Born in Philadelphia, PA, during WWI, I slithered through school, finally matriculating at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, majoring in Chemistry and Physics, and graduating in 1939, receiving Class Honors in Chemistry and a Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. The former got me a job as a chemist in Walker Brothers of Conshohocken, the latter with the 28th Infantry Division and 5 years of World War II. I spent most of that time in Cairo, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Austria chasing Hitler’s minions. As Theater Photographic Officer, covered the Cairo and Teheran Conferences, the Battle of El Alamein, and invasion of Sicily. One of my fun assignments was as the Senior Intelligence Officer for OSS in Italy and Albania. During that tour I made 33 missions behind enemy lines tracking down the German First Mountain Division through the Balkans, and helping rescue 13 American nurses from their forced landing in the Alps of Albania. They awarded me 6 battle stars, an invasion ribbon, and the Bronze Star Medal. By the way, we won that war.
With that out of the way, I started Aldan Chemical Enterprises, with a short diversion for the Korean War with the CIA in Germany and Bulgaria. Then served in Hudson-King Consultants, General Manager of Gateway Engineering, and Manager of Systems for the Square D Company in Lexington, Kentucky. There I learned how powerful Value Engineering was and formed Hudson Associates to offer those services to Owners and Construction Professionals. 32 years later I am doing the same thing, but now working for my wife, Patricia, who has organized Hudson & Associates, LLC to carry on the legacy. Like Churchill, she offers Blood, Sweat,Tears, with no hope for my retirement!
During the last three decades of the 20th century, I had the pleasure of leading Value Teams in the study of hundreds of projects. Some as small as Child Care Centers for US Army brats in Germany, and others as large as the Expansion of Fort Drum for the renowned 10th Mountain Division who, as this is written, are everywhere but in their headquarters in Watertown, New York. Probably you can find them in Afghanistan, Qatar, or wait a short while and meet them in Baghdad deposing Saddam.
My fervent efforts these days are to raise the sights of VA/VE/VM to higher levels of application. The process is unique and potent. It can take a group of talented individuals and mold them into a team of problem solvers for any issue, small or large. It can solve problems like the optimum use of resources for a country, business, school, or any other human activity. It is competent to attack significant issues, like the long-term supply of fresh water and food for a population increasing geometrically, seemingly without thought or restriction, until starvation and war ruthlessly regain the balance. We have come too far for that end. Value Management can change that to a happy ending. I strive to close my biography while engaged in that ultimate VM study.
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