Spotlight on Volunteers by Stephen "Skip" Kay, C.P.M. Board Director and Communications Chair
February's Interview Mark Bird

This month, NAPM-OC is spotlighting Mark Bird. As many of you know, Mark is the fellow with the Cheshire grin who dashes up to the podium during the monthly dinner meetings and personally introduces our newest members.

Mark was raised in Huntington Beach, CA where his father owned a music store. From that good fortune, Mark had the golden opportunity from which he took great advantage of and learned to play various musical instruments including the clarinet, saxophone and piano. The piano gave way to the organ which he has mastered and still enjoys playing today.

Mark is the proud father of three daughters, whose ages are 26, 25 and 18, and all of whom are out of the house and on their own. He is also a grandfather. His first grandson, who is now eight, was born on January 12th, the same day as Mark’s birthday.

His hobbies include (but are not limited to) automotive engineering and restoration. He enjoys spending quality time with his wife, Deborah where they may take in a movie, go out to dinner, or just stay home and catch up on life’s busy schedule. Mark enjoys seeing his daughters and grandson as often as possible because time tends to slip by and children grow up so fast. Mark likes doing home improvements, which his wife Deborah says will take him at least the next 10 years to complete. (So she says!)

A NAPM Member since 1986, Mark stayed with the affiliate for a few years and fell off the membership roster, mostly due to changes in his employment. He’s been back since 1998 and we’re delighted with his return.

Mark has been a Purchasing Professional for over 20 years. He enjoys the challenge of new and different projects or tasks which come his way or “are thrown on his lap”. His current position is that of Senior Buyer for Vacco Industries, located in South El Monte. He’s been with the company for over 11 years.

His most interesting experience in Purchasing came when he was with a previous employer. A new contract was awarded to the company and it was up to the Purchasing Department to get all the hardware and materials ordered and delivered to meet schedule. Well, it was a monumental task for Mark and a Junior Buyer to place over 5,000 Purchase Orders within a one-week period. Talk about putting the pressure on Purchasing! In those days, all orders were first hand written then manually typed by the Purchasing Clerk. Does anyone remember typewriters? Well, times have changed. We are now in the computer age and quite thankful for that.

Mark has been volunteering in the Membership Committee since May 2001 with the Co-Chair team of Johnsen & Johnson and loving every minute of it. His most rewarding experience as a volunteer is being the first person to introduce our newest members of NAPM-OC at each dinner meeting. He hopes to continue in this capacity, he loves the honor. Some of the things Mark enjoys most about NAPM are the network of educational workshops, meeting new members and seeing old friends at the monthly dinner meetings.

Originally, Mark did not have plans of running for the Board of Directors of NAPM-OC, however, when he was approached by Sara Arhlen, C.P.M., he was both shocked and honored to be considered. Expect to see his name on the ballot sheet.

When asked about his favorite website, Mark’s comment was “none other than www.napmoc.org. His closing comment to all members is to say, “You get lots out of what you put in, so get out there and volunteer, NAPM-OC needs you!”