Work: Chairman/CEO, American Engineering Testing, Inc.
Spouse: deceased
Information update: 04/22/2016

After Duluth Central, I attended UMD in their pre-engineering and geology programs. Fortunately, I was able to pay for my entire college tuition and living expenses by working for an independent laboratory/engineering firm in Duluth called Lakehead Testing Laboratories. The owner of that firm was named Leo Ebert and he was very influential in introducing me to the engineering geology aspects of modern construction. Initially, I thought I wanted to go into the oil industry and to that end; I was scheduled to go to graduate school in Riverside, California upon graduation. Unfortunately, a divorce in my senior year made me very attractive to Uncle Sam's military (Viet Nam was calling). Rather than being drafted, I joined the US Army Reserves located on Park Point and became an officer (note I didn't say a gentleman too!).

After my near eight months of active duty, I returned to Duluth and accepted an offer from Mr. Ebert to work at Lakehead again. Mr. Ebert was connected with a larger firm called Twin City Testing Corporation, which was located in St. Paul. That firm had offices over the upper Midwest and they were looking for younger experienced staff given their rapid expansion. I started my new career in St. Paul in July of 1967. Going from Duluth to St. Paul felt like I went to the Deep South. I was amazed how much earlier spring came, the mildness of their winters and the real heat of summer. The Twin Cities was nothing like our old "air conditioned city".

For the next two years I attended my Army Reserve meetings in Duluth, which meant very frequent trips for training meetings as well as our summer field camps. The Duluth reserve unit was placed on "stepped-up reserve status", which meant we were being considered for deployment to Viet Nam. As it turned out, a unit from Worthington was sent and not our unit. Apparently, our mobile hospital unit (similar to MASH) was not compatible with the jungle! Subsequently, I was transferred to a hospital company in St. Paul at Fort Snelling. I got out of the military six years later in 1972. I do know so many of my classmates went to Viet Nam and served their country and several made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. I salute those who had served over there for all of us. I still wonder how I would have reacted in that environment.

I worked at Twin City Testing from 1967 through 1988 in St. Paul going from a field engineer/geologist to a senior vice president. While there, I met a young lady (Jill Hamilton Dailey) who was working as a summer assistant while she finished college at Hamline University. Knowing a good thing when I saw it, I asked this young lady from Grand Marais to marry me. Jill graduated with honors with a degree in Psychology from Hamline University in 1971, but received her master's degree through the University of Minnesota.

I would have likely stayed at Twin City Testing except it was acquired by a British firm called Huntington International Holdings in 1984. That acquisition taught me more than most of my life experiences, especially the value of being in control of your own destiny. Being in control has its rewards if you can handle the risks. Huntington was a very large chemistry/drug testing laboratory, which typified international firms that grow from acquisition. With a mindset firmly for the bottom line, they slowly encouraged staff to leave and start their own firms.

Some 57 firms spun off from Huntington including a new engineering firm called American Engineering Testing, Inc. I was one of the three original founders of American and served as its president from start- up in December 14, 1989 until this January. I will be the Chairman/CEO for the next couple of years. In the last twenty one years, the firm has grown from a staff of 10 in 1990 to about 340 today. Having experienced an acquisition of a closely held company by a larger foreign company, we quickly transitioned the young firm to an employee-owned ESOP to secure the perpetuation of the firm in the future. The firm has sustained the deaths of two of the founders and still embraces the attitude of staff involvement in professional and business organizations for the benefit and growth of the individual as well as the corporation. Our firm has been twice named "Firm of the Year" by American Council of Engineering Companies-Minnesota.

The sad part of my story is the fact that Jill was challenged throughout her life by early-onset diabetes and the many related maladies. Owing to this fact, we were unsuccessful in bringing three pregnancies to full term. Her many associated health problems (kidney transplant recipient in 1983 by Doctor Najarian at the University of Minnesota and loss of vision associated with vitreal retinopathy); life experiences and empathy qualified her as a highly sought counselor at 3M. Jil