In the Spotlight - Richard Folsom
by Meghan Clark
If you have attended an EAC meeting, you know Richard Folsom. He is the one who gets the meeting rolling, 
leads the Pledge of Allegiance and tells us to please leave our cell phones on "Silent" or "Stun." I've heard the joke about the "Stun"ning cell phone probably close to 40 times and each time, it makes me laugh. I am unsure if I laugh because my comedic standards are particularly low or because Richard's timing is impeccable. Either way, the quips you hear from Richard while he is leading one of our meetings is consistent with his upbeat and funny personality "off stage."
Richard's quick wit is definitely a personality trait. As just one example, in the questionnaire he filled out for this "Member Spotlight", he commented that his grandmother "planted the seed" for his love of gardening and that gardening "keeps him grounded." Sigh.
Richard's sense of humor started early. Another native son of the Conejo Valley, Richard grew up in Newbury Park. As a young kid, Richard's family used to order milk and other items from Chase Brothers Dairy when it delivered door-to-door. Richard admits he used to wait until his mother was otherwise occupied and he would take the Chase Brothers Dairy order form from the box on the front porch and would add on to his mother's order with orders for chocolate milk and other items that were not mother approved. Even though Richard might try to blame his siblings, his mother always had a good bead on the identity of the culprit when the "revised" order arrived on their doorstep.
If you remember the News Chronicle newspaper when it was delivered by kids on bicycles, then you remember the Newbury Park of Richard's youth. He remembers spending countless hours in the fields and surrounding hills when there was a lot more open space, surviving with just seven television channels, rocking out to KMET when the signal came in and massive neighborhood water fights on hot summer days.
Richard graduated from Newbury Park High School. He declined to provide the year. He says he always fought to be the banker in Monopoly as a kid and after high school studied accounting for "too long" at Moorpark College and finished up at CLU. Along the way he married his wonderful wife Diane and had three beautiful and talented kids; Britany, Kevin and Steven.
Richard listed his passions as cooking, baking, eating, hiking with his family, photography, playing the piano, reading, gardening, wine tasting and as money and time permit, traveling.
Just reading the list is exhausting.
Aside from all of that activity, Richard recently took a swing at an ambitious garden. This year's crops at the Folsom house include a variety of berries, in addition to the standard array of vegetables.
Richard was hired by Semiconductor Equipment Corp. in Moorpark about eighteen (18) years ago. His title is Comptroller but his responsibilities include Finance, Human Resources, the Semiconductor Dicing Tape Product Line and dotted line responsibility for Purchasing and IT.
Shortly after he started with Semiconductor, he began attending EAC meetings to get a better handle on Human Resources issues he faced in his new position. One thing led to another and Richard was quickly on the EAC board and then became Chair of the EAC.
The East Ventura County Employers' Advisory Council Board is a unique creature. Some boards are temperamental. Others are just ineffective. The East Ventura County EAC board is staffed by a lovely group of people who suffer from none of the usual board afflictions. A great deal of the credit for the organization's strength is a direct result of Richard's affable style and good natured humor.
Like many of us, Richard is balancing the "sandwich generation" phenomenon dealing with the complications of aging parents while still having some of his own kids at home. Despite it all, he and Diane still manage to go out of their way for others. A few months ago I had to go out of town unexpectedly which left Richard holding the bag on a handful of board related tasks due before the next EAC meeting.
I showed up at the Folsom's doorstep after 8 pm on a weeknight with a list of things that still needed to be done. Aside from graciously agreeing to step in and take care of the things I hadn't, Richard and Diane gave me a plate of cookies that Richard had just pulled out of the oven. I don't know too many of us who would hand you a plate of warm, homemade cookies after you dumped a bunch of work on them at the last minute. But that exemplifies Richard and his family. We are very, very fortunate to have him on our Board.
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