Faces of GM

Don: It’s More Than Just a Job

October 16, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Don St. John: Chevrolet Volt Controls Manager

Chevy Volt Engineer Don St. John takes a break during the Volt pre-production Chevrolet Volt engineering test drive near Cleveland, Ohio on October 13, 2009. (Photo by Jeffrey Sauger for General Motors)

Another cup, please!: I truly love a good cup of strong coffee or espresso. During a recent development drive in Death Valley, my co-workers were snapping photos of me with my afternoon cup of joe. They couldn’t believe anyone could drink coffee in 105 degree weather. Sometimes a man just needs his Colombian brew.

Can I get some Brahms, Beethoven?: Music is one of my passions – particularly classical. You’ll find Chopin, Brahms, Mozart, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Verde, Vivaldi on my iPod mixed with Christian music. I’m the director of music at my church, First Church of the Nazarene in Northville.

If you ask me what I do for a living I’ll tell you that I provide direction for requirements and execution of the software systems that make up the Chevy Volt controls. I’m sure you’re asking, “So what does that mean?” Bottom line – I’m one of the guys who makes sure that from the time you plug in your Volt for charging to the moment you start it up, everything runs safely, smoothly and up to your expectations. We test, test, and retest to make sure we cover every situation that could cause a glitch and throw off the system.

But it’s really even more than that. It’s more than just a job to me. Like most of my fellow team members I’m very passionate about our work, our contribution to this program. We aren’t just coming to work every day to check off the list of tasks we need to accomplish – we see this as our mission and we take it very personally.

I graduated from General Motors Institute, now known as Kettering University. An opportunity to work with hybrid technology brought me to GM five years ago. I found the technology fascinating – I wanted to be part of something new.  I had no idea that it would lead me to one of the biggest programs in the history of the company and the history of the automotive industry for that matter.

For the past few days I’ve been part of the Volt’s three-day, 1200-mile development drive. My role has been to observe what’s working, what’s not working and report back to the team so we can find the solutions to make it better. All of our hard work up to this point has really paid off.  Not a whole lot of surprises. Everything is working well and we’re right on schedule.

This drive has given me a chance to get to know our very wide and extended team better. We’re spending time with people we don’t always see or talk with on a daily basis. There has been a certain sense of excitement in the air about what we’ve accomplished so far. We know there is still more work to do, but now we’re starting to see the finish line. And that’s pretty darn exciting!