Kingman – Butch Finkbeiner just became the Mojave County facilities manager starting in late 2021. But he was born and raised in Kingman and has spent all his life loving his community.

A graduate of Kingman High (now Lee Williams High) and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northern Arizona University, Finkbeiner’s background before becoming a county employee makes him an interesting character. He has been an employee of his Ford Motor Company for his 30 years and has held leadership roles at both the Yucca and Arizona proving grounds.

When Finkbeiner was in second grade, the class went on a field trip to the Yucca Proving Grounds. he has a picture of himself there. Then, in his final year at Northern Arizona University, he did a summer internship at the Proving Grounds. Shortly thereafter, a position opened for him and he landed a job fresh out of college.

In case you didn’t know, the Yucca Proving Ground (located 4,000 acres off Interstate 40 in Mojave County) is a legendary site for test vehicles. Among its many challenges and ultimate successes is testing the Ford Bronco. The work accomplished there was the origin of that vehicle’s great success on the market.

Finkbeiner has many stories of incidents that happened there. One is a funny true story about her two young women who got lost and ended up hitchhiking in her truck on a high speed oval. Test His driver passed them on his one lap and stopped to help them when they were approaching again. He picked them up and drove the truck a few more laps to see if they noticed they essentially went in a circle. I thought it was farther than it was. (By the way, he had a security guard help him out.)

Finkbeiner emphasizes that he is not a “gear head”. It took a lot of learning and training and the immense help of other workers to properly guide him to meet the demands of the job. “I had a lot of talented co-workers with vast knowledge about vehicles and testing and they took the time to teach me what they knew.It was an incredible work family.”

At the proving grounds, workers like Finkbeiner performed durability tests for trucks and heavy trucks, corrosion tests for cars and trucks, performance tests and high temperature environment tests. He was heavily involved in conducting, evaluating and coordinating tests and their results, as well as developing new test methods and events. He also coordinated his media events, mainly product launches.

The proving ground was operated by Ford from 1956 until it was sold to Chrysler in 2007. Finkbeiner said: All Hands On There were several requests that required his deck, but the team always stood up to the challenge. It was very satisfying to be a part of that experience and teamwork. ”

Finkbeiner now has a different type of team as facility managers in Mojave County’s public works department, and accomplishing the multiple tasks they face helps build his “work family.” Proud. “There’s something new happening every day that ignites my passion and makes me want to go to work. ‘Customer satisfaction’ is the key,” he adds. Finkbeiner and his wife his Claudia, who also worked at his Ford, have his two adult children. The couple live in Kingman with horses, dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens.

(This is part of a series of Mohave County employee profiles written by Mohave County Communications.)