Introducing Rhett   

My family consists of my wife Bridgette, fur-baby Shadow, and myself. Bridgette and I got married last May, and were lucky enough to include Shadow in our wedding!  

I am the son of Rhonda, step son to Jon, and grandson to Grant and Judy (RIP Judy!). I have one immediate brother, 4 step siblings, two sister in-laws, and one brother in-law.

I would say my grandpa. I have always aspired to be more like him. He is stoic, has accomplished so much, is nice to everyone, and has built a great family. There is not much more to a successful life than that. He was a father figure to me growing up and I have learned so much from him.  

Fun fact about him, he worked on the Apollo 11 as an engineer for the cockpit.  

I am a huge gamer! I have played video games since I was 3 or 4 years old. I still have a box full of my retro game systems and old games, dating back to the Sega Dreamcast, PS1, N64, and original Xbox.  

I love a good story driven game. Some of my favorite games, current and throwback, are Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, the Splinter Cell series, any racing game, and the Uncharted series. 

 I have traveled all over the US and each place is unique in its own way. I have to say Japan is by far the most interesting place I have been to. It was such a culture shock when we first arrived, but it is such a beautiful and diverse country with the best food and nicest people. Their public transportation is also amazing! 

I love to cook! I have cooked basic dishes since I was young but started trying to learn more about it 5-6 years ago. My YouTube feed is full of recipes, and I usually try one new recipe per week. I cook almost every night and change the rotation once every few months. I have also taken a cooking class on Italian cuisine! 

I enjoy tv shows more than movies. My favorite TV show is a tie between Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul. I have watched both multiple times, but I would lean towards Breaking Bad because the ending of GoT tainted the show for me.  

Honorable mention is Ted Lasso as a great feel-good show. 

As a Chino Hillian, I feel obligated to say Roscoe’s Famous Deli. The portions are huge, and the environment is great, especially for watching sports.  

If you go, the Southwest Turkey melt or the Soco (Pastrami and Corned Beef) are my go-tos, but you can’t really go wrong with anything! 

I feel like my almost two years have flown by! The 30th anniversary celebration was very memorable because it put the work we do into a real perspective for me. I obviously don’t work on the Projects Team, so that event was the “ah-ha” moment to see the work we do.  

As a project I personally have worked on, it has to be the Rippling implementation. There was so much work that went into the evaluation, set up, etc. I was so relieved after we ran the first payroll and everything worked! 

Lots of candidates ask me this! Lol. It’s a mix of a lot of things, but definitely the culture and the people. Everyone genuinely wants the best for each other, and you can feel it every time you speak to someone in the office, jump on a Teams call, or read the AA Stories chat. I will add that I love/appreciate the autonomy as well.  

As it relates specifically to HR, I love how focused we are on the employee experience. The initiatives we have in place and effort to improve them feel great to focus on.

I haven’t done anything too crazy. I have done most of the motorsports, like ATVing, Sea Doo-ing, sand railing, etc. Snowmobiling is probably my favorite mix of adventure and fun. I usually go once a year up at my mom's house in Utah.

 I’m not sure if this counts, but it would be very convenient to learn language easily.. I love to travel so it would be nice to just pick up the local language wherever I go.

This is probably cliché, but Kobe if he was still alive. Basketball is my favorite sport, and he was a savant. I love watching old interviews of him and seeing how different he was during his prime vs. after retirement.