Email Wayne 
I was born in 1943 and raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California during the late 1940s and 1950s, when life was simple and uncomplicated. I grew up in an "Ozzie and Harriett" family. ("Ozzie and Harriett" was an American situation comedy television show (1952-65) that had father "Ozzie," stay-at-home mother and housewife, "Harriett," older brother "David" and younger brother "Ricky." "Ozzie and Harriett" depicted what a 1950s American family was all about. I was the "Ricky," and my older brother Harold was the "David"). In high school my brother and I were in all the athletic programs. There are many lessons to be learned from participating in athletics. Some of those lessons are getting along with the coaches and other players and learning to be a "team member." A "team" is only as strong as its weakest player; therefore, it is the responsibility of each player to be well prepared, have good health habits and personal self-discipline, make all the meetings and practices, understand the "plays" and the "game plan" and be ready to do whatever is necessary to achieve the highest goals of the team. Planning, goal setting, strategy, studying the opponent, being ready mentally and physically, and executing the plan are all important aspects of sports, and operating a business. Many lessons learned in high school sports were not recognized until many years later while I was in business.
As a part of sports in high school, I also did weight lifting. Gene Crismon, a businessman in the greeting card business and approximately 15 years older than me, was in the weight lifting group. This business partly consisted of taking orders for Christmas cards, which was done on a commission sales basis. In my spare-time, I sold Christmas cards. Gene Crismon became my first mentor. He treated me as an adult, explained business and all of the problems of business to me. He told me of certain books he had read and recommended those books to me. Gene Crismon purchased a real estate building lot and built a building/warehouse for his greeting card company, and I was there watching the process. Later, he sold this building/warehouse to an investor and used the cash for working capital. He told me he made more money building the building/warehouse than he did operating his greeting card company.
Sometime during my senior year at Modesto High School I obtained an after school and Saturday part-time job at Smith's Furniture, delivering quality furniture. I had this job during my first year at Modesto Junior College. Homer Smith was a professional "world-class" tournament bridge player as well as a successful businessman. He took a real interest in me; explained how to purchase furniture wholesale and how to price the merchandise; explained his bookkeeping system and his overall strategy for running the business. During the summer between my first and second years at Modesto Junior College, I changed part-time jobs to work for Foster Farms Dairies, (for more pay per hour). By changing jobs, I'm sure I lost a great opportunity to learn "real" business strategy from an entrepreneur, on the front lines.
After graduating from Modesto High School in 1960, I attended and graduated from Modesto Junior College in 1962 with an Associate in Arts (A.A.) in Business Administration.
In the fall of 1962 I moved from Modesto, California to Fresno, California, to attend California University at Fresno, the University also known as "Fresno State." Based upon my experience at Foster Farms Dairy in Modesto, California, I was able to get a job loading milk trucks all night at the Borden Corporation. I had enough money to make a down payment on a house in Fresno, near the university. This house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. In purchasing the house, I was financed by the seller. I stayed in one bedroom and I rented out the other two bedrooms to college students. For the next two years, (1962-64) I worked from 10 p.m. until 6:30 a.m, slept until noon, and went to school from noon until 9:00 p.m. I had Friday and Saturday night to rest and socialize. I eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Economics at California State University at Fresno.
During 1964 I was interested in purchasing another property, a four-unit apartment complex, for which I required a new loan. I was employed by Borden's Dairy, but it was obvious this was a temporary job; and I was 21, with no credit references. Because real estate broker, Armon Boyajian, needed to make a real estate sales commission, he agreed to co-sign a new first mortgage for me and persuaded the seller to take back a second mortgage. Armon Boyajian has been an important mentor and friend for 45 years.
In December 1964 I quit my job at Borden's Dairy and established Associated Bookkeeping and Tax Service in Fresno, California. Having completed many accounting and tax classes, I assumed putting together a bookkeeping and tax service would be no problem. Betty Funk, who had only a high school education but a lot of experience working for other tax practices, dropped by for an interview for a job. Betty Funk was around 40 when I hired her. We would trade finished work products; she would review mine, and I would review hers. After one day on the job she became the teacher and I became the student. At Fresno State, the emphasis was on theory and tax code, not on how to interact with the clients, get the correct information, complete the forms, and competitively bill the work product. Without Betty Funk, my business and I would have been in big trouble. This experience taught me that hiring the "right" people to do the job is the most important decision a manager can make. On a balance sheet, there is no place for an entry as to the value of the people who work in the business, but the people are the most important asset of any business. After operating this business for the tax seasons of 1965 and 1966, an accountant from a small town west of Fresno asked if I would be interested in selling. I said "Yes!" We agreed to a percentage of the gross sales for the next four years. After one year, he said, "either we reduce your percentage for the next three years, or I'm giving you back the business." I said, calling his bluff, "O.K., I'll take the business back." To my surprise, I was back into the bookkeeping and tax service business. I immediately resold the business. I sold the business twice, at a nice profit each time; I made more money selling the business than I did operating it.
At Fresno State, one of my college friends was Jack Wise. Jack was an older student, having spent time in the United States Navy between high school and college. Jack's father, Kenny Wise, was an entrepreneur – a real estate broker, a land developer, and a builder of houses and apartments. When Jack introduced me to his dad, Kenny was developing shopping centers in two near-by towns; one in Clovis and one in Selma. Kenny needed help, and his son wanted no part of working with his dad. In the summer of 1965, under Kenny Wise's urging, I obtained a real estate salesman's license. Working around my other real estate activities, going to Fresno State, and operating Associated Bookkeeping and Tax Service, I worked for Kenny Wise. Kenny Wise was a brilliant verbal communicator. By the end of 1967 I had obtained my California Real Estate Broker's license. Working with Kenny Wise, I learned a great deal about finding real estate development prospects, how to think about a development prospect, how not to manage real estate properties, the value of personal relationships and, in many respects, business ethics.
In 1967 I made a contact with a land developer, Tom Porter, who was subdividing real estate in the Sierra Mountains and selling those recreational real estate parcels to people in the San Francisco Bay Area for week-end retreats. We met on a development site and got along well, and he offered me a job. I thought the business was very interesting, especially the fact he was self financing his entire operation. In Fresno during 1967, institutional financing was very tight. I don't remember that it was expensive, but there was no liquidity in the financial system. I spent most of 1968 and 1969 learning how to sell, how to be a "closer," a sales manager, and the economics of the recreational land development business.
During 1969, I began to purchase properties for myself. It took time to find the properties, subdivide, and begin a program. The business was Mother Lode Development Corporation, and was operated out of Sacramento, California. I gained a great deal of experience negotiating the purchase and re-sale of land; negotiating release clauses; doing real estate title work; surveying larger parcels of land into smaller parcels for re-sale; building roads, culverts, and building development sites for each parcel of land and managing a group of highly-charged real estate land sales people. The business was a "fun" business, especially working with the sales people. The profit margins were not just good, they were great! However, while the profits were great, the cash flow was terrible. The more inventory I developed, the more sales I made, the more difficult the cash flow became. By the end of 1972 it became clear to me that, to survive, I would have to work myself out of the land inventory position. I had to reduce the number of, and not buy more properties until I had greatly reduced my inventory. From 1972 to 1975 the goal of the company was to sell itself out of business, which was successfully done by 1975. In retrospect, this was a terrible move. Thirty years later, I now know how to solve the cash flow problems. I had a lot of smart people around me, and I was always "crying" about not having any cash; but no one suggested any financing methods that would raise operating capital. At the time, I didn't realize what a great business I had or how well I was doing, even though I didn't have any cash. If I had borrowed money against my mortgage receivables, or sold a debenture offering and kept the inventory position flat, after about five to seven years I would have had a positive cash flow and I could have expanded at a rate that would have made me happy with the cash balances.
The lease on our main office expired in November 1974. In the early part of 1973 a date was set as a timeline of getting out of business. The expiration date of this lease became the target date. By the close date we still had between 10-20 properties in inventory. I decided to retain them and sell them later. Three or four years later, a real estate broker wrote me a letter regarding listing one of the properties for sale. I set my net price, told him that he could sell the property for whatever he wanted, and that I would carry a 100% mortgage. He liked that deal, and over the next year or two he sold all of my remaining properties.
Looking for my next venture in the fall of 1974, I was told by a friend about a publicly-traded, sophisticated farming company in Fresno, California, that was in big trouble. The farming company had an extensive ownership interest in many acres of farming properties, a securities broker/dealer company, and many farming limited partnerships. The president of the company, Richard Mets, was a brilliant and charismatic person; the chairman of the company, Walter Wencke, was a brilliant lawyer, and had been "Mr. San Diego." There were many excellent people working for the company, but more help was needed. I became the trouble shooter and administrative assistant to the president. There was no shortage of problems. To solve one major problem, we needed to design and install an irrigation system and plant a 640-acre vineyard. I went to an irrigation company in Bakersfield, explained the job, told the management of the irrigation company that the farming company didn't have any money but that we could buy the plastic pipelines and pay the worker's wages if the irrigation company could do the job. We would pay the balance with our publicly-traded stock. The managers of the irrigation company said their company was going broke; they had lots of inventory, know-how, and good people but they could not stay in business long enough to do the job. Their counter proposal was that they would sell their company cheaply to our publicly-traded company, for stock. I took that proposal to Richard Mets and Walter Wencke. Richard Mets was willing to go along, but Walter Wencke said "No." Walter Wencke's comments were that the financial statements presented would not hold up, the accounts receivable and notes receivable would not be collectable, and the inventory would not be adequate in quantity or quality to do any jobs. In retrospect, Walter Wencke's comments were absolutely right on. I asked Richard Mets and Walter Wencke if they would have any problem with me buying Western Irrigation. After some discussion, they gave me their blessings and I went to Western Irrigation and purchased the company for myself.
From June 1975, through July 1980, I was President & CEO of Lamont Pipe Co., Inc., and Arvin-Lamont Redi-Mix. I purchased Cooper Concrete Pipe Company, which had a wholly owned subsidiary, Western Irrigation Company. The Corporation had a negative net worth of approximately $1.3 million when I purchased the business. I re-structured the business and re-named it Lamont Pipe Co., Inc., and later added a redi-mix concrete operation, Arvin-Lamont Redi-Mix. Lamont Pipe Company was involved in the design, engineering, and construction of irrigation systems, the installation of sewer and water systems for housing developments, and manufactured concrete pipe in the greater Bakersfield, California area. In 1977 I obtained a California structural engineering (A) and general building (B) contractor's license. I operated those businesses successfully and then sold them to Oildale Redi-Mix of Bakersfield, one of my redi-mix competitors. When I sold the business, the "paper net worth" was approximately a positive $500,000. I sold the businesses for 21 finished residential building lots in Bakersfield, California, worth approximately $200,000.
While I was operating Lamont Pipe Company, Inc., I also attended Pepperdine University from the fall of 1976 to the spring of 1979 and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The program was designed for presidents and key executives of an organization. I was the youngest student in the class (PKE37).
My last day at Lamont Pipe Company, Inc. was July 3, 1980. My girlfriend Chris and I went to Las Vegas for a few days. I was beyond exhausted and, looking back, I was probably half of a step from a nervous breakdown. From July 1980 to June 1981, I did very little. My girl friend Chris and I planned an extensive vacation for myself and my three daughters for the summer of 1981. I purchased a new VW Vanagon and we traveled all over the United States. Twenty-eight years later, we still talk about the trip. As I told my kids at the time, it is very rare that a parent has the time and the money, at the same time, to take an extended educational trip such as the one we did.
Along the way I picked up some stock in a publicly-traded oil and gas corporation that owned oil and gas leases in Kern County, California (Bakersfield). I decided to sell the stock. Looking into the price, I discovered the management of the corporation made all of the required filings about two years late. In studying the filing history, I found that each year the corporation would file one year's financial statements that were two years old. I decided to have a meeting with the company's management team and let them know I wanted to sell my stock, but by being two years behind in their filings all of the time, the market value of the stock was undervalued. I wanted this situation corrected. They assured me the financial statements and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would be brought current immediately. This went on for a while and then I began an active program to force them into action. I finally filed suit to force a shareholders' meeting. To make an extremely long story short, I did a hostile raid on the company and, as I owned approximately 27% of the common stock, I elected a majority of the directors and took over the corporation.
From October 31, 1987 to December 20, 1994, I was the President & CEO and Chairman of the Board of Supreme Oil and Gas Corporation, renamed Pan American Energy Corporation, a fully-reporting, publicly-traded oil and gas production corporation, traded on the NASDAQ: Bulletin Board under the trading symbol "PAEC." After operating the corporation for approximately seven years, Pan American Energy Corporation was successfully merged with Harbin Bearing of Harbin, China, and re-named Sunbase Asia, Inc. Sunbase Asia, Inc. in December 1994 was an approximate $100 million company. Technically, Pan American Energy Corporation "purchased" Harbin Bearing. We did this by issuing out approximately 94% of the outstanding shares of Pan American Energy Corporation to the owners of Harbin Bearing. At the end of the day, the shareholders of Pan American Energy Corporation and the "deal makers" owned 6% of the corporation and the shareholders of Harbin Bearing owned 94% of the corporation. Then the shareholders had a meeting, elected new directors, and changed the name of Pan American Energy Corporation to Sunbase Asia, Inc. This is called a "reverse merger." The time difference for a foreign company to "go public" in the United States was cut from about two years to about 20 days. The difference in cash expenses was about $1,000,000 to do a public registration, versus about $50,000 to do a reverse merger. Using the reverse merger we got the job done. Doing a registration is not a guaranteed process. A foreign corporation could take two years processing a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and be denied. In a failed transaction, the expense money is gone forever.
In January 1994, I founded and continue to direct Pacific States Capital Corporation. At the founding of the corporation the major purpose was to do business consulting, mostly with small publicly-trading corporations. Along the way, there appeared to be a demand for private businesses that wanted to incorporate, or to purchase an existing corporation that had some history, or to do a reverse merger into a publicly-traded corporation. My entire business career has been working with entrepreneurs and these are the people I seemed to attract. Today, while we are not securities attorneys or accountants or auditors, and we don't raise investment capital like a securities broker/dealer, and we don't make markets in any securities, we are the company that puts all these people together in the right mix.