Career

Education & Professional Development

Lawrence F. “Larry” Davidson began preparing for an engineering career at Centralia College, where he earned an Associate Degree in Science. He continued his education at the University of Washington, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

As his career expanded beyond engineering into business, management, and international work, Larry continued his formal education, earning a Master of Business Administration and later completing a Master’s Certificate in International Business.

His continuing professional development also included becoming a Project Management Professional (PMP) and earning a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt.

Engineering & Medical Technology

Larry began his professional career in 1972. A substantial portion of the next several decades was spent in the medical device industry, where his work crossed the boundaries of engineering, manufacturing, and quality systems.

The technologies involved included cardiac defibrillators and patient monitoring equipment, diagnostic ultrasound and Doppler imaging systems, and high-speed rotational atherectomy systems. Working with medical technology required more than designing a product. It also required attention to manufacturing processes, product quality, reliability, documentation, and the systems necessary to consistently produce complex equipment.

Over approximately 25 years in the medical device industry, Larry’s responsibilities broadened from engineering into manufacturing and quality systems and increasingly into the management of projects and organizations.

Enterprise Systems & Information Technology

Another major phase of Larry’s career centered on Enterprise Resource Systems and information technology consulting.

This work brought together several areas of his previous experience. Enterprise systems required an understanding not only of computer technology, but also of how engineering, manufacturing, quality, finance, materials, and other business functions interact within an organization.

Consulting also provided opportunities to work with different companies and organizations in the United States and internationally. The experience broadened his perspective from individual engineering and manufacturing operations to the processes and information systems that connect an entire organization.

NEON & Battelle Memorial Institute

In the later phase of his professional career, Larry worked first with NEON and subsequently with Battelle Memorial Institute.

His responsibilities encompassed the design and development, manufacturing, civil engineering, and field deployment of complex scientific systems. The work required coordination across multiple engineering disciplines as well as manufacturing, construction, logistics, project management, and field operations.

This stage of his career drew upon much of the experience developed during the preceding decades: engineering, manufacturing, information systems, quality, business management, and the leadership of complex projects involving many different disciplines and organizations.

Project & Program Leadership

Project management became a common thread running through much of Larry’s professional career. Projects varied considerably in technology and scale, but the underlying challenge remained similar: define what needed to be accomplished, develop a workable plan, organize the necessary people and resources, manage cost and schedule, solve problems as they emerged, and carry the work through to completion.

His engineering background provided the technical foundation, while later education and experience in business, information systems, quality, and project management provided an increasingly broad view of how complex organizations and projects operate.

An International Career

Larry’s professional work took him extensively throughout the United States and internationally. He traveled repeatedly to Germany and Mexico and also worked or traveled in France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

Working across different organizations and cultures provided a perspective that extended well beyond the technical aspects of engineering and project management. It exposed him to different approaches to manufacturing, business, problem solving, and organizational leadership.

1972–2022

From the beginning of his professional career in 1972 until his full retirement in 2022, Larry’s work evolved considerably. He began as an electrical engineer and over approximately 50 years became involved in engineering, medical technology, manufacturing, quality systems, enterprise information systems, consulting, business management, and major scientific projects.

Although the technologies and organizations changed, one theme remained consistent throughout the career: taking complicated problems and turning them into practical projects that people could build, operate, and use.