•Professional Achievement - Level I•

Education:
B.S., Mechanical and Material Science Engineering, University of California, Davis

Carlos González, Jr.’s life is best summed by his personal commitment to, in his own words, “Always look for the next challenge.” As Manager of Construction Services at Chevron’s Richmond, California refinery, the dependable high energy professional currently oversees a $230 million-dollar, two-year Turnaround Event that includes all the project and mechanical work that will be performed at the refinery’s gasoline units, all while supervising over 1600 people.

Mr. González knew as early as sixth grade that he wanted to be an engineer after attending a career fair at his elementary school in Southern California where he grew up. After graduating high school with honors, he attended the University of California, Davis where he decided to double major in both Mechanical Engineering and Material Science Engineering.

He overcame the culture shock of moving from a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles to the small Northern California agricultural town of Davis by joining a variety of organizations, including Nu Alpha Kappa fraternity, the MESA Engineering Program, and the Chicano and Latino Engineering and Scientists Society (CALESS) where he met other minority-engineering students. 

Upon graduation, Mr. González joined Chevron at their El Segundo refinery not far from where he grew up.   He quickly distinguished himself as a designs engineer and was soon recognized as a local subject matter expert in multiple technical disciplines. After three years in designs he was offered a position in a new group focusing on equipment reliability.  This role sat at the intersection of maintenance, operations, and technical management, and he was tasked with helping define how the new group functioned. 

His next position as first line supervisor to an operations crew was a challenge for Mr. González.  He had to supervise people who were twice his age in many cases, and in a process engineering area in which he had little hands-on experience. He went on to successfully lead that crew of twelve operators for about a year and a half, learning the inner workings of the refinery along the way 

His career path then led to a lead designs engineer position with the Blending and Shipping side of the refinery as well as with the Maintenance Turnaround Group as supervisor for a dozen mechanical and civil engineers. Mr. González soon took a role as area operations supervisor for all utilities at the refinery, including the effluent treatment plant that treats waste water before safely disposing of it.  These responsibilities included overseeing day to day operations, budgeting, project development and execution.   

He next moved to what was ultimately the longest role of his career, as Tank Task Force Team Leader.  In his four years on the job, he functioned as a project manager overseeing the maintenance of the 200+ atmospheric storage tanks in the refinery and managing an annual budget of $20 million that included the cleaning, inspection, and maintenance of the tanks while overseeing 60 people on up to 10 different work sites at a time.  

Mr. González has participated in many high school career fairs and was a judge on Project Lead The Way, a program that brings STEM to middle and high school students. Earlier this year, he was the keynote speaker for SHPE’s CSU Long Beach chapter’s “Noche de Ciencias,” where college students introduce STEM to elementary and middle school students in a fun and interactive way.