Decades of Relationships

The leadership team at MSI views employees as partners in building the success of the company. All employees are part of an extraordinarily creative team. Our team timeline focuses on many milestones to our business, that could not be possible without the talents of our team.

1970s

February 1975

Motivational Systems, Inc. is founded in a garage by Robert Young and Steve Scott. Steve Scott was a Graphic Artist and Bob Young sold his concepts and Steve’s expertise.

May 1975

Operations increase and are moved to a Sorrento Valley Business Park

February 1976

Part of the business is sold to Mike Traxler and Motivational Systems is incorporated in the state of California.

July 1976

Tony Young, Bob’s brother is hired as a Sign Fabricator and Installer.

1976

Larry Bradford is hired and thus begins MSI’s start with scale and architectural models.

1977

Mike Traxler is bought out and a 33% share was sold to Dave Cowan and Neil Hardy.

1978

Bob, Dave and Neil bought a building in National City, CA where MSI still resides today.

1978

Marge Spar is hired to administrate and manage the office, bringing organization and processes to MSI.

1980s

1980

Sue Colburn is hired as MSI’s first Interior Designer who was much better at laying out sales offices than Bob Young and Steve Scott.

1981

Carlos Ornelas joins MSI as a Sign Fabricator and today is our Metal Fabrication Supervisor.

1983

MSI expands operations to Orange County and Riverside with the opening of the Corona Office, which later became the Southern California regional office located in Riverside, CA.

February 1983

A young Shannon Boley (now Shannon Cleary) joins MSI as an Interior Designer bringing speedy designs and eagerness to learn.

1984

Bob Young offers to sell his portion of MSI to Dave Cowan, but Dave instead sells his portion to Bob and MSI becomes a sole proprietor.

1985

To better service MSI’s growing client base, MSI opens a South Bay Division which later is moved to Livermore, CA.

December 1985

Alan Goya joins MSI as Sign Fabricator and quickly moves into sales.

February 1986

Joe Jordan joins MSI as Chief Financial Officer and is still the CFO today.

September 1986

Robert Hastings joins MSI as a Production Advocate and later becomes head of MSI’s central manufacturing division.

March 1987

Mark Evans is hired and really steps up MSI’s model making, taking us to a whole new level.

February 1989

George Navarro joins MSI as a Metal Fabricator and later becomes one of our talented Production Artists.

1990s

January 1990

Jerry Landes joins MSI as our Vice President of Operations where he brings organization and processes to our fabrication and installation units.

October 1990

Bob Charette joins MSI as an Installer for the Livermore Division and later becomes the Vice President, Division Manager of the Phoenix Division.

June 1991

Chris Bazner joins MSI as a Graphic Designer and later becomes the Director of Graphic Design.

1991

Alan Goya relocates and opens our Las Vegas Division.

February 1993

Andrew Cabrera joins MSI as an Estimator for our manufacturing division and later becomes the Vice President, Division Manager of the San Diego Division after a long, successful career as an Account Executive.

1994

Fresno Division opens.

1994

Sacramento Division opens.

1996

Phoenix Division opens.

February 1997

Nicole Arsenault joins MSI as an Administrative Assistant later becoming MSI’s Director of Human Resources.

May 1997

Anne Christopher joins MSI as an Account Executive, later becoming the Division Manager of the San Diego Division and ultimately the Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

2000s

June 2001

Bob’s daughter, Jenna Young (now Jenna Young-Christensen) joins the team as an Interior Design Assistant later serving the Company’s board and working as the Company’s Vice President / Secretary.

October 2001

Donna Measell (now Donna Shepard) joins MSI as an Account Executive for the Fresno Division, later becoming the Vice President, Division Manager of that Division.

June 2004

Anne Devlin joins MSI as an Account Executive before taking over as the Vice President, Division Manager of the Northern California region.

November 2005

Gary Christensen joins MSI as an Account Associate for the National Accounts Division servicing KB Home, Epcon, and other national accounts before joining the Architectural Signage Division where he serves as Division Manager.

January 2006

Jerry Landes retires from Motivational Systems, Inc.

January 2009

Dave Cowan retires from Motivational Systems as the Senior Vice President.

June 2009

Bob Young’s son joins MSI as a Living Sign on the weekends.

2010s

January 2012

Joseph Melaragno joins the MSI team as the Las Vegas Division Manager.

November 2014

Tony Young becomes President and Jenna Young-Christensen takes his place as Secretary of the Board.

February 2015