I am an engineer, manager, business owner – and an activist who gets things done on the ground. When I told a retired general who had been in the defense acquisition for a good part of his career that I had delivered a major system with large software content on time, meeting all requirements, within the budget originally bid; he responded that I was the only one he knew that could say that. ​

 

EXPERIENCE – Business and Employment

 

BUSINESS OWNER AND ENTREPRENEUR.

Jim Olsen owns and manages Breaking Wave Enterprises, dba Breaking Wave Publishing.

  • I Ching of a Thousand Doors — 2020

  • Hazel’s Great Adventure — 2024

  • Make Things in America — April 17, 2025

  • COVID WARS, A true story from both sides — May 19, 2025

  • Provided extensive research in collaboration with Valarie Anderson for two books on the Pearl Harbor Attack, Pearl Harbor’s Final Warning, and Money Eater. 

 

Jim Olsen owned and managed Human Interactive Products, dedicated to both profit and social good.

• Program Management and System Engineering for large engineering systems. This included

  training Bitterrooters in proposal and data management to deploy to sites nationwide and overseas.

• Native Plant Restoration and Nursery (Trade Name: Great Bear Restoration; Sold to Great Bear Natives).

• Commercial Real Estate & Management (Emma’s House, Hamilton Carriage House, Residential Rental).

• Business Planning and Market Research Consulting. (Award-winning RCEDA Business Plan, other small local businesses and defense markets).

• Competitive Strategy and Proposal Manager of pursuits large and small.

  The company has created or been instrumental in the development of projects for social good.

  • Emma's House, a home setting for interviews with Child Victims of Crime. (Remodel to suit a home setting).

  • Hamilton Performing Arts Series. (Underwrote/produced 1 season to transition from school district to nonprofit 

  • Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Center. (Cost estimate, impact on law enforcement and people with mental illness).

  • Bison Internet Café, a place for people with mental illness to integrate with the community.

 

 

 

C e r t i f i c a t i o n s, L i c e n s e s, a n d S e l e c t e d S t a n d a r d s

United States Classified Facilities Clearance DOD, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency

United Kingdom Official Secrets Act –Restricted Data Storage and Handling Facility

Munitions Export License – US Dept of State, Defense Trade Controls (security, intellectual property export to UK)

Department of Health and Human Services Accounting Standards • HIPAA – (Bison Café)

Certified Kitchen • Caterers License

Agriculture Nursery License • DOT Vehicle and Driver Certification (Great Bear Restoration)

 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

​​DEFENSE PROGRAMS. Over thirty years of leading large engineering development programs for defense, air traffic control, and homeland defense, beginning as a military officer in the US Air Force, followed by a career at Raytheon Company. Director of a $500,000,000 per year profit center. He was considered one of the best program managers.

• Programs ranged from ground, ground-mobile, sea, air, and space platforms.

• Mission systems from radar, remote imaging, multi-int, communication, command and

  control, integrated fleet defense, ballistic missile defense, and precision landing.

• Multi-company and multiple-division teams with Jim developing

  strategic relationships, contract relationships, and management relationships.

• Sample programs

  • ROTHR (Relocatable Over The Horizon Radar) - Drug interdiction​.

  • JPALS Precision approach and landing system using GPS and avionics.

  • Object-oriented system engineering process for Ballistic Missile Defense — adopted for several programs.

  • Ballistic missile defense ground-based radars.

• From paper to operations on time, on budget, meeting all specified the users' needs:​

  • Cobra Dane Upgrade - Technical intelligence data collection incorporated into National Missile Defense

• Recovering failing programs. Replan: on time, on budget, meeting the users' needs:​

  • Astor Program  (UK)

  • RAMP nationwide air traffic control radar system (Canada)

  • Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), (Thule, Greenland).

 

COMPETITIVE PROPOSAL STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT. 

• Proposal management of multi-company teams.

• Hardware-in-the-loop multimedia demonstrations.

• Video production.

 

COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES​

• Bridge game scoring and display computer - Patent US-4373719-A - Licensed

• Letter Drop - Software/Game, Licensed​

   •  Help Yourself to Natural Health - multimedia collaborative, integrative health,  did not get to market

       got overtaken by the Internet

 

VETERAN

M e d a l s  a n d  R i b b o n s

Meritorious Service Medal • Air Force Commendation Medal • National Defense Service Medal

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award w/Oak Leaf Cluster • Air Force Excellence Award

Small Arms Expert Marksmanship

 

Captain Olsen was an officer in the U.S. Air Force for 12 years

• Defense Acquisition

  • Source Selection Evaluation Board Chair, Senior Advisory Council member, several programs​

• Operational Systems for what is now Space Command

• From paper to operations on time, on budget, meeting all specified users' needs:​​

  • Cobra Judy, USNS Observation Island

• Recovering failing programs. Replan: on time, on budget, meeting the users' needs:

  • AN/FPS-85 Spacetrack with Sea Launched Ballistic Missile software rewrite​

​

Non-Professional Work  - six years

Paid for College and lived on the economy after freshman year – while taking a full engineering load at college

    Residential Fences and House Painting Partnership with a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer.

    Lumber Yards – 3/4 to Full-time. Truck driver, forklift, prehung doors, lock keying, glass, lumber yard management, lumber grading, retail and wholesale sales, and minor woodshop.

    Naval Air Station Commissary – ½- ¾ time.  Grocery bagger. 

    Dairy Queen - Fry cook and server.

    Service station attendant.

    Day labor, hiring hall.   

 

EDUCATION

• MS. Operations Research and Systems Engineering, University of Florida

• BS. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley

• Squadron Officers School, US Air Force, Air War College.

• Advanced Management Course, Harbridge House, Sponsored by Raytheon​

​​

SETBACKS

I have had a few setbacks along the way. One is being accused of something I didn’t do. While the court agreed, it was accompanied by trying to recover from the Great Recession: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8525345/meikle-v-olsen-in-re-olsen/