David Fichtner:  

After graduating from San Jose State, I joined IBM for a position in the Honolulu Branch Office. During my career with IBM, I spent time in all areas of the high tech business: in both technical and sales support; in sales as a national manager of education and public sector marketing, in development as both a chief programmer (early in my career) and then towards the end of my career as the Product Line Manager for Multi Media Applications; and, several stints in the IBM Research Division. I retired in 1993 as the Program Director of Customer and Business Development for the IBM Research Division (world wide), then moved back to Portola Valley (behind Stanford) from Greenwich, CT. After retirement I've been doing lots of volunteer work (Beach Watch, Ano Nuevo, Golden Gate Raptor Org, Alcatraz Bird Count,water quality monitoring, Red Cross, CERT, ham radio, hazardous materials spill handling, feeding homeless, volunteering in my daughter's schools...) I actually coached Cheryl Burke of Dancing with Stars fame, in both volleyball and basketball, when she was in middle school. I've also taken up birding and I travel the United States adding to my life's bird list. Sometime I'm actually going to have to add them all up and then consider international bird travel. Update: body joints are catching up to me. Don't know whether it was judo in college or all the other stuff since, e.g. mountain climbing/hiking when I was much younger. I've actually decided to retire from many activities because of my knee and my hips are also acting up, under stress. October 2019 is my last beach survey. I'll miss them; but I know I will start other activities. I am starting a high school films program for San Francisco Oceans Film Festival. Update: great idea, didn't work out, my failure. I decided I needed to be able to create a film, if I was going to "sell this". I'd helped create a 'movie production studio, in Yorktown Height NY, back in the day when making a movie was a really big deal and project. I saw multiple phd's fail at producing films. It was just too complex, at the time. A film was never created in this studio, without professional 'outside' involvement. I tried to talk my daughter out of creating a film in middle school, because it was too complex; but I bought her 'state of the art' programs and equipment to pursue her film. She created an incredible professional film. Also, I've attended workshops in film making with 'point and shoot' cameras and basic programs that come on a Mac of PC. I got the commitment of scientists, O'Neal school program, and marine labs to work with students; but I could never get over my research experience and (falsely) knowing that it was just too complex for me to do..... so, even though film making has moved from VERY complex to relatively simpl...Expand for more