Introducing Jose Gonzalez, Energy Division Program Manager

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Jose Gonzalez is a self-described tinkerer. He likes to take apart a perfectly good object and put it all

back together again, in hopes of understanding how and why things work. It started when he was nine

years old taking apart his parents’ electrical appliances and has extended into his adult life as evidenced

by him recently building his own drag racing motorcycle from the ground up.

 

So, when Gonzalez was hired to be the new Energy Division Program Manager in the beginning of

November, it should have come as no surprise how he would approach his new job.

 

“I think I like to dissect, disassemble and re-assemble, and the reason for that is because when you

simply pick up the baton, and you run with it, that’s ok,” Gonzalez said. “But you lose a lot of

knowledge; you lose a lot of information. You’re relying on a lot of history of what was done, so doing

the stuff that I am doing right now is my way of learning from the ground up - not from the top down.”

 

With only two weeks on the job, Gonzalez has already delved deep into all of the energy programs’ policies and procedures and has already submitted easy-to-read flowcharts and other recommendations to Energy Division Director Jose Landeros, who is excited to have his new manager on board.

 

“Jose has this energy and eagerness to come in here and jump in and learn our system. It’s been

amazing to see,” Landeros said. “His experience in the various fields of energy efficiency has allowed

him to hit the ground running; and that was an important reason he was selected for the job.”

 

Indeed, Gonzalez’s background is not short on experience. For the past 16 years, Gonzalez was employed by the City of Fresno overseeing many of their energy efficiency programs, with the last five years specifically as head of the Energy Efficiency Sustainability Division. Before working for the City of Fresno, he worked in private industry as an energy efficiency expert in different areas of technology.

 

He holds degrees and certificates in Wastewater, Electronic Arts, Industrial Wiring and Motor Control,

HVAC refrigeration and Thermal Dynamics, and Jose is part of the California Waste Water Environmental

Association, a very prestigious club.  He is also a certified air-condition mechanic, certified plant engineer, and a certified electrician.

 

With all this experience in energy and technology, Gonzalez is eager to use his knowledge as well as

learn more along the way.

 

“I’ve had the opportunity to work at different organizations, and there’s always something good to

learn from all places,” Gonzalez said. “So I’ll take whatever I learned and apply those that are applicable

here. The goal is to always leave your organization in a better condition than when you first started. So,

whatever it is that I can do to assist the energy division, that’s going be my focus.”