Jason is a foreman in our sheetmetal group and has been with WAM for about 4 years. He grew up in San Bruno working for his dad from the time he was a teenager. His dad was a general contractor (just retired last year); and most of his family members are in construction. Rather than be “the boss’ kid”, Jason decided to branch out and get into the sheetmetal trade. That was 10 years ago. Jason worked for a few sheetmetal companies before landing here at WAM. In his experience, while every company has its challenges, he feels that WAM has the most important things figured out: well-staffed management group, the necessary tools to do the job (“it takes money to make money”), trust in the field to do the job (other companies tend to micromanage), and a cohesive WAM team that actually tries to work together across the different trades. In his past jobs, fitters hated sheetmetal, sheetmetal hated plumbers, and so on. At Western Allied, we actually value working as a team across trades.
In his personal life, Jason is married to his wife, Nicole, of 10 years. They have three daughters ages 5, 7, and 11. Jason’s hobby is working on hotrods, cars, and trucks. He always has projects that he is actively working on. His current projects are a ’70 Chevelle, a ’67 Nova, as well as building his boat. Since having a family, he has incorporated his hobbies with his family members by going to races, track days, and the lake together.
Jesse joined WAM as our Plumbing Division Manager in January of this year. A Pacifica native, Jesse’s 17 years of experience in the Plumbing Trade started when he joined the Local 38 Plumbers Union in 2005. His goal was to gain the field experience needed to become an effective estimator. In 2009, work was slow in the field so Jesse started bugging the office to get in as a detailer, estimator, gopher, whatever. That opportunity finally arose in 2011, and he gave up his union card to become a full-time office employee. Jesse feels that having a mix of employees that took either the field route or the college route to management adds value to the company, because it brings a different set of skills to the group that each can learn from. Jesse was at his previous company for about 11 years when our former Plumbing Manager introduced him to WAM, but ultimately it was our WAM company culture that drew him in. Jesse feels that our core values and how WAM treats its employees aligns with his own values. His goal is to grow the Plumbing division while meeting or exceeding the high standards that have been set in the HVAC division. He appreciates all of the people at WAM who have helped get the Plumbing division off the ground.
Jesse has been with his wife, Jamie, for 18 years and married for two years. Together they have three children – 19, 17, & 16 years old and two dogs. Jesse has coached all of his kids in their various sports teams of basketball, baseball, and soccer. In total, he has coached about 27 different sports teams! Jesse used to run marathons and still typically runs 3 -4 days a week.
Fun Fact: Growing up a few blocks from the beach in Pacifica, Jesse’s older brother (5 yrs older) was into surfing. Starting when Jesse was in the 2nd grade, his brother would take Jesse with him surfing after school… with no adult supervision!
Kelly joined WAM back in December of 2021 in the Project Management group. She came to us with about 4 years of project management experience, but her journey into this position is a unique one. After graduating from UC Davis, she read “No Excuses” (her favorite book that she highly recommends), which helped her decide that whatever she was going to do in life, she wanted to strive for excellence. She then started bartending and LOVED it because the job always had her moving and talking to all kinds of people. One day at work, one of her bar guests invited her to consider a job in project management. She took him up on it and immediately saw that it was the right career path for her. She found that enjoys the complexity of the challenges that come with project because they keep her on her toes. She continues to enjoy meeting new people at WAM and appreciates how WAMers immediately made her feel welcome.
Outside of work, Kelly loves the great outdoors. She is an avid runner, hiker, and generally up for just about any physical activity. She loves to stay active because it makes her feel good to be fit. She has participated in 37 organized races, including 22 half marathons and 2 marathons around the country. She has found a community of like-minded runners and active people that she will see again and again at upcoming races. She is currently training for a 3-day Running Festival in Utah and Arizona later this year.
Fun Fact: The first “project” that Kelly managed was completing the build of a core & shell tiny house that she bought in college. However, her favorite project was building out a small van which she used to travel across the US in the summer of 2021.
Noel is a core member of the WAM Service Department and WAM family after 17 years with the company. He naturally embodied WAM core values before we even knew we had Core Values! He is a real team player; and positive mentor and role model to the service techs he has trained. Noel knows that at WAM, you are not just a number. Noel is an instructor at the Local 467 where he teaches 4th year Startup, Test and Balance students. He, himself, was taught and mentored by WAM employees who also taught at the Union Hall. Noel’s philosophy is “to give back what was given to me”. In that way, he continues the tradition of paying it forward.
Noel is a Daly City and South SF native. After high school, he served in the Navy for 2 ½ years. He was in bootcamp training on 9/11/2001 and experienced being at that elevated state of military readiness of that time. He was stationed in Honolulu, HI after training. Noel has been married to his “ride or die, best friend” Michelle for 15 years. They enjoy traveling but have had to put off a trip to Alaska due to the pandemic.
Fun Fact: Noel went to high school with Rod Conway in our Piping/Plumbing group and Steve Grassi from our Startup department. Noel worked at KFC with Steve Grassi when they were 16 years old!
