About Andrew
I built satellites. Then I moved here and started showing up.
Twenty-seven years at Lockheed Martin. Twenty years in Pacific Grove. Ten years of council meetings, most of them from the audience.
Home
Twenty years on this peninsula.
I chose Pacific Grove for the warmth and charm of a small city nestled within the greater Monterey Peninsula, and for its beautiful coastline. That was twenty years ago. My wife Colleen and I live here. I have two children, Ryan and Dana, and three grandchildren.
We also have a German Shepherd named Sadie, which is how I have come to know the condition of most of the sidewalks in District 3 personally.
With Colleen and family, above Carmel Bay.
Sadie, who sets the walking route.
On the ballot
My statement to the voters.
I have a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and several decades of experience in System Engineering at Lockheed Martin. My background is in project management, complex technologies, and budget analysis.
I have been a resident in Pacific Grove for 20 years and attend City Council meetings to make comments and ask questions on items of concern to residents. As a resident, I was instrumental in obtaining our new fire truck when the subject came to council. I was on the Traffic Commission for four years and I am currently the Chairperson of the Planning Commission. I volunteer with the Pacific Grove Community Emergency Team (CERT).
I love the beauty of our beaches, our trees, and the small-town qualities of Pacific Grove. The history and local culture of Pacific Grove is unique to the Monterey Peninsula. I support and value community input in addressing issues of concern in our city and enjoy collaborating with city staff to best serve the residents. I hope to serve the Pacific Grove residents with a fair and open mind, while solving problems and ensuring the fiscal health of our beloved city.
This is my official Candidate Statement of Qualifications, as filed with Monterey County Elections for the November 3, 2026 ballot.
“I look forward to bringing my city and volunteer experience, together with my professional career expertise, to bring solutions and common sense to governance in the small city I deeply care about.”
Butterfly Town, USA. The monarchs have overwintered here since long before any of us.
The career
Satellites, schedules, and what happens when something fails.
I joined Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale in 1989 and stayed twenty-seven years. I developed system requirements and ran hardware testing for the Hubble Space Telescope. I did concept definition and systems engineering for Ikonos, the first commercial digital imaging satellite. And I worked on the satellite system this country uses to detect a missile launch.
Day to day the job was planning and scheduling, running test groups, operational support, risk management, and dealing with contractors — plus a seat on the Anomaly Team, the people called in when something goes wrong and someone has to work out why. After I retired I spent a year consulting on the delivery, installation and testing of high-value hardware between vendors and a major defense contractor.
My degree is in aerospace engineering, from the University of Notre Dame.
A record of showing up
Not new to this.
Why an engineer
I spent twenty-seven years making sure big projects didn't fail.
I worked at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale for twenty-seven years as a systems engineer. I wrote system requirements and ran hardware testing for the Hubble Space Telescope. I did the concept definition for Ikonos, the first commercial digital imaging satellite. I worked on the satellite system this country uses to detect a missile launch.
None of that makes me special at a city council meeting. But it taught me three things I use every month on the Planning Commission.
I can read a budget.
Planning, scheduling, budgeting and risk management were my job description for most of my career. When I open Pacific Grove's budget I want to know what is actually funded, what has quietly been deferred another year, and what our CalPERS obligation will cost us five years from now. I don't need to wait for a consultant to explain it to me.
I know when a project is slipping.
For years I was the person on the other side of the table from a contractor, making sure what was promised was what actually showed up, on the date agreed and for the price agreed. Repaving a road is the same problem as delivering a satellite component. Smaller. Not different.
I've had to find out what went wrong.
I sat on the Anomaly Team at Lockheed. When something failed, we were the people who had to establish why — not who to blame, why. Our roads and sidewalks did not get this way by accident, and somebody on the council should be comfortable asking how we got here.
The election is November 3, 2026.
This is a resident-funded campaign. The most valuable things you can give are your time and your vote.