Gary Tolar, President
In 1970, Gary began his career in the fabrication business as a certified American Welding Society welder for Century Plastics. Over the next several years Gary expanded his knowledge to include operation of fabrication machinery, reading blueprints and architectural drawings and purchasing. Eventually, Gary became the vice president of manufacturing for a major Southern California fabricator.
In 1991, Gary founded Tolar Manufacturing Company™ as a California corporation focused on designing and fabricating bus shelters, outdoor advertising displays and street furniture to meet the needs of public transit passengers, government agencies/municipalities and the out of home advertising industry. Tolar Manufacturing Company’s™ first contract was to produce 300 bus stop shelters in the San Diego market for Gannet Outdoor, the nation’s largest outdoor advertising company.
Since its founding, Tolar Shelters™ has outgrown two manufacturing plants and now operates out of a 53,000 square-foot company-owned facility in Corona, California. Tolar Manufacturing Company™ remains focused on the design and fabrication of transit shelters for bus stop waiting areas, outdoor advertising digital and static display kiosks, solar bus stop solutions and related outdoor structure public space amenities to meet the needs of its clients across North America.
Patrick Merrick, Executive Vice-President
Patrick joined Tolar Manufacturing Company™ in 2001 bringing with him a diverse resume that included four years’ experience in public transportation marketing and passenger amenities. He also spent time working with non-profit organizations that work cooperatively with public agencies. Additionally, Patrick’s career includes 15 years in retail management.
A member of Tolar Shelters™ executive team and a direct report to the company president, Patrick is responsible for Tolar Manufacturing Company’s™ sales, marketing, customer service, engineering and product development functions. His primary focus is serving both clients and prospective customers by openly listening to their needs and communicating their visions in a clear manner across all company departments.
George Golden CPA, Controller
George joined the Tolar team in 2013 and has over 30 years experience as a Certified Public Accountant. He has been a partner in a local CPA firm and previously owned an accounting firm for 20 years. Prior to joining Tolar Manufacturing™, George spent 14 years as the Controller/Chief Financial Officer for companies in the automotive and collections industries. George holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with emphasis in accounting.
George currently leads the accounting, purchasing, document control, human resources and information technology (IT) portions of Tolar Manufacturing Company™ and is a member of the company’s executive team.
Gabriel Guzman, Operations Manager
Gabriel joined Tolar Manufacturing Company’s™ production floor in 2001 and has continually progressed within the organization.
With a can-do attitude and a commitment to delivering only the highest quality products to clients, Gabriel is responsible for production planning and leads a team of committed employees who ensure that Tolar Shelters™ highly trained craftsmen have the appropriate tools and best quality materials required to fabricate best-in-class products.
Scott Williams, Business Development Manager
Scott joined the Tolar team in 2015 bringing with him extensive public transit and public procurement expertise. Prior to joining Tolar Manufacturing™, Scott served as Vice President, Business Development at Keolis Transit America where he developed long term customer relationships, managed the public procurement compliance process and implemented solutions for transit agencies across the United States. His experience providing proactive and responsive service especially helps Tolar’s public agency clients to achieve a positive public image throughout the purchase, design and production of public transit shelters and passenger amenities. Scott has earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration at California State University, Long Beach and obtained his undergraduate degree in Political Science at University of California, Irvine.
Scott is responsible for sales and project management for new and existing Tolar Shelters™ clients in the public transportation and public agency marketplace within the eastern United States.
Eli joined Tolar Manufacturing Company™ in 2007 as the company’s lead designer. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in engineering, systems and design. Eli’s experience, in addition to being an award winning transit shelter designer (Auto Desk IOM 2012) includes 15 years in the automotive industry in the area of aftermarket accessories. Eli is also a City of Los Angeles certified quantity control inspector.
An AutoCAD user since high school, Eli has grown his resume while at Tolar Manufacturing™ to include being responsible for the design and development of many distinctive outdoor street furniture projects. In the fall of 2012 that experience, including his unique ability to mentor and grow the engineering team, led to his promotion to engineering manager. Eli now leads a six-person engineering and design team that is responsible for product integrity, creating work orders based on customer specifications, and R&D. The team also supports the sales, operations and purchasing departments.
Importantly, the engineering team, in support of the company president, manages the extensive quality control process at Tolar Manufacturing Company™.
Ernest Romero, Jr., Quality Control Manager
Ernest is no stranger to public transit. He grew up in Ontario, California, and fondly remembers sitting at bus stops under the shelter’s shade, waiting for the bus to take him to school and around town. Now, Ernest plays a key role in the manufacturing of those very bus shelters.
As a first-generation college student, Ernest Romero attended ITT Technical Institute, where he achieved the honor of class Valedictorian. He then pursued further studies in mechanical engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He began his career at Tolar Manufacturing Company in 2011 as an Engineering Assistant. Ernest quickly moved up the ranks, advancing his skills in both of Tolar’s engineering and manufacturing software, and is now a UL 48 Electric Sign certified Senior Design Engineer, leading some of the company’s most complex and prestigious design projects.
Among Romero’s notable accomplishments is serving as the lead designer for over 700 bus shelters throughout San Diego County, showcasing four unique designs for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit District (SDMTS). He also produced engineering packages for LA Metro’s BRT service, a shelter project for the University of Southern California (USC), and, most recently, created design and fabrication packages for the City of Fresno’s downtown civic center, among many other projects. Importantly, Romero thinks beyond the aesthetic requirements and material specifications of projects, recognizing the economic realities of how the operations team at transit agencies across North America will install and maintain our company’s shelters and related street furniture.
As Tolar Manufacturing’s™ Quality Control Manager, Ernest is responsible for ensuring that all departments adhere to the company’s Quality Control Manual, including overseeing Tolar’s quarterly self-audits and its annual outside audit. He is also responsible for leading Tolar Manufacturing Company’s rigorous Clark County Fabricator certification and City of Los Angeles Fabricator certification, while maintaining relationships with external consultants and auditors. Additionally, Ernest is responsible for quality inspections, quality control, routine quality training, and ensuring all departments comply with the Tolar Quality Systems Manual. He is a direct report to company president Gary Tolar.
Ernest Romero, Jr. was also named in Mass Transit Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” in September 2018. He was selected from more than 150 nominations across the nation, representing transit professionals with proven records of accomplishment and who are making a difference in the industry.
