I earned BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Stanford University where I studied metallurgy and materials science. Later I strengthened my knowledge of engineering and scientific principles by teaching at Oregon State and other universities.

I was fortunate to work for Tektronix and Hewlett Packard, two iconic engineering companies, while they were still under the influence of their people-oriented founders. The Tektronix founders believed that the company should “recognize the one limitless resource: the individual and collective potential of the human being.” A Hewlett Packard tenet started with “Think first of the other fellow.” At both Tek and HP, I learned many tools that enhance on-the-job problem solving by means of teamwork.

“Everyone wants to succeed. Nobody can do it alone.”

Now that I’m retired, I volunteer with two non-profit business advising organizations, SCORE, a national organization, part of the Small Business Administration, and The BEC, a local entrepreneurial organization in Corvallis, Oregon. By so doing, I have become well-versed in Business 101.

The motivation behind MacBurke Publishing is this never-ending desire I have to explain things, first to myself and then to others, combined with my frustration with the wordiness of so many of the books out on the market.  I dream of many titles, brief but useful, simple but not too simple.

Through my guided journals series, through memoir, through children’s stories, and through poetry, I hope to pass on a set of small but significant tools and tales.