Deep Background

Solar AquaFarms -- a division of Chiquita Brands International, Sun City, CA

The first round of my consulting career ended as a startup plan client hired me into their company. When Chiquita Brands International, Cincinnati, Ohio purchased Solar AquaFarms, Sun City, California, I accepted a role on the division’s management team.

I quickly became V.P. Marketing, Sales and Distribution, redesigned Solar AquaFarm’s packaging, aggressively promoted the company's then-novel product, tilapia filets, to major market chains and seafood distributors, put together a creative team and produced an initial industry advertising program -- during that time sales expanded by 1,200%. Over time, however, the farm suffered from recurring cost overruns and production issues. Chiquita juggled management and slammed the brakes on its aggressive expansion efforts. After six years on the farm I reconstituted De Mattei Consulting and moved to San Diego.

The Mobius Society

After McGraw-Hill I joined a small research organization in Los Angeles, The Mobius Society. There I teamed up with noted writer and researcher, Stephan A. Schwartz and the circle of  entrepreneurs and friends he had assembled to pursue research and media adventures. One of my first projects with Mobius was searching out and writing items for our syndicated radio show, The Latest Breakthroughs in Science, Health and Technology.
 
Our own lab and field experiments led to popular magazine articles, grant writing, scientific research journal publications, and various forms of reports. We were noted for the high quality of our publications and proposals, and at one point were praised by The Honda Foundation as having produced the finest grant application they had ever received. We would have rather had the money, but ironically came in second for their funding which instead went to my old Purdue college professor.

In addition to serving as the non-profit's Executive Director, I usually became the Project Manager and assembled teams ranging from one or two scientists, to a boatload of twenty-six employees (from archaeologist's and their grad students, to ship's crew and dive masters.
 
I spent an adventuresome eight years with Mobius pursuing research projects domestically, as well as in Great Britain, Italy, and the Caribbean. Our topics included development and publishing personality and intuition surveys, development of an analysis process for multiple witness testimonies, participation in archaeology and detective field work, historical research and other projects fascinating to me. We presented research papers at U.S. universities as well as at the University of Cambridge, England, and at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Many of my favorite times were spent with Mobius teams and Stephan Schwartz doing archaeological fieldwork and in-lab analyses.
 
The Mobius years succeeded in expanding my horizons of interest and capabilities. We enjoyed a roller-coaster lifestyle, and I happily made sacrifices regarding relationships and financial security in favor of adventure. Over time my enthusiasm wore down for the ups and downs inherent in creatively funding a small independent lab. I moved back to a more conservative business direction with hopes for a stable income, and a situation more conducive to raising a family.

McGraw-Hill Publications, NY, NY                       San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago

Despite the fact that McGraw-Hill was not hiring college recruits into their magazine-marketing positions (with 27 top magazines, they typically hired top-performers away from the competition,) I was given the opportunity to work advertising sales for a handful of vertical-market, technical magazines (Business Week, Aviation Week, Chemical Week) in their San Francisco office. That went well, and I moved with the company to a larger territory in Detroit. After breaking the General Motors Truck Division account for EN-R (Engineering News-Record magazine) I was promoted to the million-dollar Chicago territory where I was responsible for regional marketing of Engineering News-Record magazine.

I could have settled into a great long career there, but something in my make-up is happier with variety, and eventually the focus on advertising sales grew too narrow for me. After six years doing business primarily with corporate marketing departments and major (Redbooks) advertising agencies, I set out, again ready to learn what it was I really wanted. I returned to California with a short list of ideas that ultimately landed me in L.A. with Mobius, an independent research group.

Bachelor of Science degree from the Krannert School of Business in Industrial Management • Minors in Art & Design and Psychology

My family were all San Franciscans, I grew up there, and upon leaving for Indiana and Purdue, culture-shock proved to be my first great lesson. Culture shock also provided challenges to my identity as I shook off constant Mid-western-held, "California" stereotypes. After wrestling with teenage isolation and loneliness for a few weeks, I found friends and experienced a new kind of freedom in taking responsibility for my academic life and being in the midst of such a crowd of bright and motivated collegians. In other words, I made some friends, started having fun and got stimulated.

Purdue allowed me to sculpt my curricula to a business education with emphasis on advertising and marketing through dual minors in Psychology and Art & Design. In my sophomore year I left Purdue’s soccer club (which a couple of years later went on to win the Big Ten championship without me,) to join the newspaper staff. I wound up running The Exponent’s advertising department, as well as getting part-time work with a local magazine in advertising sales. Back home from Indiana between junior and senior years, I took summer classes at San Francisco State University, and worked in the family's retail business.

I graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management, colored by my studies in research psychology and the photographic arts. I skipped the graduation ceremony, drove to Manhattan, checked into the YMCA and pounded the Madison Avenue pavement seeking work in advertising. That effort led to my work with McGraw-Hill Publications.

Blues Lovers United of San Diego (BLUSD)  |  Blues In The Schools (BITS) Program

BLUSD is a local non-profit organization I was involved with on a volunteer basis for several years. Initially I computerized their events ("Gig") calendar to track live appearances by touring and local artists. Some months later I was elected President and did my best to help build and promote the organization and its activities including re-engaging with the national umbrella organization, The Blues Foundation, Memphis, TN and sponsor local San Diego musicians to compete in their annual International Blues Challenge. San Diego blues artists have enjoyed much success on this international stage. My motivation quickly shifted to the development of BLUSD's Blues In The Schools (BITS) program to bring live music experiences to San Diego's elementary and middle school students. We reached some 40,000 young students with live, interactive musical performances, workshops and a summer camp. I also organized a program to provide donated electric guitars to San Diego County educators for use in their classrooms and for various school programs.

Native Californian

I am a third generation California native and son of an entrepreneur. After WWII, my father, Ernest De Mattei opened a retail specialty foods business in San Francisco's Marina district and operated it until he retired late last century. My great grandfather was a pioneering entrepreneur— he brought his fishing boat from Genoa with a small group of other Captain/Owners to form the core of San Francisco's original fishing fleet. I grew up in San Francisco and neighboring Daly City, California, spent over a decade in the midwest at university in Lafayette, Indiana, and then in corporate marketing and sales positions in Detroit and Chicago. I have lived in southern California since. I am married with adult children and reside in San Diego's North County Coastal area in Oceanside.