ABOUT US

CEO | Board Chair

Ken Krei

Ken has spent his career as an executive in technology and financial service companies. In addition to his current roles at LiquidCool Solutions, Inc., Ken serves as Vice-Chair at TMI Holdings, Inc. Previously, Ken was EVP, Wealth Technologies at FIS; EVP, BMO Global Private Bank; and Chair of M&I Wealth Management and Capital Markets. Ken also was an EVP, Wealth Management at Fifth Third Bank; SVP, Capital Markets at Bank of America (Continental Bank); and VP in Derivative Products at Citicorp.

An active leader in Milwaukee’s cultural institutions, Ken is currently Board Chair of Milwaukee Film, former Board Chair and President of the Milwaukee Art Museum, and former Board member of public station 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

VP, Engineering | Chief Technology Officer

Rick Tufty

Rick’s career as a technologist, manager, and engineering executive spans many premier technology institutions.

His was Executive Director of Engineering for Dell’s Enterprise Division, responsible for product development for servers, blades, and storage systems. Rick also served as Senior Director of Engineering and Corporate Research Fellow at Maxtor Corporation, overseeing development of high-performance SCSI rotating storage devices and emerging technologies. He held executive and technical leadership roles at Western Digital, Hewlett Packard, and IBM.

Rick holds 14 patents and has authored numerous papers on advanced data storage and computer technology.

Program Manager

David Roe

David manages our LiquidCool Solution research and development projects. He joined LCS in 2010 after a 30-year career at IBM Corporation, where he served as Executive Project Manager with responsibility for multi-million-dollar projects in IBM’s Systems and Technology Group.

David earned a Master of Arts Degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin.

Engineering Analyst

Daryl Lautenshlager

Daryl spent 25+ years at IBM, where he was an Engineer, Lead Engineer and Manager, focused on hardware quality for System 36 and System 38, and software development for the 14″, 5.25″, and 3.5″ hard disk drives. He also served as the customer interface for the integration and testing of 3.5″ and 2.5″ hard disk drives.

Daryl also worked at Hitachi in the System Integration Test Lab as a Lead Engineer.

Senior Lab Technician

Tim Ronning

Tim is a veteran engineering technician with more than 30 years of experience at leading technology companies. Starting at IBM, Tim provided manufacturing and field support for storage array subsystems. At Western Digital, JDSU, and IBM, he performed failure analysis, increasing manufacturing yields and improving customer satisfaction.

Tim has been at LiquidCool Solutions since 2014. As Lead Manufacturing Technician for Hardcore Computer, he successfully helped launch our “Reactor, ReactorX, and Detonator” — the world’s first fully liquid submerged high performance computer system. Currently, as Senior Lab Technician, he utilizes his technical expertise in the development of our current and new offerings.

Senior Packaging Engineer

Steven M. Shafer

Prior to coming to LiquidCool Solutions, Steve spent 20+ years creating mechanical and electrical packaging for high performance computer systems. He was instrumental in the design and release of Cray Research’s T3D, T3E, Y-MP and C90 Supercomputers. Steve also worked for Silicon Graphics (SGI) in Mountain View, CA. assisting in the release of the Origin-200 and Origin-2000 systems.

After leaving SGI, he worked for several years as Lead System Integrator at United Defense and BAE Systems, where he assisted in managing the packaging of the Aarmy’s Future Combat System, the XM1203 Non-Line of Sight Cannon. Steve also has worked at Lockheed Martin and Hutchinson Technology.

Mechanical Engineer

Sean Archer

Sean is a Mechanical Engineer at LiquidCool Solutions, working on our mechanical, fluid, and thermal solutions. He started as a designer and tester of server cooling units and control systems and now collects performance simulations to speed development and fine tune new technologies.

Sean earned a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Engineering Technology, focused on engine development at Minnesota State University.

Principal Electrical Engineer

Gary A. Reed

Gary was born the son of a Navy Pilot. Traveling the world as a dependent he landed in Holland PA. Gary received an Electrical Engineering Degree from Pennsylvania State University. He spent the next 10 years developing High Altitude SIGINT systems for E-Systems/Raytheon.

In Washington DC he meets a home sick Minnesotan and followed her back to the Twin Cities. Gary is spending his career helping start-up companies bring their ideas to market.

• ViA – The Wearable PC Company – developed handheld displays and belt worn computers
• SpeechGear – Developed the Endurance speech-to-speech language translation tablet with Chad Attlesey (founder of Hardcore Computer) SBIR for NREL
• ForeverBulb
• Hardcore / LiquidCool

ELECTRO-MECHANICAL DESIGN

Rafael Alba

Rafael is LiquidCool’s “go-to” for all things electro-mechanical. He can design it, manufacture the parts, and program the electronics to do whatever it’s supposed to do and when. A craftsman at heart creative design is in Rafael’s blood not just in his work, his home machine shop has been the birthplace of many LiquidCool design prototypes as well as “too many to list” products that he has created independently to sell online. Before LiquidCool Rafael designed for Micro-Trak Systems, programmed for Windland Electronics and provided both electro-mechanical and circuit board design work for SPX Corporation.

Business Development | Board Member

Chad E. Cape

Chad leads our business development efforts, leaning on business development and relationship management skills gained while supporting middle and large corporate clients at JPMorgan Chase. Prior to entering the private sector, he developed an appreciation for thermal management while gaining nuclear engineer certification in the US Navy’s submarine force. He has also held a Series 7 license and managed an early-stage investment network.

Chad is passionate about immersion cooling’s sustainable benefits – for both the economy and our environment. There is no better feeling than saving money while also conserving energy, water, land/space and rare earths – so ask him how we do it!

Board Member

Steven Einhorn

Steve has spent the past 25 years in mergers and acquisitions, the last 15 as a partner in the Capital Midwest Fund, a venture capital fund specializing in Midwestern technology.

Prior to that, he worked in a family paint business, Adelphi Paint, in New York.

Steve has been active in the Milwaukee community, serving on the boards of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Bradley Foundation Impact Fund. He also has served as Chairman of the Entrepreneurial Committee of Cornell University’s Technology Transfer Committee.

Steve earned an MS in chemical engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now NYU), a BA in chemistry from Cornell, and attended Wharton Graduate School. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his wife Nancy. He has two sons and seven grandchildren.

Board member, Vice-Chair

Herb Zien

Having cofounded and built the largest privately held district energy company in the US, nobody knows the challenges of power and cooling better than Herb. He brings a wealth of knowledge in engineering, power generation, and energy conservation. Herb is a recognized expert in data center cooling technologies and immersion cooling, and is a frequent author and speaker on cooling technologies.

His published articles include: Energy Star Data Center: A Missed Opportunity (Mission Critical – Nov-Dec 2010); PUE’s Shortcomings, (Mission Critical – Mar-Apr 2011); Liquid Cooled Data Centers Have Finally Arrived (BICSI News Magazine – Sep-Oct 2011); Submersion and directed flow cooling solution for oil, gas (E&P – Jul 2014); Submersion and Directed Flow Cooling Technology for Military Applications (Aerospace & Defense Technology, Oct 2014); Look Ma, No Fans! (Data Center Knowledge – Feb 2015); Why Data Centers Look the Way They Do (Data Center Knowledge – Apr 2015); What is your Problem with Liquid Cooling? (ITInfraworld, January 2016); Is a Liquid Cooled Data Center in Your Future? (The Data Center Journal, June 2016); Liquid Technology Cools Servers While Simultaneously Heating Water (Data Center Post, September 1, 2016).

Herb earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s of Science in Thermal Engineering from Cornell University; and a Master’s of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.