Oh I can see this reply will take at least my lunch break....
I have Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Mechanical Engineering. My dad was a Civil Engineer and he enjoyed his work so I leaned toward engineering; in high school I decided I wanted to pursue Solar Energy and most of that work was in mechanical. University of Florida had the premier Solar Energy research program so I went there; interestingly, the only course I ever took in solar energy was taught in EE (Solar Electrics).
I have my PE license but have never "officially" signed anything off as a PE.
My father was a PE, but he didn't have a degree (that's no longer possible to do, at least in Florida). He couldn't afford to finish college, so he took engineering correspondence courses while working as a draftsman to learn the material; he eventually made partner in his engineering firm. He had the education but not the diploma.
My personal belief is that either a state license or a diploma from an accredited engineering program at a university/college makes you an engineer. I work with alot of pretty smart people who are not engineers, some of whom can do certain engineering functions better than me. I'm not necessarily better or smarter than any of them - I've just been blessed with the opportunity to go to college and get a formal education so that gives me several advantages. The biggest distinction is the range of my capabilities, which is what I thinks distinguishes an engineer - the ability to use the scientific method to solve any problem.
When I graduated from college I worked for TVA at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant directing field modifications to make sure they were in accordance with code. I went from there to McDonnell Douglas Astronautics (now Boeing) in Huntsville designing structures for Spacelab. I came back to Florida to work at Pratt & Whitney designing and building advanced gas turbine engine components (afterburners, nozzles), and I ended up at Perry Technologies designing and analyzing underwater vehicles. One week I'm detailing a mechanism in ProE, the next week I'm performing structural analysis in Nastran or developing my own code for shock loading, the next week I'm doing heat transfer analysis to keep electronics cool. Each time I went to a new job there were designers with tons of experience doing the same thing; if you design pumps for 25 years you'll get pretty good at it, but if that's the limit of your knowledge then that's all you'll be able to do. If something major changes that's outside your experience, you need to understand the "whys" and not just the "whats". I can usually tell who has a degree and who doesn't by the questions they ask.
Dean is no doubt very smart, very gifted, and very good at what he does. I'm sure he educates himself as necessary to make the right decisions. I wouldn't consider him an engineer, but I'd probably hire him anyway
The best person for a particular job may not be an engineer.