Paul Lavigne Running for the Board of Directors
Dedicated Leadership for the Four Seasons Community
I was born an only child in Plattsburg, NY in 1947 to John, a Registered Pharmacist, and Katherine, a Registered Nurse. My parents sold everything after I completed 8th grade in 1965, except for what they could load in their car, and we took a two month trip across country, landing in Burbank, CA for two months, then back to Plattsburg. Who knew I would move back to CA 53 years later in 2018!
I attended an all-boy, small Catholic high school, played a trumpet in the concert band and doubles on the tennis team, was Editor of the Year Book and President of the Honor Society, graduating as Class Valedictorian. I graduated with a B.S. and a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1969-70, participating in an Engineering Coop Program.
One of my coop terms was at the New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, New York City.This launched me on a lifetime career in health care administration. I secured a Graduate Certificate in Health Services Administration from The George Washington University, Washington, DC in 1980.
I held numerous leadership positions in health care administration, primarily in New York state, then Virginia as a first line supervisor, middle manager, and top management over a 50 year career. I was responsible and accountable for developing and executing budgets, and evaluating and deciding expenditures of all kinds.
I made sure that we had a balanced budget or positive net income every year, making hard decisions about what we could and could not afford, and addressing revenue shortfalls where necessary. I developed, and/or approved numerous contracts for all kinds of expenditures including personnel and management companies. I held contractors, particularly management companies, to very high standards of performance.
The boards I served as CEO, and served on, handled a wide range of matters, many decisions costing hundred to millions of dollars, and affecting thousands of people served by the organization. We developed strategic and annual plans, set goals and objectives and measured our performance against these. I often advocated for particular positions rather than rubber stamping management’s or other board members’ positions.
Mary, my wife of 28 years, and I moved here in May 2021 from Virginia via Los Alamitos, CA, to be closer to the only significant remaining family we had, her sister. Mary and I focused on establishing our home that year. I attended every HOA Board meeting, but I was reticent to become involved, even though I was selected, after a while, for the Finance Committee.
Mary was diagnosed with aggressive cancer in January 2022; she was in a hospital and nursing home until dying there in June 2022. As we all do, I went through a very difficult grieving process for over a year. Seeking a new purpose, I became involved in the Four Seasons Players (FSP), videotaping their performances, and becoming a member of the Architectural Review Committee (ARC), writing the monthly Herald articles for the FSP and the ARC.
I was very alone when Mary died. Both of my parents were deceased. I did not have siblings. I never had children. And I had very few friends, having moved here from the East Coast. I was blessed to find my across-the-street neighbor, Linda Hendrickson, who has shared herself with me, her extensive family, and friends who live in Four Seasons for the past three plus years.
This site and my Candidate Nomination Form address my qualifications. I would like to tell you here about how I approach service as the leader of an organization and a member of a board of directors. I have made suggestions in the various pages of this site that I think are worth considering by the Board, if I am elected.
Throughout my career as a CEO of many organizations and a member of numerous boards of directors, I quickly learned how things were done, sometimes for decades. I always took the time to learn and understand why things were the way they were. There was almost always a strong defense of how things were being done by those who set them up.
This is understandable. If something appears to be working, why change it? It would be too difficult and might create other problems. As a leader in an organization and a member of a board, I always felt I was there to figure out if there was a better way, not just to do what we had always done. I will approach serving on our HOA Board the same way.
I think I have learned as much as can be learned about how the Board, its committees, and clubs operate without serving on the Board. I have had several different kinds of interactions with the Board itself. Over the years, friends encouraged me to run for our Board. I always said I wasn’t interested. I am now.
Paul