EP Aeration names sales director

EP Aeration, based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., named Rich Dennis sales director.

Dennis began working with the company more than three years ago as the first “Create Your Own Job” program intern, while still a student at Cal Poly, SLO.

“Rich has been a tremendous asset to the company,” says Mike McGee, president and general manager. “He’s literally established us in a couple of new market areas, and his grasp of the technical issues associated with watersheds, water treatment, and the environment has been indispensable.

 “He’s definitely proven that the internship program can work the way we envisioned it.”

Dennis graduated from Cal Poly in 2005, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry and Natural Resources, with a concentration in environmental management. His elective units were focused on water issues, impacts and technologies. His three-plus years of field experience with EP Aeration have enhanced the highly regarded learn-by-doing knowledge he gained at the university. An avid outdoorsman, surfer and traveler, environmental issues are not only his area of expertise, he says, they are his passion.

He has worked closely with a number of winery and agricultural operations and wastewater treatment firms, as well as golf courses and resorts, during his tenure with the company. Dennis also serves as a technical consultant in the company’s consulting business.

EP Aeration, Inc., developed the “Create Your Own Job” internship program several years ago to gain needed help in day-to-day operations. The concept allows a student to develop one or more needed business segments within the company’s operations, so that each developed segment can become a full-time job on graduation, McGee said.

“We’re currently looking for a student from the engineering, manufacturing technology, or landscape architecture programs at Cal Poly,” he said. “The size of the company currently only allows one internship per year, but continued successes like that Rich has brought could allow us to expand the program significantly.”