay back to the staff to carry out. When asked to list his highlights of such a long career with the same organization, Ivey references two things. The first is his work as project director in charge of the successful development and construction of Metropolitan’s new 850,000-square-foot, $135-million headquarters that he completed ahead of schedule and under budget 10 years ago. The second, though, is where you get a glimpse of what Ivey is like as a person. “I really enjoy mentoring new employees and looking for those who I think can have a long successful career if just given some of the opportunities I have had over the years,” he says. Instead of some formal process, Ivey prefers informal mentoring, and even references a paper he wrote on the value of informal versus formal mentoring while at CSUDH some 30 years ago. He may appoint an employee he has had his on eye to head a committee, or ask them to do something they know nothing about, just to see how they respond. That idea of mentoring is why Ivey is also a member of five advisory boards, including the one within CBAPP. “The experiences I gained while at CSUDH, they were priceless in my career and I wanted to give back, to give those opportunities to others like myself,” he says. It’s a common goal and reason why many of the Advisory Board members joined this particular board when they could have either decided they already had plenty to do or could have joined another board that might have been more prestigious, but where they wouldn’t have had as much impact. “A lot of advisory boards are put together just to look good on the board members’ resumes and on the college’s Web site. That’s so far from what we do here with our advisory board, and in truth, that is a tribute to the board members themselves,” says Dean Jim Strong. “Every single one of them is involved because they want to help students. Some may see themselves in our students; others may simply recognize the potential a campus like ours has. But the commonality is the students. That’s why they are here.” For Ivey, who has moonlighted over the years as a back-up singer for the likes of Chicago, Mary J. Blige, and Luther Vandross, what he remembers most about his time on campus was the collective effort that he shared with peers. “There were a lot of students like me working days and taking classes at night. It made it an incredible nurturing environment where it always seemed both the faculty and the other students in my classes were focused on the group effort, on having the team succeed,” he says. From there, it doesn’t take much for the executive to start rambling off other memories as well. “I still use what I learned in my business classes today,” says Ivey, “I remember hating Quantitative Analysis 1 and 2, and wondering, ‘what do these things have to do with my everyday life?’” Always the manager and mentor, he doesn’t hesitate to use the moment to drive home a message, perhaps directed at current students. “But even today, I use those concepts all the time. Not the finite equations I learned, but the way you apply those principles and lessons to a human element.” |
