Robert W. Foy, a 1955 Paly graduate, became Chairman of the Board for many different organizations and companies, attributes his success to his years at Palo Alto High School and the Palo Alto community in general.
“I always wanted to be a business man,” Foy says. “I’m competitive, and I want to win, and I never regretted the day that I decided to study the subject.”
Moving from his hometown of San Francisco in the 4th grade to Palo Alto, Foy spent most of his childhood and teenage life in Palo Alto.
“Palo Alto was a great city when I went there,” Foy remarked. “It was a quiet town, almost like a family, there was no crime, and you could leave your windows open and the doors unlocked all the time.”
During Foy’s time at Paly, besides working on academics, he was involved in sports and other student council related activities.
“I was the sports commissioner at Paly during my senior year, and throughout my time at Paly, I played various sports including basketball and cross country,” Foy said.
Foy believes that his time at Paly greatly contributed to him and helped him throughout his life. Paly taught him how to use the skills that he already had, instead of focusing on the subjects, and it gave him lessons which he still uses today.
“After graduating from Paly, college was a walkthrough.” Foy said. “Paly taught me how to think and study, so going to college was a fairly easy time for me.”
Foy attended San Jose State University after graduating from Paly. He received a Bachelor of Science degree, focusing on business and industrial management. He also received various honors during his time at SJSU, including University Distinction Award, College of Business Honors, and the Outstanding Male Graduate of the Class of 1959.
After graduating from SJSU, Foy was required to attend the Army, and went into the ROTC program. From there, he rose to the rank of Captain in the Infantry section of the United States Army.
After finishing his tour of duty, Foy attended a two-year management trainee program with the Continental Can Company. After completing the assignment, he moved to Stockton and assumed the position of Purchasing Agent for the company.
After a few years, he became associated with the Pacific Storage Company, and held the position of CEO from 1977 through 1995.
“I felt entrepreneurial working with the Pacific Storage Company.” Foy said. “I had to employ out of the box ideas to help get things done.”
In 1996, Foy was elected to serve as the Chairman of the Board of the California Water Service Group.
Today, Foy is very proud of the work that he has done throughout the various companies he has been part of, and believes he can do much more to help.
“I don’t believe that we have problems in our business, but challenges that we need to overcome,” Foy said. “We get indications that there is something to do, and then we go and figure out how to do it.”
California Water Service Group currently gets 50% of its water supply from government owned facilities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the other 50% is from wells that the company owns itself.
“Some current competitors that we have are other investor owned water utility companies, and also municipalities.” Foy said. “For example, when people move to a new city, sometimes they are required to buy the water from us, so it is our job to make sure that we are always customer oriented.”
Aside from being Chairman for the California Water Service Group, he is also on the Board for many other charities and organizations, including Chairman of the St. Joseph’s Regional Health System in Stockton, and a Founding Trustee for the University of California, Merced.
With his busy schedule, he still finds time to go backpacking, collect wine, read, restore his 1941 Ford GP Army Jeep, and run intercollegiate athletics at San Jose State University.