Welcome to the Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter

History of the Chapter

Everything went wrong while the ISPE Greater Los Angeles Chapter was being formed. The ISPEAK headline announcing the new chapter read "Riots, Fires, Quakes and Mud Slides: Nothing Stops ISPE's LA Chapter," and nothing did.

The LA riots were only recent history when several Los Angelenos made inquiries at the 1992 ISPE Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona about the possibility of starting an ISPE chapter in their area. The canyons near Los Angeles were still ablaze with brush fires when the first steering committee meeting took place. For the next five months, the committees met approximately every three weeks with chairman Dave Sisto who did not even live near LA, flying in each time from San Jose. Then in the midst of their planning, the 6.6 earthquake hit the Los Angeles area. They brushed off, assessed the damage, continued planning, and even started a campaign to solicit funds for the American Red Cross to help the earthquake victims. They would not be stopped!

And in the true spirit of LA, and life being what it is in southern California, no one seemed to notice the mud slides that plagued the Malibu area the week before and again after the inaugural meeting - exactly one month to the day after the earthquake. Obviously, it will take more than Mother Nature to interfere with plans made by ISPE's Great Los Angeles Chapter! The Chapter currently has nearly 600 members and has been led by Dave Sisto, Allyn Schneider, Paul Crissman, George Johnson, Roger Williams, Marvin Davis, Carl Franklin, former President Manmohan Sihra, Denise Luckhurst, and Zawdu Eshetu and is currently led by Matthew Atwong.

The Chapter has started offering regular Technical Training Seminars for ISPE members. These Training Seminars are held at owner companies and designed to help our members learn aspects of the industry that will help them grow and prosper in their careers. Members are encouraged to help provide topics, speakers and seminar locations.

Please contact President Scott Tiedge or Chapter Manager Kimberly Syre: ksyre@cox.net with any questions.

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