Roger W. Burnell | back to Arnell Staff

Education
Mr. Burnell graduated from Cornell University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, minoring in Math, Physics and Business Administration. He received a Master of Science from Stanford University in 1967, specializing in communication systems, and was a candidate for the Ph.D. program in Neurocybernetics prior to the disruptions of the Indo-Chinese conflict.

Mr. Burnell has done additional selective graduate work at Stanford, UCLA, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has taught and/or served on the faculties of Cornell University, Stanford University, Western States College of Engineering, TRW Systems, California State Long Beach, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and has been elected to two National Engineering Honor Societies.

Technical Background
Mr. Burnell has an extensive background in Research, Development, Analysis, Design and Technical Management in both General Engineering and Communications Systems (Aerospace). In the mid 1960’s he was a special assistant to the Executive Vice President for Engineering of Burnell & Co., Inc. Between 1967 and 1981 he held various project management positions on the Technical Staff of TRW Systems Group in Redondo Beach, California, and was responsible for major Subsystems on two sophisticated Government Communication Satellite Systems. During 1971, Mr. Burnell moved to Paris, and served as an American scientist on loan to the European Space Research Organization, managing the design of a portion of their Advanced Aeronautical Satellite Program in Velizy, France.

Business Background
After his return in 1972 Mr. Burnell founded Arnell Enterprises, Inc., a diversified Architecture, Engineering and Real Estate Development Company. The firm began by doing general consulting and residential investing and remodeling. In 1972 Arnell began its own in-house construction program, erecting both new apartments and single family homes in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, California. By 1973, the company was building high-quality custom homes in Manhattan Beach, and received the first of many nominations for Community Beautification Awards.

In 1974 Arnell developed a tract of custom homes in Manhattan Beach, and at the same time was granted the largest construction credit line at Crocker Bank's Riviera Village Division. The firm then expanded its activities to include residential projects in Playa Del Rey and its first multi-family, condominium complex in Redondo Beach. In 1979 Arnell began its exclusive and highly successful line of custom English Tudor and New England Colonial residences in Manhattan Beach.

In 1981 Mr. Burnell became a special consultant to TRW, allowing him more time to manage Arnell’s day-to-day operations, and to oversee project development for the firm’s new business activities. Thereafter, Arnell commenced major development projects in Scottsdale, Arizona and South Florida which included commercial centers ("The Delray Plaza"), large condominium projects (the 180-unit "Scotsdale Haciendas"), and custom residential estates ("The Estates at Carefree").

In 1982 Mr. Burnell was invited to join Hermenet Inc. of San Francisco by its founder - Dr. Fernando Flores, the prior Finance Minister of Chile - as a Management Consultant, later becoming V.P. for Corporate Development for Dr. Flores next company, Logonet, Inc. In that capacity, he developed, conducted and supervised specialized management training programs and individualized consulting for a number of the top Fortune companies and their executives in the field of Organizational Communications and Corporate Effectiveness.

Clients included:
AT&T, The American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), Baxter Int'l, Bell Laboratories, Adolph Coors Co., Citicorp, Digital Equipment Corporation, Dupont, Exxon, First Interstate Bank, Hewlett Packard, IBM, ITT, Lockheed, The Mt. Sinai Hospital Faculty/Staff (NYC), Marriott Corporation, Memorex, McDonalds, McDonnell Douglas, MCA Corporation, Monsanto, Motorola, NASA, Nutrasweet, Oppenheimer, Prudential, Quest, Security Pacific Bank, Syntex Corporation, TRW, The Universities of Michigan, Texas and Southern California, Wang Laboratories, The World Bank, and a number of City, County, and State governments as well as agencies of the Federal Government.

During this transition, Mr. Burnell adjusted Arnell’s focus from that of a diversified development company to a management/holding company specializing in selected commercial properties. New acquisitions included the North Oaks Plaza in Thousand Oaks, California (1984), the 5000 California Avenue in Bakersfield (as majority owner, 1986) and The Reedley Shopping Center near Fresno (1986).

He continued his professional interests when Dr. Flores founded Logonet, Inc. of Emeryville, serving as Vice President of Corporate Development from 1986 to 1989. In 1990 he founded Human Resource International, dedicated to providing diversified services to corporate management in the emerging field of Ontological Design. With over 21,000 students, he still teaches and consults for corporations and Executive Managers in this field, and is the author of a forthcoming book on this subject, entitled “Communication and Commitment - Rediscovering the Foundation of American Business.”

Since 1992, Mr. Burnell has allocated a majority of his time to overseeing Arnell’s commitment to remodel and fortify its commercial investments into a long-term annuity portfolio. In December 1994, he became the President and Executive Director of RollerDome, Inc., a diversified Roller-Sports Facility whose charter facility was opened in Thousand Oaks, Ca. in 1995. He has received numerous offers to expand, and franchise this business, including from well-known professional hockey figures. Through the RollerDome project Mr. Burnell became nationally known in this field, and has offered consulting services "pro bono" to assist many similar businesses around the country. In 1998 his firm completed the acquisition of the Menlo Office Plaza - an entire city block of downtown Menlo Park, California. In June 2000, Arnell announced its new business plan, directed toward designing and developing high-quality Office Plazas in prime mid-peninsula communities. This resulted in the Award-winning Camino Altos and Alliance Plazas, and the innovational mixed-use Seville Plaza.

More recently Arnell is now completing the restoration of two historical buildings in downtown San José, has prepared to commence the major renovation of a strategically-located shopping center in Sunnyvale, followed by large mixed use residential projects in the Mountain View – Los Altos Corridor.

Personal / Community
Mr. Burnell has become licensed as a General Contractor, Real Estate Broker, Deep Water Diver, Commercial Pilot, and FAA Certified Flight Instructor. He lives with his wife and two daughters in his ‘dream home’ which he and his designer wife envisioned and built in 1987 in Los Altos Hills, California. He has been long active in local government, serving the cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills in a number of capacities, including Chairman of Community Relations for seven years, Chairman of Community Awards for thirteen years, Chairman of the government's Education Committee, Chairman of Task Committees, City Webmaster, and Editor of the City Newsletter. In 1994 he was awarded a United States Congressional Citation by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo in recognition of a number of his voluntary Community activities. He has been an active member of the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, the Los Altos Village Association, the Palo Alto YMCA, and as a one-time thespian and musician, the American Musical Theater of San José. He is a Founder of the Los Altos Community Foundation, a Member of the Advisory Board to Women's Initiative, a member of the Board of the San Jose Property-based Business Improvement District (PBID), and a member of the Los Altos Golf and Country Club.

His current passions include the country of Spain (he has traced a vein of his relatives to Barcelona, circa 1492), Spanish (he spends a month each year studying and immersing himself in the language and culture of Spain, tennis (an avid player), and music (a one-time clarinetist, pianist, and singer, he is currently 'brushing up' and expanding his childhood collection into a library of diversified, re-mastered, studio music). In 2009 he surprised himself and many friends by recently becoming a committed dog trainer; he has led his 2 year-old Golden Retriever, Curry, through nearly 30 AKC (American Kennel Club) events in the past year, with a series of amazing results.

Mr. Burnell recently endowed a perpetual, “full-ride,” four-year Scholarship at Columbia University (The Lewis G. Burnell Memorial Scholarship), in honor of his father, who was himself admitted during the Great Depression, the beneficiary of a uniquely assembled “Dean’s Scholarship,” for which he was required to re-apply annually; a special arrangement made possible only through the combined generosity of Columbia and other committed donors. Lewis cooperated and capitalized, graduating both President and Valedictorian of the Class of 1932.