Our Story

Blue Arroyo Partners was created in 2012 when the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) needed help turning around the troubled $6 billion dollar "BuildLACCD" construction program. The founders, Jim and Judi Cowell, were excited about the opportunity to serve the people of Los Angeles and deliver on the promise of new opportunities for education and employment. Nine years later, Blue Arroyo Partners continues to serve business owners, directors, program managers, presidents and CEOs who want to see their visions come to life with sound business practices and a culture that supports a healthy work/life mix.

As a family with a strong naval tradition, service has always been a core value for Jim and Judi Cowell, so it should be no surprise that they jumped at the opportunity to pass on their knowledge and experience in the fields of facilities and technology. Working with small to medium sized companies, Blue Arroyo Partners leverages decades of business and engineering experience to provide the best in executive coaching, program execution, process optimization, change management, and much more to some of the best and brightest executives and entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles area. Blue Arroyo Partners brings the effective leadership, management and operational techniques learned from our experience at world class organizations like Hewlett-Packard, Caltech, Warner Bros., and the U.S. Navy.

We provide guidance for:

• Facilities and construction executives who are managing the complexities of creating and maintaining facilities strategic to their business while incorporating new building and facilities information systems into their facilities management strategy.
• Technology companies who need help bring their ideas to market. We build programs for companies to launch new technologies and products. 
• Entrepreneurs who need help wading through the chaos of starting a new business and lead them towards creating a practical process to juggle life, daily business operations, and strategic planning to launch and grow a sustainable business.

In the ten years since its creation Blue Arroyo Partners has helped dozens of entrepreneurs, technology companies, and facilities managers move from areas of chaos and distress to new realms of success and productivity. We take a holistic approach to program management, making sure to never forget that people within an organization, and their confidence, is just as important as the industry leading business strategy and processes that are practiced to deliver world class customer experiences.

Our goal is to create a Blue Arroyo community that is passionate about their vision and compassionate to each other. That’s what “guiding the things that bring vision to life” will always mean to us.

Judi Cowell, PE, PMP has over 40 years of strategic planning, sales, engineering, operations and project management experience, specializing in information technologies, process automation, and software development.  Throughout her 29-year career at Hewlett-Packard she managed a wide range of pilot projects that required innovative solutions, including systematically designing programs that launched new products and services into emerging markets.   She leveraged her expertise in managing large programs as Director of Digital Media Operations and Customer Service at Warner Bros., in which she led and grew the digital entertainment services from inception to full scale operations.   As the co-founder and president of Blue Arroyo, she works with clients to develop strategic plans and programs to guide implementation.

Jim Cowell, PE has over 40 years experience in construction management and facilities engineering.  In the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, he was responsible for leading large organizations with an owners perspective in large-scale construction projects, facilities operations, and organizational performance.  Under his leadership as Director of Construction, the LAUSD $12 billion new school construction program was on track to build 130 new schools throughout the District.  As the co-founder of Blue Arroyo he works with consultants and clients to derive key performance indexes and cost analytics, providing solutions to guide future development in accordance with budgets and timelines.