California Executive

Before moving to California and pursuing a journalism career, Steve co-founded and helped run a small business in Columbia, Missouri.  It designed, built, marketed and sold portable therapeutic massage tables.  His company failed, Steve says “but I like to think of it as the Welcome-to-the-Real-World-School-of-Business.”  

Steve has been covering business as a journalist ever since with a focus on the technology and venture capital sectors.  He has written for Click Magazine, and worked as a reporter for Silicon Valley Business Ink.  He also has written for San Jose Business Journal, Business 2.0, Red Herring and the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Steve has received two Peninsula Press Club awards (Best Specialty Story, 2nd place, 2002; Best Series, 2nd place, 2003). 

He holds a Bachelor’s in English from Westminster College (Fulton, Mo) and an A.A. in Paralegal Studies, DeAnza College Summa Cum Laude, Phi Theta Kappa 

He lives with his wife and baby daughter.  

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Steve recommends the following books:

Ellen is our longest-serving editor, having joined our predecessor company 34 years ago in 1973.  Ellen worked briefly in technical illustration before moving to California. She was hired to do paste-up, typesetting and printing preparation in the “good old” days before computers and the Internet.  Gradually she moved into writing and editing and became one of the most knowledgeable persons in California in the legalities of OSHA.

Ellen serves the business world with insightful and sometimes spirited observations about the nuances of the occupational health and safety community.

Her job is to review each and every decision rendered by the Cal/OSHA Appeals Board and to report on them. She has worked hard on the forms you will find in the Occupational Health section of this website and she makes sure they are current and useful.

A graduate of Syracuse University with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, Ellen and her husband, Walter, have one son (and daughter-in-law), two grandsons, and a Scottie with an attitude.

Ellen recommends the following books:

Alan has been with the company since 1992. He is our research “desk” and does raw data research and database acquisition. He fields every kind of research question imaginable for the company and its editors including finding us the best sources in the industry.

Before coming to Providence, he spent 20 years in his family’s successful business and is familiar with practical business issues from cash flow to hiring.

Alan has many varied interests and hobbies, including photography, hiking, music, and working out at the gym. He lives with his wife and has a bachelor’s in anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Alan recommends the following books:

Maria Galvez
Publications Manager
Granite Bay, California Headquarters

With us since 2006 Maria is our “hold it together” person. She has more than eight years of experience in publication design and production – both in print and web media. She brings the right amount of process discipline to keep our editors in format and on deadline as well as a creative mind. Maria works with all facets of this publication from our email processes to bringing our online presence to fruition.

Maria earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Graphic Design from Sacramento State University, Sacramento.

When not working, Maria enjoys working out, riding her bike, and spending time with her two daughters and loving husband.

Maria recommends the following books:

Nils has been a business reporter for 15 years. He’s covered business with a specialty in the insurance industry since his first reporting job at the Sacramento Business Journal, where he won the Society for Professional Journalist’s regional award for feature writing. After five years there, he came to our sister publication, Workers’ Comp Executive, which he steered for seven years covering both the Legislature and the industry. He has depth in California business issues and understands how politics can affect it.

He left the company to work in Thailand, where he was with The Nation daily newspaper as a business editor. He rejoined us here at Providence Publications in 2006, remaining in Thailand, from where, through the magic of the internet and VoIP, he has the responsibility of managing the company's writers and editors and works on special projects.

He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in international business from California State University, Sacramento. He is fluent in Swedish and German and speaks Thai at the intermediate level.

Nils resides in Bangkok with his wife and son. He spends his free time with his family, playing tennis and swimming laps. 

Nils recommends the following books:

Kevin is a 24-year veteran of business writing, having begun his career at Meat & Poultry magazine, covering some of the most controversial businesses in the country.  Kevin documented the demise of small businesses due to industry concentration, industry trends, and emerging food safety issues. It was there that Thompson was first exposed to occupational health and safety concepts, covering the controversy over repetitive motion injuries in meat packing and processing plants, and a then new term – ergonomics.
In 1990, he joined California Farmer magazine, where he covered the state’s “water wars,” and other industry issues.

Kevin has been with Providence Publications since 1999.

Kevin has won of “Maggie” awards from the Western Publications Association.

He is a graduate of California State University, San Francisco  with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

He lives with his wife and children in Petaluma.

Kevin recommends the following books:

Richard has been a professional writer and editor for nine years, three years of which has been focused on California. Before coming to Providence he, for seven years, wrote for the Federal and State Tax business unit of leading business resource publisher CCH Inc.

Rick received his bachelor’s degree in English from Santa Clara University and his Juris Doctorate from Drake Law School. He is licensed to practice law in Illinois.

  Richard recommends the following books:

J Dale Debber
CEO/Publisher
Granite Bay, California

Dale has been involved in journalism since his high school days. Many years as a broadcast journalist lead to the ability to “get” the message of the medium which is the instant news of the Internet.

Dale’s business career includes three successful start-ups in high tech and publishing. He was one of the first people in the world to publish on-line databases, bringing out Compline in 1981, before personal computers came into common use. Indeed, Dale may have been the first blogger – before such messaging even had a name – back in the early 80s.

Today Providence Publications is involved in business news/netletters, online databases, and on-line services.  Focused on vertical and niche market news and information products, it is developing innovative platforms and information methodologies.

Dale is active in civic affairs, Boy Scouts of America and values-based education. He is a high school dropout and lives with his wife of twenty years and their two high school kids. The family divides its time between their home in Granite Bay and their ranch nestled in the Sierras near Grass Valley.

Proud Member of:     

Dale recommends the following books: