Deborah Billington - Production Coordinator (since 2001)
Deb's attention to detail helps ensure that every piece of equipment is, as she puts it, lovingly crafted to meet our high quality standards. In the past six years she's filled a crucial role in the production department, meeting deadlines with a tenacious work ethic and the understanding that executing quality precision production requires the highest level of perfection from each individual employee in tandem with the efforts of the entire team. Trust, respect and working in a stress-free environment while trail-blazing the development of our award-winning products are what makes every day a pleasure, says Deb.

Valerie Kester - Assembly Technician  (since 2005)
Valerie has proven that high-caliber employees such as herself truly make the difference at Millennia, and her attitude reflects the positive mindset we have here. We look forward to having her here for many more years. As Valerie put it, I'm working for the best company, with the best people, making the best products. Life is good!

Brian Smith - Assembly Technician  since (since 2004)
Brian's one of the younger members of our family, but by no means unskilled. After getting on board with Millennia, Brian's taken his assembly training to another level and has held up our quality standards with flying colors. With a great personality, Brian's always a great individual to have in any work environment, and we're honored to have him as part of our elite staff. It's a great first job to learn about quality, Brian says, What I really like about Millennia is that here, my opinion counts! We all have credibility.

Pearl Franklin - Assembler (since 2005)
Pearl has a variety of tasks to accomplish at Millennia, ranging anywhere from inventory control to circuit board testing. There are endless amounts of processes and protocols that we have forced ourselves to follow to guarantee the best equipment in the industry, and Pearl, like everyone here, is well rehearsed in a multitude of tasks. My employer is great, my co-workers are great, and our products are great, says Pearl. I couldn't ask for a better job

Pearl is a fan of technology and recreation, taking interest in video games, movies and music while enjoying the great outdoors camping. A pet lover, Pearl has four dogs and four cats, all of whom she loves spending time with

Ian Swanke - Product Specialist & Trade Show Representative (since 2002)
Ian's contributions to the company are varied and numerous. An expert with an extensive and well-rounded portfolio here at Millennia, Ian's at every trade show and convention representing our products with a friendly combination of enthusiasm and approachability.

After employment with several multi-national corporations, Ian opted for the family atmosphere at Millennia Media and the small business focus that it remains faithful to.

There's nothing better than driving back from the L.A. NAMM convention and being greeted by a hot bowl of chili or fresh pesto made by the boss (JL) himself, says Ian. Millennia is my all time favorite company to work for, bar none.

Ian resume boasts supervisory experience as an Executive Clerk to Charles Schwab and a Proxy Administrator for Barclays Global Investors. A jack of all trades, Ian plays guitar and bass for various bands, and holds titles as a contributing writer to Tape Op, 2nd Engineer/Production Assistant on a 2003 Grammy Nominated Album, Video Game Score Composer and is also a sound designer. Ian's passions are as extensive as his skill-set, his interests include philosophy, economics, quantum physics, classic guitar, music composition, nature, traveling, humanity and, of course, audio engineering.

Peggy Smith - Operations manager (since 1994)
Peggy first got started with Millennia when two products - the 2 and 4 channel HV-3 pre-amps - were Millennia's only offerings on the market. She has worked tirelessly as our company has grown over the past decade, and has volumes of Millennia experience in various facets of the company. Peggy tackles the building, testing, repairs and shipping of our products and knows the company from the inside out and back again. I've seen great changes with Millennia through years of steady growth, says Peggy. I love my job and I love working with my fellow technicians and employees. I enjoy talking with engineers, maestros and professionals within the recording industry.

Stephan Buck - Engineering, Chief Engineer, Project Manager (since 2005)
Stephan shares engineering responsibilities with our founder John La Grou, including new product designs such as the Remote Pre-amp and 2-Channel ADC. A walking Millennia encyclopedia, Stephan provides support for existing designs such as the STT-1, HV3 C/D and TD-1 to name a few. Pulling from over 30 years experience in the electronics industry, Stephan's arsenal of skills grow from past industry positions ranging through the entire electronics spectrum - Technician up through Engineering and on to Department Manager reporting directly to the GM. Stephan got his start in studio recording and sound reinforcement, but embraced an opportunity in the R&D lab at Silicon Systems, Inc.

The diversion to Silicon Systems gave Stephan the chance to learn analog, digital and mixed signal design from chip layout, SPICE modeling, device characterization and system design. Originally a custom house, Stephan worked on a number of ground-breaking products such as the NRAO VLA array, a touch light, DTMF decoder on-a-chip, voice synthesis, a recording chip, a toy organ on-a-chip, a digital caliper and also disk drive components. He's worked on over a hundred different designs of all types, and even wire-wrapped a minicomputer. Stephan eventually wound up in modem design doing firmware/system design and testing. He was the technical interface for a business that grew from $15M to $55M under his watch as Modem System Engineering Manager. He also managed LAN Systems, the company responsible for 10/100 PC Card LANs and Home Networking products/support.

It didn't stop there. Co-owning a wireless ISP, Stephan installed the first community public WISP in Nevada City, CA before finally gracing us here at Millennia. Stephan wears many hats for us here at Millennia and says this is a fun place to work and great people to work with. I'm always busy and it seems there is always something interesting to do, he says.

Stephan's an outstanding individual to work with, and shares a love for music and the outdoors with just about everyone here at Millennia, playing his guitar when he can, while hiking, fishing, or working on his ranch in his free time.

Carlene Wise - Engineering Technician (since 2005)
Carlene has over 25 years experience in the electronics field and has done everything from assembly work to printed circuit board design. She undertakes a number of different jobs here at Millennia, and says her job is never boring. Working with engineers on the ground level of new developments are a few of the things Carlene says she loves about being here.

Millennia Media is a great place to work, Carlene says. The relaxed atmosphere and team work are the best. After living and working in the Bay Area for many years it was nice to find a job in the same career field.

Carlene is taking advantage of the change of scenery up here, and enjoys hiking to explore her new environment. You may even find her jumping out of planes in her free time.

Wayne Colliander (since 2003)
Responsible for final testing and inspection of our products prior to shipping, Wayne oversees the preparation of products received from our assembly facility, which includes final assembly and functional testing pre-burn-in. Once Wayne determines that our highest standards have been met, he initiates a 24-hour minimum burn-in cycle all products must be processed through. In charge of a crucial step in the production and overall process here at Millennia, Wayne's incredible scrutiny of our products and his complete knowledge of our products help produce the highest caliber work in the industry.

Wayne's extensive background in the field makes him the man for just about any job, including customer repairs and technical support as well. Before settling down in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Wayne held a position with Teledyne in Mountain View, CA working in various capacities for 34 years. Graduating with a degree in Microwave Communications Electronics, Wayne started out as a microwave technician building components and eventually earning the position as a Product Line Sustaining Engineer. Wayne later enjoyed 13 years as a Quality Engineer working on High Reliability Military and Commercial Space Components, including products such as the Texas Instruments HARM Missile, Stinger Missile, Space Shuttle Telemetry Antenna Switch Matrix and a number of other satellite systems for customers in Japan, India, Europe and the United States. As Quality Engineer he implemented an effective Statistical Process Control program, was ESD control co-coordinator, crafting and writing policies and procedures as necessary as well as performing in-process and final inspections in HR Clean Room inspecting tolerances as tight at 0.0003”.

Wayne is a fan of Amateur Radio and an avid archer. He also enjoys bench rest target rifle and, of course, music of all sorts. Well, almost all sorts. A big fan of classical and jazz, Wayne  plays the trumpet and sings in choir and is also currently learning classical guitar.

Lisa Chavez- Assembler (since 2006)
Lisa is an El Dorado County local born in Placerville and native to the Sierra Nevada Foothills. First jumping into the electronics field with a little help from her sister in 1988, Lisa has acquired over 15 years experience in precision electronics. With occupations ranging from plastics to military-standard operations at Milliwave, we’re honored to have Lisa on our closely-knit Millennia team. 

An avid fisher and fan of photography, Lisa says her favorite part about working at Millennia is the feel of family.

Adriana Loy - Procurement Manager (since 2007)
Adriana moved to the United States in 2006 with her husband and their two sons. Previously living in Romania, Adriana graduated from the largest Petroleum University in Europe and worked as a Maintenance Engineer for two years. It was there she discovered and became familiar with the logistics of the supply-chain field. She developed her skills with Unilever and over a period of 9 years she assimilated herself into the business world and made sure to take every opportunity to learn new concepts while tenaciously following her goal of being the best in an intense and highly competitive field. Mastering the protocols of purchasing, transportation, warehousing, import and export control and managing people with care while allocating resources simultaneously. 

I strongly believe that a happy and successful manager is one who is leading a strong and smart team - so I am enjoying this process of team building and training, Adriana says. She has picked up a wide variety of business skills she utilizes every day for us here at Millennia. Pulling from experience with the Quality Control Team at Pepsi Co. and ING, Adriana takes her position as Procurement Manager for Millennia seriously and with a smile. Her skill set aids her in the search for efficiency and cost-management with the parts that comprise our high-quality products. 

Adriana enjoys her rapidly changing lifestyle, stating that she hates to get bored and that her spare time is used up with her high-energy family. They enjoy outdoor sports, dancing or cooking together, and are the wonderful kind of family that will point at a location on a map and simply get out there and do it! Millennia is grateful to have her personality as a bonus in addition to her incredible work ethic.

Jay Fagerlie - Production Technician (since 2006)
Jay is a key component of Millennia Media's elite production team. Like everyone at Millennia, Jay's high-caliber work is a reflection of his dedication to perfection.

It's a matter of pride, says Jay. I'm proud to say that I work for a company like Millennia Media, and that we make the absolute best products in the world. That statement comes with a lot of responsibility, we've got to always go the extra mile.

Jay's electronics career began in the Metrology Lab working for the United States Air Force, and has crossed into a medley of different fields. His career continued beyond the military as he has worked under DOD contract with Raytheon Support Services and the Bionetics Corporation. Jay has also worked in the general aviation industry, testing and repairing autopilot systems and various instruments in private aircraft.

After attacking technical aircraft issues head on, Jay took his expertise into the telecommunications industry, designing and building Windows-based Telecom test equipment. Jay has traveled across the United States and spent time in Brazil offering support for Telecom products before finding a place to call home at Millennia Media.

Jay is a certified Fender technician for Sierra Music in Diamond Springs, and has such an open-door policy when it comes to music that we're beginning to doubt if there's any genre he doesn't appreciate. With such an optimistic attitude and pleasant disposition, it's no surprise to find him supporting local music in the area. From time to time he provides live sound reinforcement for local shows as well as mobile recording services for the Foothill Area. Customers have included the American River Folk Society and the Veterans Hall in Placerville.