After working somewhere for almost three decades, it’s safe to say you’ve learned a thing or two. But working at GE and FieldCore for that long, you can guarantee you’ve picked up a ton of knowledge along the way. This is true for George Bradbury, Transactional Business Process Lean Director II, who will retire in June after 25 years. After all the hard work, late nights, early mornings, and tens of thousands of miles traveling around the world, George will retire from FieldCore with not just incredible achievements and as a highly respected employee, but he’ll also leave with some great stories, great memories, and great friends.
The Journey
As the former captain of his high school track team and college rugby team and after years of serving as a scout master, it’s no wonder that George has the drive he does. No doubt the traits needed for those titles are why George has often been described as a wonderful leader. He’s about as close as you can get to seeing it all and doing it all, and it’s safe to say he knows this company inside and out. George started out at GE in 1997 as a Business Development Leader. Just seven short months later, he was asked to serve as the Unit Operations Leader where he would be for the next year and a half. He was then asked to lead the East Region ITO Organization for 18 months. He then moved on to Power Services and worked as the Global ERP Design Leader for the next six years, until becoming the Master Black Belt for the Accord ERP project. In his MBB role he went on to support the PMO Org for two years until he was hired over to lead master data management at FieldCore for the SAP roll out, and then on to a Business Operations Director in October of 2018. In November of 2020, George transitioned into his final role at FieldCore: Transactional Business Process Lean Director.
Change of Pace
When I asked George what the biggest change he had experienced over all his years with the company, he said hands down it would have to be the Power Services ERP project. At that point, George went from working in a US-centric business to a global business which allowed him to travel around the world which he describes as “absolutely life changing.” It allowed him to experience different cultures, see things that he never would have known existed, and meet people that he never would have met. He recalled seeing famous landmarks like the largest Buddha statue when he visited Hong Kong, and the Taj Mahal in India. These opportunities opened his eyes to the concept that while we all may have different beliefs, daily experiences, and practice different ways of life, we’re all a lot more similar than we are different. The core things we all believe as humans are so similar and coming to understand this allowed George to easily relate to so many others around the world.
Home at FieldCore
George is a self-described problem solver. He’s always been that way. No matter the job or the challenge he faces, he’s going to tackle it head on and see it through until it’s resolved. George always felt in awe that the things he designed at GE and FieldCore are still in practice today and are helping FieldCore accomplish its vision of delivering World-Class Execution for customers, while also empowering the people who power the world. As the person who created and designed new processes George never minded rolling up sleeves and hopping into the trenches and doing the dirty work with the crew. While times weren’t always perfect, the mistakes, hiccups, and setbacks always pushed George to try again and not give up until the issue was resolved. This mindset especially served George well as he worked to make Lean a way of life at FieldCore, coaching and modeling the way of striving towards getting better every day.
He knows his hard work paid off. Since announcing his retirement, George often gets emails wishing him well and always asking the same question: “What are we going to do without you!?”
What’s Next?
As I’m sure you all are, I was very curious what awesome adventures George has ahead of him in retirement. With all his new free time, George of course plans on spending a lot more time with family. George and his wife currently reside in Tiverton, Rhode Island, just outside of Newport. Fun fact: they live in George’s childhood home that he grew up in but added a few necessary renovations over time.
George’s wife is a retired nurse who is so happy she now has a permanent retirement partner. They have three children. Their 22-year-old son attends the University of Maine Orono where he is majoring in finance and accounting. They have a 24-year-old daughter who works for an energy efficiency company as a mechanical engineer, and their oldest daughter is 32, lives in New Hampshire, and is an incredible mom to George’s adorable three-year-old granddaughter.
He will also continue traveling the world, enjoying the great outdoors with kayaking, fishing, golfing, and hiking. But the one future endeavor that he mentions that I’m most jealous of is writing and playing music with his cousin in his Beatles cover band!
On behalf of everyone at FieldCore and GE, thank you, George! All your hard work, dedication to the company, and your incredible leadership skills over the past 25 years has made an amazing impact and will for years to come. Your “work family” will miss you, and we’ll also be expecting some VIP tickets to your first Beatles show!
