College, Co-op and Work significantly shaped his career

Sandy Yee was the first in his family to attend college. Scholarships, grants, money made from Co-op and work study programs allowed him to graduate from Speed Scientific School in 1982 with a Masters in Environmental Engineering. During his days at U of L, he published photographs, political cartoons, illustrations and the occasional news articles in the Louisville Cardinal and the student magazine, Thinker. As a photojournalist, he remembered accompanying anti-nuke protesters to jail over Marble Hill nuclear power plant sit-ins, as well as being courtside when the Cardinals won their first NCAA basketball title. At Uof L, he was able to explore creative and technical opportunities. The Speed School Co-op program gave him work experience with the government (US EPA) and industry (BF Goodrich). Experience in work and student publications were competitive advantages in landing a job during the recession of 1981.

He began his engineering career in 1982 with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Cincinnati, working in Corporate Engineering on pollution control and prevention projects at the US sites. Since P&G made consumer products that included soap, detergents, toiletries, peanut butter, Pringles, diapers, and paper products, a starting engineer can learn a lot about different manufacturing processes and technologies. Two of lasting memories from those early days were climbing the six-story tall detergent spray towers at the Quincy, Massachusetts plant the middle of icy February to test air emissions and drifting down the Susquehanna River (Pennsylvania) in a canoe to collect fish and aquatic species. In 2003, he accepted a two year assignment to P&G's pulp and paper product manufacturing site in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In 2005, he returned to Cincinnati and got married. In 2007, he moved with his wife and newborn son to Philadelphia, so his wife can begin her training in psychiatry.

In Philadelphia, he worked for Pennwalt, a medium size chemical company, as the Corporate Hazardous Waste Specialist. For about two years, he helped the company with compliance and clean-up activities under the federal RCRA and Superfund regulations. With Pennwalt projects in Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, there was a wealth of experience to be gathered. He left Pennwalt in 1989 as the company was acquired by Atochem.

Since 1989, Sandy has been with Johnson & Johnson (J&J). He started at McNeil Pharmaceutical near Philadelphia, best known as the maker of Tylenol. At McNeil, he managed demolition and construction of chemical and fuel storage tanks, solid waste and pathological waste incinerators. He was promoted to manager of environmental engineering and later as facilities manager. In management, technical knowledge was important, but skills in influencing, motivating, and communicating were even more important. In 1995, Sandy moved to an assignment as the Manager of Water and Wastewater Programs at Corporate J&J in New Brunswick. He developed the water conservation goal and program which has saved many millions of gallons of freshwater over the years at J&J sites. Sandy has traveled to J&J locations on the six continents and seen the diverse people and environments all over. In 1999, he accepted an assignment as a director to integrate the environmental, health, and safety program of a medical device acquisition. Returning to Corporate J&J in 2001, he became responsible for due diligence, six sigma, and developing supply chain and external manufacturing programs. He helped the company worked with small to medium size suppliers in Mexico and Brazil on lean and clean manufacturing improvements. His current position, appointed in 2008, is the Director of Environmental, Health & Safety for Pharmaceutical R&D and East Coast pharmaceutical sites.

Reflecting on the past 27 years, the U of L and Speed School education provided the credentials for Sandy to start a career as an engineer. It was hard to predict where opportunities lead, but the combination of college, Co-op, and early work experiences significantly shaped his career outcome.