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Usle Bio |
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| Val’s
journey with Disney started as a Monorail Pilot at Disneyland and
culminated over forty years later as Executive Director, Sustainable
Design. During this time he worked in both functional and project
assignments across Walt Disney Imagineering’s domestic and
international portfolios. Val initially joined WED Enterprises (aka:Imagineering) as a Research Analyst tasked to work on EPCOT. A year later the Tokyo Disneyland Agreement was signed and he became one of the initial fulltime Imagineers assigned to the Company’s first international theme park. His role expanded to Design Coordination of all the Park’s facilities, shows, and rides. He and his small staff harvested data from historic files, coordinated the preparation of new drawings, packaged, and transferred over 30,000 documents that the Oriental Land Company would use to execute the Project. As efforts transitioned to the field, Val relocated to Japan and worked at a parkwide level on code variances, construction scheduling, and punch-listing. After repatriating back to the States, Val moved into Imagineering’s Project Management Division where he was immediately tasked with capturing and weaving Imagineering’s best practices into a comprehensive process. The resulting PROJECT MANAGEMENT GUIDE (The Guide) which Val co-authored, established the basic matrix management and life cycle stages that the Company still uses today. On a related note, parallel to this Val became the first Project Management Professional (PMP) at Imagineering. Once The Guide was assembled and bought-off by leadership, he transitioned to teacher and coach of content, and has presented it over time to thousands of Imagineers. A series of progressive Project Management assignments came next culminating in the Lead Project Manager position for stateside work on the Euro Disneyland Project – responsible for over $200-million in specialty design and goods, much of it critical path in nature. Having obtained his architectural license, Val was interested in expanding his design management skills and was tasked to do so on the new Indiana Jones attraction at Disneyland. This deeply immersive facility, show, and ride experience moved quickly as it went from start of Schematic Design to Grand Opening in just over two years. After Indy, there was a return to his Project Management roots to lead Disney’s Animal Kingdom Dinoland through its master plan effort, as well as take Tokyo Disneyland’s Toontown from concept thru field construction. This was followed by another land-level project that required a dual role as Project and Design Manager on Tokyo Disney Sea’s American Waterfront. This assignment also included serving as the Field Project Architect. Upon returning from Japan, Val took on Design Management responsibilities for Hong Kong Disneyland’s Main Street. Soon thereafter, Val assumed the position of Executive Director of Architecture, overseeing Architecture, Show Set Design, Props, Interiors, and Specifications. Under his leadership, Imagineering’s Environmental Design Studio began its transition from 2-D to virtual design and construction with training and pilot projects in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and database specifications. Other pilot efforts included off-shore work in India, as well as sustainability. Relative to the latter, Val was the first LEED AP at Imagineering and was the catalyst for several successful domestic and overseas Green projects. Val's Imagineering career culminated with the new Star Wars Lands being built in California and Florida, as the Lead Design Manager. Each of these fourteen acre sites will host the most intense and deeply thematic settings Imagineering has ever attempted, and he successfully led both through their master planning efforts. Since leaving the Company, Val established KIMBLE CREEK CONSULTING, LLC to offer services that leverage his thematic design experience in assisting clients to fill gaps in their internal staff. |
| Val
Usle Resume pdf |
KIMBLE CREEK CONSULTING, LLC
valusle.kimblecreek@gmail.com
626-862-3454