To commemorate his professional achievements, Mr. Holmgren has been honored with numerous accolades, including the Golden Bear Award in 1993 and 1994, the American Maritime Officers Service Award in 1995 for outstanding service toward the improvement of shipboard training, and the Naval Order of the United States Award for outstanding leadership potential in the engineering department. Similarly, Mr. Holmgren won the Military Order of World Wars Award. The cornerstone of his success lay in having great mentors that were in the right place and time in his life. Within the coming years, Mr. Holmgren intends to contribute more to his community while successfully maintaining his business. How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? My focus is on quality and delivering success for the customers. For us, it’s all about resolving projects and maintaining our focus. My friend John, who passed away, was also a great mentor. He was always calm — I never heard him raise his voice in 25 years. We faced many extreme situations, but he maintained his focus on helping others. We still deal with a lot of emergencies, so there is often a lot of intensity, but I try to channel John’s energy. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry? People not paying their bills. It is a huge issue that has gotten out of control over the last few years. It is difficult to be a small company. A lot of the companies I work with are huge players, and the ones with tons of money don’t want to pay, or they make it hard to get paid. That is the number one challenge, so I have to start every week making phone calls. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? There has been a huge shift away from internal knowledge and a growing dependence on contractors. I really believe that other businesses – some that I’ve worked with – should have someone like me there — they should have someone who understands the facility in and out. I usually get new customers because they have been cheated by someone. I also see that facility managers are just in over their heads, which makes them vulnerable to contractors. When I was 21 or 22 years old, starting out in the industry, power plants were being downsized, and one of the things I saw was the age spread from about 18 to 60. Plant owners reduced the number of people in the facilities and kept everyone who was around 40. This was 20 years ago, and I kept asking myself, “What is going to happen in 20 years when all these people retire in their 60s?” Now, I am watching it happen. The plants lost all their expertise, and there was no connection to the life course and career path in the management plan. There wasn’t a plan for bringing new people in as others retired. What innovations or technologies do you feel will shape the future of your industry? A lot of our alternative fuel technology, such as carbon capture, is certainly based on how we are going to operate engines in the future. I work on industrial engines, whatever they are being used for, but a lot of my customers are in the biogas world, which is like sewer treatment plants and landfill, and that’s all green energy. Basically, we have this organic matter that is breaking down and releasing a gas that is very harmful to the environment. It has to be destroyed, and if we do so in an engine, we can make power and heat while we are destroying it. We still want to reduce the emissions, as well, with what comes out of destroying this gas. Fifth Edition Marquis Who’s Who INSIGHT 15 INSIGHT MARQUIS WHO′S WHO FIFTH EDITION
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