Edgar Ruiz

• Conduct an assessment of the clients needs and provide information as to different pathways to achieve their immigration goals to legally reside and work in the U.S.
• Translate into English documents required by USCIS and EOIR for immigration procedures and applications as well as support/evidence provided by clients for their cases.
• Accompany clients to their USCIS interviews if needed.
• Provide clients with in depth information and recommendations to optimize their outcomes.
• Facilitate communication between clients and government agencies for application processing.
• Train interpreters for providing services at USCIS interviews.

• The company was initially founded in 2001 and was at first mostly involved with providing medical interpretation services to Utah Health Institutions and Providers. University of Utah, Intermountain Health and the State of Utah were among our major contracts. The company later expanded operations into surrounding Western states providing Over The Phone (OTP) interpretation services to a more diverse clientele, including Utah Attorney General and Law Enforcement.
• Initially, as a Medical Interpreter, I facilitated oral communication between EN<>SP speakers in hospital/clinical settings.
• I later translated written materials, documents, contracts, bank advertisement brochures, written material for different Utah government departments and dependencies, bank brochures, technical manuals, training manuals, and an array of different kinds of projects, always ensuring accuracy and cultural relevance.
• I helped clients in understanding complex legal and medical terminologies.
• I provided real-time interpretation during meetings and conferences, enhancing collaboration.

• Grupo Occidental OCB was a multinational group of corporations based in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Over 20 companies formed the Group. OCB mainly ventured in Agricultural and Industrial Services providing equipment, machinery, importing livestock, and providing Consultancy Services to ranchers and farmers in Venezuela and Colombia. The company was also active in the Construction Industry, providing sales and rentals of construction machinery and equipment. In addition, OCB owned a dairy plant and livestock feed plant in the Lake Maracaibo region. In addition to managing international communications for the Corporate Management Teams, I translated business contracts, proposals, bids, etc. I frequently had to travel to the U.S. to train in the operation and service of an array of mechanical and computerized systems (i.e. from sewage maintenance trucks, to computer assisted cattle feeding systems and milking systems, to name a few different items). I started as a simple translator and interpreter at OCB and became part of their International Business Management Team handling all English<>Spanish communication needs. As of 2003, the year I moved back to the U.S., I was in charge of incorporating and operating OCB's VitaSalute Nutrition LLC, a company selling its own line of health supplements as well as pharmaceuticals to South America. I personally translated, and was involved in the design of all product literature in Spanish (for the South American market). I was with the company for 38 years until it dissolved in December 2007. Despite my responsibilities with OCB, the nature of my work still allowed me to commit to other activities and work for other employers (and/or develop my own clientele).
• Translated diverse documents, ensuring cultural relevance and linguistic accuracy.
• Interpreted complex conversations in real-time, facilitating clear communication between parties.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop tailored translation solutions for various industries.
• Reviewed and edited translated materials for consistency and adherence to client specifications.

• Translated academic texts, ensuring clarity and cultural relevance.
• Collaborated with faculty to enhance translation accuracy and fidelity.
• Reviewed and edited translated materials for consistency and quality.
• Developed glossaries of specialized terminology for various disciplines.
• Mostly oriented to scientific abstracts and research summary reports that were to be published abroad (in English).
• Having studied four years of Biology which provided me with a strong background in Research Methodology was a plus when I competed for this position.

• Maersk (A.P. Moller Maersk Group) is a multinational corporation involved in a vast array of worldwide commercial activities from shipping, cargo, land transport and airline operations, to oil drilling activities, and much more. The company's main headquarters are in Copenhagen, Denmark. I worked for the Venezuelan subsidiary Maersk Drilling Venezuela, S.A. , where I learned much about the complexity of Oil Drilling Rig Operations. I spent 15 days on and 15 days off the Maersk Viking V Jack-Up Oil Rig from 1990-1993.
• On the rig, my main functions were as an English<> Spanish interpreter between the American/European Operational Management Team (Rig Supervisors), the Venezuelan Rig Superintendency (Production Supervisors) that worked for Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and the Venezuelan Drilling Crew Members (Syndicated Oil Industry Workers).
• The Spanish speaking PDVSA production supervisors would give operational directives to the English speaking Maersk Rig Supervising Team, and the latter, in turn, had to give orders to the Spanish speaking drilling crew.
• Communication was very complex and needed to be precise due to the high risk environment of oil drilling rig operations. The end goal was to minimize human error and maximize safety while optimizing operation/production.
• I had to translate written operational orders given by PDVSA and translate them from Spanish to English to provide to Maersk's Rig Supervisors.
• I had to then translate Maersk's RS clarification enquiries into Spanish to provide them to PDVSA.
• Then write up a bilingual certificate of approval for both parties to sign.
• Provide oral interpretation and written notes as required by Maersk's RS team to the drilling crew in Spanish.
• Interpret oral clarification enquiries between the RS and drilling crew, making minutes of the exchange and having the parties involved initialize said minutes. All minutes were bilingual EN<>SP.
• Interpret daily work meetings between RS and Drilling Crew at beginning of each shift.

As of May 1993, I resigned from Drilling Operations after witnessing the Planta Lama explosion (a natural gas plant located 1/2 a mile way from the location of the Viking V Jack-Up rig where I was stationed.). 106 people died. I was asked by Maersk to help injured English speaking personnel and Spanish speaking health providers communicate with each other. This was my first contact with Medical Interpretation and Translation.

After finishing with this assignment, I started working remotely, from my home office, assisting the company with the translation of bid processes, administrative and operational contracts, technical manuals, safety and contingency protocol manuals, legal material, etc.

I worked for Maersk as an independent contractor until my departure from Venezuela in February 2003 (By Venezuelan law I had to reside in the country to be a contractor for Maersk, who in turn was a contractor of PDVSA/The Venezuelan State).