Meet the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
David Thompson (EE 78)
David Thompson graduated from South Dakota Mines in 1978 in Electrical Engineering and joined Bell Labs in Murray Hill. He contributed to the design of the first 32-bit CMOS microprocessor, while earning a Master’s in Engineering from Stanford. David was promoted to Technical Manager, building a team which designed 70 re-usable storage, computing, and communication blocks which generated over $2 billion. His team created the first USB2 and 1394B products. Thompson served 10 years on the boards for both USB and 1394 Associations. At Intel he contributed to generations of cellular chips, leading 5G worldwide. After 45 years David has extensive STEM/IEEE service, published more than 70 papers, and holds several US patents. Currently David is Chair of his IEEE Section, is an active IEEE Standards member, and is consulting on 5G testing.
Doug Schultze (ChemE 78)
Doug Schultze began his career in the oil and gas business with Shell Oil Company in Houston, TX. He had a variety of assignments in Production Engineering, Production Engineering Research, and field operations. He spent time in Montana, Bakersfield, CA, and Houston during his 21 years at Shell. In 1999 he began working for XTO Energy in Oklahoma City as Operations Manager. After a three year assignment in Midland, TX, he became the Sr. Vice President of Operations in Oklahoma City overseeing all field operations for Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, North Texas, Alaska, and the Williston Basin. During this time, he was overseeing an operation of 400+ employees producing 950 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 6,000 barrels of oil per day. In 2010, ExxonMobil purchased XTO Energy, and he continued to work for them until his retirement in late 2014.
Doug will be forever grateful for his South Dakota Mines education and the opportunities that it brought forth. He has attended every reunion, except one, since graduation, and he continues to support the Chemical Engineering Department through donations and scholarship funding. Although he has chosen to retire in the Hill Country of Texas, his home will forever be South Dakota where he spends time every year to pheasant hunt and visit with family and friends.
Amy Koenig (ChemE 95)
Amy K. Koenig currently serves as the Vice President – Governance, Corporate Secretary & Deputy General Counsel for Black Hills Corporation, an electric and gas utility company headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota. Amy is also an independent director for Dakota Gold Corporation, a junior mining company headquartered in Lead, South Dakota. In this capacity, she serves as the Chair of the Governance Committee, and a member of the Audit, Compensation and Technical Committees.
Prior to joining Black Hills Corporation in 2013, Amy spent 10 years in private practice as a litigator with Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP. Before beginning her legal career, Amy held various engineering roles of increasing responsibility in both the chemical and computer industries.
Amy also serves on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Home Society of South Dakota and is an Advisory Member to the Women in Leadership Program at the University of Nouth Dakota.
Amy holds a juris doctorate from the University of South Dakota School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from South Dakota Mines.
Todd Gagne (Geol 97)
Todd Gagne is an accomplished software technology executive with over 30 years of experience in startups and the software industry. He played a key role in growing Concur, a travel and expense management company, from $10 million to over $1.7 billion in revenue during his 19-year tenure, holding various senior leadership positions. In 2022, Todd co-founded WildFire Labs, a software accelerator based in Rapid City, that helps software entrepreneurs quickly progress from idea to their first paying customer while providing access to resources and capital. The goal is to help build a software ecosystem in western South Dakota and create more technology jobs in the region.
Alongside his professional endeavors, Todd and his wife, Holly, have built a ministry called Thrive under the local chapter of Love INC in Rapid City, SD. Thrive is a retail store that sells used adventure gear to fund programs focused on promoting and developing youth through professional opportunities and providing transportation assistance to adults in need.
Les Rose (ME 70)
Les Rose, class of 1970, was born and raised in Meadow, South Dakota, where his parents instilled in him the importance of family, faith, integrity & ethics, honoring your word, and a strong work ethic. These have been his guiding principles throughout his life and his exceptional career. This solid foundation was reinforced through his experience at the School of Mines where his professional journey began.
As the former President of L-3 National Security Solutions (NSS), Les Rose brings decades of experience leading multi-million and billion dollar global organizations. While at NSS, Les oversaw a business segment with over 4,000 employees and $1.2B in annual revenue. NSS delivered best-in-class integrated solutions for complex defense and intelligence customers that span across cyber, intelligence, enterprise/mission IT, command and control, big data, and integrated security. While in this role, he drove efforts to continuously improve and optimize the delivery of new capabilities and proprietary technologies to top customers including government agencies.
Prior to becoming president of L-3 NSS, Les was president of L-3 STRATIS, one of the largest divisions of the global defense leader. Before 2005, he held various leadership roles, all with direct P&L oversight, at Titan Technologies and BTG including president of operational organizations. Through Les’ leadership, facilitating strong customer relationships and contract growth, he grew his organization from a 20 person single program to over 5,000 employees with multiple programs. This business segment supported the rapidly evolving information technology industry in product development, technical services & solutions, earned patents and operated internationally in all continents in the United States as well as Korea, Hawaii, Japan, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE. Upon divestiture in 2016, Les started his own business, Titan Technologies, which grew from $20M to $140M over six years, providing meaningful work and professional opportunities to over 800+ employees, including engineers and other technology professionals.
In addition to his extensive leadership, engineering, and technology background, Les is also a Retired Lieutenant Colonel with the United States Army Corps of Engineers where he held high-profile engineering leadership positions with engagements in Europe, the Far East, and Central America until he retired after 20 years of dedicated service.
Les holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota Mines. Les and his family reside in Destin, Florida.