The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 69, No. 49 - December 3, 2020
The Alliance Neighborhood Watch Group Give
Thanks to the Inglewood Police Department
The Alliance Neighborhood Watch Group prepared and delivered dinner for our department in appreciation for our service to the community. This will be the 21st year the group has shown their gratitude to our officers. Thank you for your love and support. Photo courtesy
Inglewood Police Department.
Walker from front page
selection when tabbing Walker. “Well you
know, I hated to see Henry Kusch retire,” she
emailed. “He was such an awesome general
manager and a great guy, too! But I cannot
imagine a better new general manager than
Fredrick Walker. He is wicked smart, thoughtful,
empathetic, and just plain cares about
people. And if that were not enough, he’s got a
great sense of humor and an engaging smile.”
Jeff Wilson, the El Segundo refinery manager
of corporate affairs, emailed “I have
known Fredrick since he first worked in El
Segundo and despite his many significant
strategic leadership roles within Chevron
since that time, he remains one of the most
humble, thoughtful, accessible and engaging
individuals I have worked with. In these
challenging and uncertain times, we are
truly blessed to have Fredrick at the helm.”
Continued Wilson: “Upon his return as General
Manager, Fredrick made it an absolute
priority to introduce himself to our refinery
family conducting weekly “Ask Fredrick”
web calls that averaged 500-600 employees.
I know he also took great delight in spending
time recently with our Community Advisory
Panel (CAP) where nearly our entire virtual
CAP meeting was centered around getting to
know Fredrick, his family, his work history
and vision for the future.”
Walker said that working his way up the
ranks has well prepared him for his new
job. He said that over the years working for
Chevron, “you get a chance to talk about the
jobs that interest you, not only the next job,
but where you are targeting…so I had been
looking to do a job like this for several years,
had it on my radar…and other people had me
on their radar to become a general manager.
Through dialogue and feedback from others,”
he said, “I was offered the opportunity…a
great opportunity for me, a big challenge, but
one that I am looking forward to.”
Walker said that, because he was a long-time
employee of Chevron, the interview process
was different from the one that another external
job seeker would partake in. He said that
the interview process was more tilted towards
“the evaluations that you go through year-toyear,”
calling it “a multi-year interview” that
embodied the totality of the work Walker
had done for the company. He said that top
executives, as they look to develop future
general managers, “are constantly looking
in the pipeline” for promotable candidates.
Said Walker: “I am “very excited and
humbled by the opportunity.”
No story in the fall of 2020 would be
complete without a thought on the scourge of
COVID-19 and its effects on the workplace
and employee safety. If Walker had taken
his new job a year ago, his responsibilities
would have been much different. “The way
we have had to adjust to keep a 24-7-hour
facility operating safely, reliably, and in an
environmentally sound way,” Walker said, is
paramount. “While you are also having to
protect the health of those essential workers”
who must show-up on the job site, unable to
telecommute because of their job requirements.
If COVID-19 wasn’t raging, Walker
said normally he would be canvassing the
campus, shaking hands, rallying the troops,
greeting people he hadn’t seen since his prior
stint in El Segundo, or introducing himself
to employees that he hadn’t met.
But in today’s pandemic atmosphere, Walker
is leveraging the WebEx video platform to
communicate with his charges, with sometimes
400-500 employees per session in the refinery
and working from home, “engaging and talking.
“You have to keep people engaged and
informed,” he said, especially during times of
uncertainty or unusual circumstances. It is a
great way for employees, both working from
home and at the facility, to ask questions of
leadership, he said, mitigating somewhat the
uncertainty of what the future may hold and
the certainty of “constant change.”
When Walker is not tending to his responsibilities
at Chevron, he and his wife Selena
like to get out-and-about, with both being
avid runners who have participated in several
half marathons. Walker is a big fan of the
New Orleans Saints and is looking forward
to, when allowed, attending a Ram or Charger
game at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium. When
asked about other outside interests, Walker
paused, chuckled, and said he had recently
asked his wife,who are very recent empty
nesters, “what are our hobbies?”
I guess running the local Chevron refinery,
a key cog in the Chevron empire, does not
leave a lot of “hobby time,” right? •
Therapist from page 2
cultural system. I’m just not strong enough.
Very few of us are (except, of course, for the
Rosa Parks’ of this world).
Can your friend change reality? If yes, great
- do it, problem solved. Is your friend especially
skilled at finding like-minded individuals
and keeping the facts at bay for years or decades?
Maybe they’ll get lucky! On the other
hand, if your friend is like the vast majority
of us, then reality will eventually come crashing
in one way or another. Ignoring the facts
of the world only works if you can get away
with it forever. It’s a very low-percentage shot.
So yes, worry. It is going to be costly to your
friend, and that stinks. But also do your best
to be kind when reality does come knocking.
Recognize that it’s much easier than it seems
to fall victim to misinformation, especially
when that misinformation lines up with the
values we already have. It might be tempting,
but do your best not to rub it in.
Tom Andre is a Licensed Marriage & Family
Therapist (LMFT119254). Please text to
310.776.5299 or write to tom@tomandrecounseling.
com with questions about handling what
is affecting your life, your family, the community
or the world. The information in this column is
for educational purposes only and nothing herein
should be construed as professional advice or
the formation of a therapeutic relationship. •