The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 49 - December 3, 2020
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................9
City Council..........................2
Classifieds............................4
Coloring Contest.........10-11
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................3
Legals....................................8
Pets......................................12
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.......................5-7
Weekend
Forecast
Deena Lee is the First Female
Battalion Chief in the South Bay
The many faces of a Battalion Chief (left to right): Battalion Chief Lee addressing the City Council; in front of Battalion 31 Command Vehicle; and in her turnouts, her structural firefighter gear, which
includes helmet, jacket, pants, boots and gloves. To read about Battalion Chief Deena Lee’s story, go to page 3.
Walker Takes Over the Leadership Reins
at the Chevron El Segundo Refinery
By Duane Plank
Soon-to-be El Segundo resident Frederick
Walker has once again ascended the corporate
company ladder at the Chevron Corporation;
he recently was selected as the new general
manager at the El Segundo plant, replacing
the retired Henry Kusch, at the sprawling
facility that is bordered on the north by El
Segundo Boulevard and has been an El Segundo
Love Thy Neighbor
Dear El Segundoians,
The Herald staff and I only know so
many El Segundoians, but we want to
learn about more of you. With 8,000
residents, we’re sure there are some
gems we may have overlooked or not been
aware of them. Do you have an interesting
friend, neighbor or student? With
most of El Segundo sports and events
on hold, we are looking to do more El
Segundo residents’ profiles. All you
have to do is ask their permission
and send us their contact information.
Send your suggestions in to letters@
heraldpublications.com
Of course, if you find yourself fascinating,
send us your information too.
– Best to you all. HM.
institution for more than 100 years.
Walker, who began tackling his new job
duties in October, and his wife Selena are
currently living in Playa Vista, but Walker
is confident that he will be relocating to El
Segundo in the next month.
The refinery that Walker oversees blankets
more than 1,000 acres of land, employs
more than 1,100 workers, interfaces within
the neighborhood of 500 contractors, and is
touted as the largest producing oil refinery on
the west coast, processing more than 276,000
barrels of crude oil per day.
The 46-year-old Walker, born and raised
in Central Mississippi, lived in the Magnolia
State until his mid-30’s. As he was navigating
through his high school years, he said
that one day his father brought home a
copy of the U.S. News and World Report
magazine, and counseled his son to take a
look at the paper, and start thinking about
a career pathway, post-high school. Walker
said that, at that time, chemical engineering
rated highly on the job pay scale, so Walker
thought “that is a good place to start.” He
eventually learned more about chemical engineering,
noting that “I was always a math
and science kind of person.”
Walker attended Mississippi State University,
where he grasped the opportunity to
participate in the Chevron Co-op program,
which, he said, was “a way for me to get
some actual work experience, and see what
I was getting myself into.” He interviewed
for the program as a freshman and spent
four semesters working at the Pascagoula
Refinery while he was pursuing his undergraduate
degree, gaining knowledge about
what chemical engineers’ duties entailed
in the fields of oil and energy. Basically, a
paid internship. “It allowed me to get some
experience and earn some money,” he said,
as he worked his way through college.
Walker landed a job with Chevron at the
Pascagoula refinery, post-graduation, as a
process engineer. He would continue to gain
experience in the industry, working as an oil
planning analyst, process engineering lead,
operations assistant, and operations section
head, and continued on the education
pathway, notching an MBA from Tulane
University in 2006.
In 2009, Walker’s career landed him in the
Golden State, where he worked as Chevron’s
business planning analyst for downstream
manufacturing in No Cal’s San Ramon. He
Fredrick Walker
See Walker, page 7
Friday
Sunny
70˚/47˚
Saturday
Sunny
68˚/47˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
68˚/52˚