The Phoenix Foundation sign has the words "Western Division" under it.

does anyone recall ever hearing any mention of a "western" or "southern" or any other kind of division?

Does it mean west coast and east coast? or west as in the western world and eastern would be somewhere in Asia?

I remember that the Phoenix Foundation had a clinic in Thailand (Second Chance) but I don't recall it ever being mentioned that there were other offices or research centers.

Hmmm....

I was thinking "Western Division" meant Phoenix Foundation's branch in Los Angeles and maybe there's an Eastern Division in New York or something...
but then it is true that they had that clinic in Thailand- so maybe they DO mean Western and Eastern hemisphere!

Interesting question to ponder- though with the scale of things that Phoenix does, I wouldn't be surprised if they had other branches worldwide- that would seem to make sense- but I always got the impression of there just being the one Phoenix Foundation in LA.....I think this is something that just really wasn't addressed much- but something worth looking into

I'm thinking there were probably multiple divisions or satellite facilities associated witht he Phoenix Foundation. It is more implied than actually explained, but for Phoenix to have multiple divisions located throughtout the country/world makes since as this is a common practice with large corporations. The company I work for is a subdivision of a much larger organization that employs 53,000 people working at different job sites across the US, Europe, Asia and I think in Australia.

Although the show didn't develop the theme of the Phoenix Foundation having multiple divisions in multiple locations, the implication that it does opens the door for some interesting interpretations to those on this forum who wrtie the fanfic stories.

Mac makes mention in 'The Outsiders' of his having spent a lot of time 'in a stuffy [aerospace? Astronaut? AirForce?] testing lab' in Pennsylvania, moments before he wrecked his jeep. One could easily assume that this lab was affiliated with the Phoenix Foundation due to MacGyver's participation.

When I'm watching this scene, all I can think is "Why did Mac drive that jeep all the way from California to Pennsylvania without the topper?

I never payed much attention to it, I always assumed the Western Division of the Phoenix Foundation was like their west wing of the building.

But indeed it could've meant Western Division for being the part of L.A. and maybe indeed New York could be their Eastern wing.

The Phoenix Foundation could indeed have it's branches all over the states. Take CTU for instance. Jack Bauer always says: 'I'm federal agent Jack Bauer from CTU Los Angeles.'
So I guess he has a reason of saying from which state he's from. There could also be a CTU in New York.
All those CSI's has their state names. CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI Las Vegas.

He probably figured: nice weather, let's drive topless.
Imagine that he took a plane and on the way back it crashes.

Hmm hmm hmm. Geez the things that pop into your head Rocky.

I'm thinking... (like others have said) If Los Angeles was the Western Division office (that was a big building) then there is probably one other large building on the East Coast, maybe New York, more likely Washington DC or Bethesda. Then, scattered across the country and world would be smaller research facilities or field offices, where needed as trends or situations arose.

This all leads me to another question. If Pete was the Director of opertations, that implies? that there would have been an ADOP for both divisions and then someone in charge of each field branch? Hmm hmm hmm.

Yeah... my guess is that they made Pete Mac's direct supervisor for reasons of character development and added drama (especially once they realized how well Rick and Dana worked together). There were likely other layers of bureaucracy, as there always are (whether in government, business, or nonprofit), but for simplicity's sake they cut that out.

Also, I sort of got the impression that as a 'special projects' kind of employee, Mac maybe was outside the usual bureaucratic structure.

But to Rocky's question, I also got the impression that Phoenix was a worldwide outfit, with branches in many different places. So I think it would make sense that there would be an "Eastern Division" in the U.S. as well... along with an Asian Division, a European Division, etc.