Mr. Ricardo M. Arevalo has been Chief Operating Officer at Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc., a subsidiary of Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. since July 1, 2014. Mr. Arevalo began his career with Simpson Strong-Tie Company Inc. in 1999 at the Simpson Strong-Tie branch in Brea, California, as a Field Sales Engineer for the Wood Strong-Wall. Prior to joining Simpson Strong-Tie, he spent 19 years in private practice as a structural engineer. From 2002 to 2008, he served as Simpson Strong-Tie's Branch Engineering Manager for the Southwest United States. In 2008, he served as Simpson Strong-Tie's Vice President of Engineering and in that capacity he organized and managed the support structure for multiple engineering groups (Connectors, Lateral systems, Fasteners, Anchors, FRP, RPS, Truss and Engineering Services), standardized policies and modernized and expanded research and test capabilities. Mr. Arevalo is a licensed California structural engineer and civil engineer, part-time lecturer in timber design at California Polytechnic University at Pomona and the author of several publications on wood structures. He has represented Simpson Strong-Tie on national television promoting deck safety. He holds degrees from California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo and the University of California at Santa Barbara.