Page 309 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
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   Top, clockwise: Mace Gjerman, Eric Martin, and Tom Bagwell all had a hand in the launch of Peterson University; Entrance to Peterson University in San Leandro
was bringing in people for soft-skills training— speech and presentation skills from Speech Skills, time management from FranklinCovey, manage- ment and coaching skills from UC Berkeley, and Microsoft Office training from outside vendors. “We had all kinds of stuff going on, but we kept losing our space to hold these meetings. And of- ficially, Peterson still only had a technical training department.”
In the course of trying to solve the shrinking space dilemma, Bagwell discussed the problem with Pe- terson’s Cat district rep for EPG. “Bill Guinta is the one who suggested becoming a Cat Region- al Training Center. I didn’t even know what that meant. I was just the marketing guy. So I brought it up with Matt George [Power’s service manager at the time] and he loved it.” From there, Bagwell put together a strategy with financials and options for the new space and proposed it to Duane—who promptly said no. Several times.
Then on May 12, 2008, the Great Sichuan Earth- quake hit southwestern China, devastating much of the country and leaving nearly 88,000 dead. It was the twentieth deadliest earthquake in re- corded history. It also took out the China-based supplier of the stained-glass distributor next door to Peterson Power on Teagarden Street, the same place Eric Martin and Tom Bagwell had had their
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