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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. 

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My activism has always been voluntary and have been a successful grassroots activist in areas such as environmentalism, domestic and child abuse, and community based mental health.

 

EXPERIENCE – Business and Employment

 

BUSINESS OWNER AND ENTREPRENEUR.

Jim Olsen owns and manages Breaking Wave Enterprises, dba Breaking Wave Publishing. He wrote and published I Ching of a Thousand Doors, while providing extensive research in collaboration with Valarie Anderson for two books on the Pearl Harbor Attack, Pearl Harbor’s Final Warning and Money Eater. Two current projects are Covid Wars and the Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

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.

  • Native Plant Restoration and Nursery (Trade Name: Great Bear Restoration).

  • Commercial Real Estate and Management.

  • Business Planning and Market Research Consulting.

  • Consumer Software and Electronics for license.

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

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

    • Emma's House, a home setting for interviews with Child Victims of Crime.

    • Hamilton Performing Arts Series.

    • Community Based Mental Health Crisis Center.

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

      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. He was considered one of the best program managers.

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

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

        control, integrated fleet defense, and precision landing.

      • The programs involved multi-company and multiple division teams with Jim developing

        strategic relationships, contract relationships, and management relationships.

        SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE. Jim has been engaged in environmental and social advocacy, helping build organizations, been a spokesperson, and built coalitions.

    • Housing Security and Homelessness • Public Health and Biosafety.

    • Effective Response to Domestic and Child Abuse.

    • Community Based Response to Mental Health Crises.

    • Farmers Market and local food systems.

    • Forest, Wildfires, and Wildlands • Highways and Community Planning

 

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.

  • Advance Management Course, Harbridge House, Sponsored by Raytheon

  • Activism, Sponsored by Patagonia

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