Candidate for
Council Member; City of Rancho Santa Margarita

BIOGRAPHY - MIKE EGGERS

Mike Eggers is chief operating officer (COO) of The Tumble Center, an indoor activity center for children offering premium early childhood development programs, located in Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM), Calif. Along with his wife and business partner, Rebekah, they founded the business in September of 2006, which serves the needs of families with children ranging in age from infancy to seven.

Partnering with parents, their mission is to help children build the skills, confidence and enthusiasm that position them for future success while enhancing all aspects of their lives. The Eggers are also actively involved in the community, notably through the support of numerous local charitable organizations for which they sponsor fundraising activities. They proactively seek out public service events and opportunities within the community where they can add value.

Eggers is a director on the board of the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation (SAMLARC), a major master homeowners association that serves over 50,000 community residents. His strategic direction was essential to initiating the shade structure installation project at the city's Altisima Park. As board liaison for the project, he collaborated with the media and local business, community and education leaders to hasten its completion in 2008.

The new shade structure protects residents from damaging sun exposure, reduces the heat of playground equipment, and allows for use even during midday. Future installations are planned at additional RSM parks, which will further extend the usability and enjoyment of playground equipment for area families at sites where mature shade trees are lacking.

Investing his time in community service, Eggers graduated from the six-week long RSM Citizen's Academy. Through interactive sessions, he gained an inside look at how each department within the local government operates. He also completed training at the RSM Community Emergency Preparedness Academy, gaining critical knowledge and skills to help sustain the community for up to 72 hours without the support of emergency responders. Curriculum included earthquake preparedness, fire safety, basic first aid, CPR and defibrillators, and water treatment techniques.

With over a decade of experience to his credit, Eggers has a strong corporate background in both international and domestic operations management. In 2007, Con Agra Foods employed him as operations manager for its Knott's Berry Farm brand production facilities, formerly based in Southern California. In this essential role, he managed the 53 million dollar operation while implementing lean manufacturing principles.

Eggers began his professional career with the Thermo King business unit of the Ingersoll-Rand Company in May of 2000. He was employed with the company through 2006 and was promoted to several pivotal positions where his results-driven approach increased profitability, improved productivity, and standardized operations.

As the service manager for Southern California region, he had profit and loss responsibility for the nine million dollar operation and 60 employees. Eggers increased the region's internal profitability ranking from 41 to 10 among the company's 44 branches in just one year. He also improved the labor mix and productivity at this location, which led to a 100 percent increase in profitability of over 400,000 dollars in annual revenues.

Beginning in May of 2003, he was regional lean manager of Western Operations for the Climate Control Branch of Ingersoll-Rand, located in Chino, Calif. Eggers received the Chairman's Award for Operational Excellence after establishing a new Sarbanes Oxley program for the region. Other notable accomplishments included standardizing both the service operations at eight branch locations and the region's pricing model, which led to a 350,000-dollar profit increase. He consolidated the dispatching operation from 26 sites to one, reducing costs by 100,000 dollars and initiated an after-market parts program that increased profits by 300,000 dollars.

Named international project coordinator/lean leader in July of 2002 for Thermo King Asia Pacific Container, headquartered in Suzhou, China, Eggers supervised the design and installation of production lines to European and American standards at this new facility, which enabled it to move to full production in less than 20 days. Training both operators and management in lean manufacturing principles, he lead the 55 million dollar start-up process and delivered a return-on-investment a year ahead of schedule. In addition, Eggers developed and instituted sourcing programs that utilized local suppliers and reduced material requirements planning purchase orders by 50 percent.

Eggers was promoted in December of 2001 to the position of kanban manager at the Ingersoll-Rand Company's Davidson, N.C. facility. He was responsible for the inventory control and material distribution system of the new PowerWorks micro turbine product line. In this role, he developed a web-based engineering change process and increased the success rate of initiating product changes from 60 to 100 percent.

After serving on the rationalization team that oversaw the closing and transition of production at the Thermo King production facility in Montgomery, Ala., to the one in Louisville, Ga., he was named production supervisor for the Thermo King Demand Flow Product Line. There, he managed production in a lean manufacturing environment and reduced production hours per unit from 45 to 30 and increased efficiency by 50 percent.

In 2000, Eggers was promoted from a supervisory position at the Thermo King Montgomery, Ala., production facility where he implemented a significant kanban cost-savings program to the role of production supervisor for Thermo King Roof Top Product Lines. He supervised 30 union assembly workers and developed an effective production tracking system that displayed daily schedule attainment and maintained the highest such record plant-wide.

In 2000, Eggers graduated from Clemson University, based in Clemson, S.C., with a B.S. degree in Industrial Management. Prior to that, he graduated from the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Penn., where he ascended to the rank of first sergeant and was responsible for over 120 cadets ranging in age from 12 to 18.

The Eggers family resides in RSM and includes two young daughters, Annsley and Gabrielle. The have been active members of Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano for the past five years. Family time ranks first on Eggers' list of personal interests, and he also enjoys golfing, coaching and playing soccer, reading and travel.