James Matz — Builder of Cars & JOC Programs

By: Darra Kubera, Director of Communications

January 5, 2023

James Matz is a self-proclaimed car aficionado, a relationship counselor, and a proud father and husband. As a pioneer of the rapid procurement process, job order contracting (JOC), he unites his passions to create better tools and experiences for government agencies and the constituents they support. 

James is a remote employee based out of California, and I’m in Buffalo, so we connect virtually. I already knew he was a car aficionado, but I didn’t fully grasp his love for cars until I saw the artwork situated behind him in his office. In addition to a “hot rods on the tarmac” framed poster, I notice a print hanging just below. “That’s my car, a historic racecar from the 50’s on the Bonneville Salt Flats,” James tells me. A densely packed salt pan in northwestern Utah, Bonneville is famous for being the location of many land speed records. “I’ve had over forty cars; right now, I have a Toyota FJ40 that I’m restoring with my daughter. Currently, my personal project is a 1965 Ford F100, which is an old U.S. Navy truck. I have a 1927 Ford Model T salt flat car and I’ve built everything from off-roads to imports to European to muscle cars. I was also a part of 59 club, an international historic motorcycle club, but it was a part of my marriage agreement I wouldn’t ride motorcycles anymore.”

James goes on to tell me about his family, “My son is a journeyman electrician and is actually working on projects in Orange County that I estimated years ago, which is pretty cool. My daughter, a special education teacher, is the one who got into building cars — she’s on her seventh car.”

Hearing he worked on estimating projects, I ask James to tell me about his career journey. “I’ll start at the beginning. My mom was a third-generation farmer rancher and a true firecracker. My dad was from Ohio and the wild child of a super successful lawyer; he ended up in the army before they discovered he was extremely smart so he became an engineer. He met my mom and was hired to be an engineer for the Space Race, but he died in a car accident when I was 18 months old.” Because of this, James spent summers with his uncle in Texas. “He pushed me really hard, but I learned how to get things done. I didn’t realize this until I was older, but he only had a few weeks with me each year and he sincerely wanted to raise me right.” 

When James was 18, he tried going into the Air Force but they said he had a bad back. “I ended up going to trade school for air conditioning, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I used to street race and had the driving record to match. This meant I couldn’t get a job driving a service truck because I couldn’t pass that background check to have a company car. So I ended up becoming a stationary engineer.”

Around that time, computers were an up-and-coming technology. James pointed out to his boss that they could put maintenance schedules and other data onto a floppy disc. “My boss was thrilled I knew computers, so then I became an assistant chief engineer. I moved to Toyota and was putting together an El Nino plan that protected several of their facilities quickly and easily, saving them millions of dollars in disaster recovery. Then I was made regional manager for all field facilities. That position had me travelling four days a week which was great until I started having kids. Then I was put in charge of the largest single-footprint building, the NAPPC, which had a single footprint of over 1.7 million square feet.”

While in that position, James was able to proactively implement state-of-the-art training. “I had a big ‘ol VHS recorder, and I recorded every piece of equipment while having a technician explain each piece of startup to first maintenance. So then if you wanted to be certified to manage that piece of equipment you had to study the video I made and pass a test based on the video. I implemented that across Toyota; I loved it!”

From there they moved James to campus headquarters. “My biggest claim to fame at Toyota was solving the bad perceptions surrounding the facilities department. People thought they were lazy and didn’t accomplish anything. We had a call center where folks could call in broken items, but people felt if they saw an issue they would personally have to repair it. I wanted there to be a schedule of repairs, so I told the VP of Finance that I wanted to make a productivity report. I had monthly or yearly drawings that whoever called in the most repair issues they would get a Toyota swag bag (there was some really cool jackets and things in those). Then people started calling in issues, realizing they weren’t on the hook to do the actual repairs. The call center was revamped to be able to handle repair records, so we’d be able to tell if an issue was already called in or not. This changed the entire perception of the facility management department; it was a huge success that we took across the country.”

James left Toyota to go work at Ford and from there landed at a business management consultant firm focusing on facilities solutions. He helped multiple agency startups implement a job order contracting (JOC) program. “I love JOC. I think when used properly it’s the best tool for government agencies to protect their taxpayers and have a clear, transparent, and accurate spend on projects.” James goes on to tell me that JOC programs take three independent teams to be successful — the agency, the contractor, and the support system. “That’s where FOS comes in. To have a support system like FOS, and be able to run these programs successfully, it creates a win for everybody. FOS is like the conductor, helping everything to work together to get the projects to their final destination of completion.” 

As an account manager for FOS, you partake in a lot of conferences; do you have any favorite networking tips or tricks? “Put yourself out there; be heard. When you go to a conference, sit in the front row, and ask the speaker questions. Creating those conversations can spawn conversations after that session is over so that’s a great way to meet people and build your network. It’s important to be friendly, to listen to other people. Half of our job these days, especially as account managers, is to be a counselor (and not just for matters pertaining to their jobs). If anything, this allows you to meet people you can bounce ideas off of, and that pays dividends.”

James’ helpful nature transcends work; he and his wife actually “share the scar tissue of marriage with young couples” from their church. “Most marriage experiences aren’t unique to you, they’re happening in other homes too. My wife and I help couples share their pain and successes, and ultimately give them tools to use in their own homes.”

Continuing with his natural inclination to build and teach, this upcoming year James is going to be speaking at national events and stepping up as the teaching liaison for the Center for JOC Excellence (CJE) Southern California chapter. When talking to James, it’s hard not to be excited about what JOC is and how it can help organizations. His uniquely personal combination of life experiences and career highs are a true inspiration, and I can’t wait to see what he builds next.