About Us
Brian Bolton - Customer Service
I was born in Los Angeles in 1966 then moved to Mission Viejo, California, in 1969. I graduated Mission Viejo High School in 1984 and then attended Saddleback Community College the following year. My youth was spent mainly at the beach and playing baseball. In 1996 I got married and moved to San Juan Capistrano, we have one son. Brian has over 20-years of customer service experience, spending time with companies such as Oakley Sunglasses. He is now our senior customer service agent. He started with WAI in 2000.
Chad Christopher - Territory Manager San Diego
Hometown is Appleton MN. Attended University of North Dakota where he obtained a BS in Industrial Technology and minor in Mathematics 1995. Chad joined Hutchinson Technology Inc., Hutchinson MN, after school designing HTl manufactured suspension assemblies for computer equipment. He worked in manufacturing engineering and process development engineering. Joined Banner Engineering in 1997 and worked in applications engineering in the Western Region. Became territory manager for Southwestern US in 2003, and was in that role until joining Western Automation in the fall of 2008. Currently a territory manager in the San Diego area covering San Diego county and the border area of Mexico.
Hal Hobson - Territory Manager Inland Empire
Hal was born in Long Beach, California long long ago; grew up in the central San Juaquin Valley, and graduated from Boron Joint Union High School in 1962. Hal joined the USMC in 1963 and served four years most of which was in Vietnam. In 1967, was discharged from the Marine Corp as a Staff Sergeant. Hal joined Cutler Hammer upon leaving the military and entered a training program leading to an outside sales position. In 1971 Hal joined Harvey Hubbell as an outside sales person and was with them until 1976. At that time he joined Panduit Corp as L.A. District Manager. Shortly after joining Panduit Hal became Western Regional Manager and remained with Panduit until 1984. Hal joined Leviton Mfg. as OEM Director of Sales, responsible for the western 15 states. In 1989 Hal joined John Grace Co. (Hoffman Mfg Representative) and remained until 1995. Hal joined WAI in 1995 and is now Territory Manager for the Inland Empire Territory.
Blake Koecher - Territory Manager San Diego
Blake is currently the Territory Manager for San Diego and Imperial County. He has over 20 years experience in the automation industry. Originally from Dallas, TX. He received his BBA from SFASU in Texas. He joined Western Automation in 1991.
Glenn Mihelich - Operations Manager, Territory Manager LA
Glenn was born in San Diego, but claims St. Charles, Mo as his hometown. He graduated from DeSmet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, and received his BSEE from Marquette University of Milwaukee, WI in 1994. Glenn's early experience was with a Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment Manufacturer in Chicago as a PLC programmer. From there he went to Bison Gear & Engineering of St. Charles, Il. Glenn spent 10 years with Bison, working his way from Engineering, to Key Account Management, to National Distributor Management. He relocated to Los Angeles as the Western Regional Manager for Bison in 2002. Glenn came to WAI in January 2006 as a Territory Manager and is currently responsible for the LA City Sales Territory, Distributor Relations, and he manages the Inside Support Team.
Chris Oumedian - Territory Manager- Orange County
Chris's was raised in Farmington Hills, MI. He left his home town to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. After following the Boilermakers to the Rose Bowl in 2001 Chris accepted a position with an Industrial Automation distributor in Anaheim. Prior to moving to California, he attended 10 weeks of on-site technical training at a large manufacturer of servo motion control. Chris held the position of Sales Engineer in Orange County for 4 years before taking a position with Texas Instruments Sensors & Controls division as a Regional Manager. He spent 4 years with TI covering Military & Aerospace, Commercial, and Industrial Accounts in the Southwest. Chris joined Western Automation in 2008 as the Orange County Territory Manager.
Todd Price - Territory Manager Northern Territory
Born 12/5/1957 in Keyser, W.Va. His hometown is Piedmont, W.Va. a small town in the eastern panhandle bordering Maryland and Pennsylvania. He is one of 8 children. He is a graduate of Piedmont High School and has a BSEE from Virginia Tech, graduating in 1982. He went to work as a Sales Engineer for Weidmuller, a terminal block and custom electronics manufacturer, following college. He worked for them in Florida for 3 years before being transferred to California where he worked with them until October of 1989. Todd joined WAI in October of 1989 and is now the Territory Manager responsible for northern LA County, Kern, Ventura and San Luis Obispo County. Todd has a wife and 2 boys and is an avid sports fan.
Kent Schmidt - Customer Development Coordinator
Kent's hometown is Corona California. He graduated from Santiago High School and is currently pursuing a degree in Business Management from Saddle Back Community College . Kent joined Western Automation in 2004 and is now WA'’s Customer Development Coordinator responsible for proactive activities to increase WAI’s exposure to potential customers.
Rick Schmidt - Senior VP, Principal Owner
Rick's hometown is Brookfield Wisconsin. He graduated from Brookfield Central High School and continued his education at the Milwaukee School Of Engineering. After attaining a BSEE from MSOE in 1976, he joined Giddings and Lewis, a machine tool manufacturer in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. Rick spent 7 years with the Electronics Division of G&L, the last few as the Western Regional Sales Manager (13 western states). Western Automation represented G&L Electronics for ten years beginning in 1980. Rick was relocated to the West Coast by G&L in 1982. Rick joined WAI in October of 1983. Rick currently is responsible for WAI personnel and financial management.
Cory Taylor - Territory Manager Arizona
Cory's hometown is Olympia WA, having graduated from Olympia High School in '79; he attended Whitman College, the University of Washington and Evergreen State College. He started in this industry nearly 25 years ago, working for Consolidated Electrical Distributors; he has attended well over 20 different classes pertaining to Rockwell Automation Products, having sold and supported them for 9 years; he also worked for 5 years with Cascade Controls in Spokane WA as an account manager; his work was primarily with secondary packaging OEMs on new design and technical improvements to existing units. He joined WAI in 2001 as territory manager for Arizona.
Michael Thompson - Project Manager, Distribution Coordinator
Born 8/16/1978 in Dayton, Ohio. Moved to Southern California in 1979. Attended Rancho Santa Margarita Catholic High School from 1993 to 1996. Attended the University of Arizona from 1997 to 2000. In 2001 joined the Marriot Laguna Cliffs, and worked as a Loss Prevention Supervisor. From 2003 to 2006 Michael worked for United Parcel Service where he was the District Retention Supervisor doing the hiring and safety training of Teamsters for the Aliso Viejo, San Marcos, Ontario and Anaheim hubs. Michael joined WAI in the summer of 2006 and carried on the coordination of Distributor related activities. Michael also assists with Project support for WAI Territory Managers.