CHANGEMAKER: Ron Ilog, Bill Moore & Associates
Our Changemakers are rainmakers!
This series recognizes the employees of CSA member companies who have chosen to give a percentage of their paycheck every month to the California Sign Association. We salute these individuals for their commitment to a better industry for all of us in California!
Featured Changemaker: Ron Ilog, Estimating Manager for Bill Moore & Associates, Bay Area, CA
“The Signs That Led Me Here”
Born in San Francisco in the early 80’s & a lifelong resident of The Bay Area, I was raised by immigrant parents from The Philippines. An early appreciation for sports logos and music album covers lead me to pursue a career in Graphic Design. 
Upon graduating from San Jose State University during the depths of the 2007 recession, I found myself struggling to find full time work which led to years of freelancing as an event curator of art & live music events across The Bay, while picking up small Graphic Design projects on the side by creating logos, t-shirts & flyers. The need for a full-time job caused me to pivot to the wine industry, working as a sales & marketing liaison for a few years. However, my desire to pursue a creative field endured. In a breakthrough moment for my career, I landed a role working in apparel branding with a company servicing overseas production for clients including The North Face, Nike, Adidas & Levi’s in 2015. An opportunity that I thought would be the start of the career I dreamt of; to be able to produce apparel branded goods for some of the world’s top sportswear companies. It was a role that I dedicated all my energy and sacrificed countless overtime hours for, only to be spit out by inexperienced micro-management and toxic corporate culture a year later.
As years passed and roles changed, I began to appreciate the importance of working with good people. Every hardworking employee wants to feel recognized and trusted in their ability to do their job. That type of culture can only be grown and spread from the top down. In 2018, I began working with Bill Moore & Associates in Albany, California. I would soon learn that the company’s President, Skip Moore, and Vice President, Alastair Cumming ,were responsible for designing the ROSS DRESS FOR LESS logo around the time I was born in the early 80’s. This holds a significance to my story because growing up my parents would take me to ROSS for back to school shopping. As my appreciation for logos and lettering grew, that glowing blue ROSS logo became symbolic of my childhood & memories shared hunting for bargains with my family.
The culture I found myself in at BMA is one that I feel is key when working in the sign industry. Working with people that take pride in their work but understand that there is more to life than work. A culture that values and rewards hard work but also treats everyone they interact with respect. Skip Moore always advocates for CSA and the support the collective sign community provides. If I could offer any words of advice to the signage community facing the clients and vendors on a daily basis, it would be to “Remember to treat your vendors with the same respect you treat your clients”.
About CSA Team
CSA’s Executive Director, Roy Flahive, has worked within the sign industry for more than 50 years. He served an apprenticeship in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), owned his own sign company for almost 30 years and he is well-known and highly respected in the sign industry, having served on numerous boards, including those of the International Sign Association (ISA), San Diego Area Lighting Advisory Council, Arizona Sign Association, Western States Sign Council, San Diego Mayors Sign Code Task Force, and UL’s Industry Advisory Committee. Notably, Flahive has twice been elected President (Chairman of the Board) of CSA and has served over 30 years on that board.
Cheryl Flahive, CSA’s Director of Member Services, has worked within the sign industry for over 33 years; twenty of those years, as vice president of a sign company in southern California. She has served in various administrative roles, from finance to project management, and is dedicated to helping CSA members at all levels.
The CSA Communications Committee, made up of committed industry leaders, works in a behind the scenes capacity, to keep CSA members educated and informed.