About Us
Joan Burge
Author | Founder & CEO of Office Dynamics International
James Bristow, PhD. Cand.
Managing Partner Universal Engineering Sciences
Who Is
Joan
JOAN BURGE, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics International, is a well-respected global industry leader and known as the pioneer of the administrative training industry. After working 20 years in the administrative profession, Joan created a business in an untapped niche, overcoming monumental obstacles involving corporations’ and managers’ attitudes, prejudices, and stereotypes about executive assistants and administrative professionals.
Joan is a passionate advocate for the administrative profession as a ‘Career of Choice’ and has dedicated her life to inspiring excellence and encouraging administrative professionals to reach for the stars.
Joan is an accomplished author, professional speaker, coach, and corporate trainer. She has written five groundbreaking books for administrative professionals, an operating manual for executives and assistants, produced 350+ educational videos, designed 200+ educational programs, and coached 300+ executive/assistant teams. Joan Burge and Office Dynamics’ quest to provide extraordinary life- and career-changing educational programs, along with their passionate support of the administrative profession, has earned the respect of elite clients, including Walt Disney World, Cisco Systems, Caterpillar, Humana, and Procter & Gamble.
Who Is
James
JAMES BRISTOW, PE, Managing Partner at Universal Engineering Sciences, is a highly educated and credentialed leader in engineering sciences. His writing balances extensive thought leadership with an unabashed openness to share real-world experiences about how to best manage the Executive/Executive Assistant strategic partnership.
James became the owner and CEO of his own Las Vegas engineering firm at the age of 28. He grew the company, and in 2020, James’ firm joined the Universal Engineering Sciences Family of Companies. James is now responsible for expanding the Western Division of the nation’s fastest-growing engineering firm.
Throughout this time, James has been a constant student at UNLV. Earning his master’s degree and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in engineering. He is also an active member of several boards for industry organizations, such as the Nevada Contractor’s Association, American Concrete Institute (ACI), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and more. His career experiences constantly push him to “pay it forward” and encourage the next generation of leaders to excel and challenge themselves.
Joan Burge
Author | Founder & CEO of Office Dynamics International
Who Is
Joan
JOAN BURGE, Founder and CEO of Office Dynamics International, is a well-respected global industry leader and known as the pioneer of the administrative training industry. After working 20 years in the administrative profession, Joan created a business in an untapped niche, overcoming monumental obstacles involving corporations’ and managers’ attitudes, prejudices, and stereotypes about executive assistants and administrative professionals.
Joan is a passionate advocate for the administrative profession as a ‘Career of Choice’ and has dedicated her life to inspiring excellence and encouraging administrative professionals to reach for the stars.
Joan is an accomplished author, professional speaker, coach, and corporate trainer. She has written five groundbreaking books for administrative professionals, an operating manual for executives and assistants, produced 350+ educational videos, designed 200+ educational programs, and coached 300+ executive/assistant teams. Joan Burge and Office Dynamics’ quest to provide extraordinary life- and career-changing educational programs, along with their passionate support of the administrative profession, has earned the respect of elite clients, including Walt Disney World, Cisco Systems, Caterpillar, Humana, and Procter & Gamble
James Bristow, PE
Managing Partner Universal Engineering Sciences
Who Is
James
JAMES BRISTOW, PE, Managing Partner at Universal Engineering Sciences, is a highly educated and credentialed leader in engineering sciences. His writing balances extensive thought leadership with an unabashed openness to share real-world experiences about how to best manage the Executive/Executive Assistant strategic partnership.
James became the owner and CEO of his own Las Vegas engineering firm at the age of 28. He grew the company, and in 2020, James’ firm joined the Universal Engineering Sciences Family of Companies. James is now responsible for expanding the Western Division of the nation’s fastest-growing engineering firm.
Throughout this time, James has been a constant student at UNLV. Earning his master’s degree and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in engineering. He is also an active member of several boards for industry organizations, such as the Nevada Contractor’s Association, American Concrete Institute (ACI), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and more. His career experiences constantly push him to “pay it forward” and encourage the next generation of leaders to excel and challenge themselves
How Joan and James Met
Joan
I joined Vistage Las Vegas as I wanted to be in a CEO peer group who understood the challenges I had as a CEO and business owner. I wanted a group of diversified individuals who could shed a different perspective on my thinking and who would challenge my thinking, poke holes in it, and help me make uncomfortable decisions.
I was impressed with James Bristow from the first meeting I attended. James was a young, sharp executive who owned his own business. He was a brilliant engineer and businessman. I was highly impressed that “James got it” when it came to his executive assistant. James knew this was a power position and one of great value. James saw and treated his executive assistant as a partner.
James
Joan and I met in a CEO Peer Advisory Group where we each participated to advance our skills for increasing value and reducing risk for our respective businesses. I served as a founding member of the new group inside an existing national network.
One of my favorite aspects of the relationship that Joan and I have is that she is a young soul and a much older woman, while I am an old soul and younger man; between this dichotomy lies the creative solutions and opinions that we have developed for this book and many of the initiatives we collaborate on for our professional roles in our businesses. Most importantly though, we find that without our strategic partners, we cannot work at our highest level.
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