Eric Lanke is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Fluid Power Association, a trade association ofmore than 320 organizations serving the hydraulic and pneumatic industries. He is responsible for setting NFPA’s strategic direction, and overseeing the programs and communications needed to achieve its objectives. He also serves as the CEO of the NFPA Education and TechnologyFoundation, an affiliated charitable organization that supportsoutreach, education and research programs in fluid power.

Prior to NFPA, Eric worked at Executive Director, Inc. (EDI), one of the five largest association management companies in the United States, where he held leadership positions with the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.

Eric is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and an active member of both the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Council of Manufacturing Associations of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). He serves on the board of the Wisconsin Society of Association Executives (WSAE), where he led a task force focused on the adoption of for-profit innovative practices by non-profit organizations. He received his BS degree from the University of Wisconsin.

In the past 27 years, Tom Price Jr., has grown a unique niche in engineering and wholesale distribution at Price Engineering. In 2003, he took over as president of the 60-year-old family-business. With Tom at the helm, Price Engineering’s success comes from a strong engineering and design focus, system integration services, and low-volume serial production in light manufacturing of fluid power and motion control systems.

In 1981, Tom received a BSME from the University of Wisconsin and then spent many years with Ingersoll Rand in California and Virginia as an application engineer specializing in large air compressor systems. In 1986, Tom returned to Wisconsin and the family business serving in a variety of roles including sales, engineering, and engineering management.

Today, Price Engineering enhances engineering and product expertise with local field service and supply chain management. In addition, Price has an edge in industrial motion control, user-interface and back office solutions by combining traditional mobile machinery with rugged PLCs and networking systems. This unique combination of talents enables Price to partner with mobile and industrial OEMs early on in the development phase, as well as providing assistance to engineering-focused industrial users who are intent on keeping their plants up and running.

Tim McDonald is the Regional Sales Manager at Thermal Transfer Products. Tim has 14 years in the fluid power industry at both the distribution and manufacturing level. He is a Certified Fluid Power Hydraulics Specialist with a strong background in mobile and industrial applications.

Thomas Wanke, CFPE, is the director of the Fluid Power Institute at Milwaukee School of Engineering. He has more the 40 years of experience 39 of which have been at MSOE. Tom has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a master’s degree in Engineering both with a Fluid Power Specialty from MSOE. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in MSOE’s Mechanical Engineering Dept.

He has worked on projects in the following areas: component and system design; development and evaluation; field troubleshooting and failure analysis; and fluids, filtration and contamination control.

Tom is a member of SAE and IFPS and past chairman of the NFPA Technical Board. He is active on various NFPA and ISO standards committees and is Co-chairman of the IFPE 2014 Educational Program. Tom was awarded two US Patents and was the first recipient of the following awards from MSOE: Karl O. Werwath Engineering Research Award 1990; Otto J. Maha Pioneers in Fluid Power 2007 and the Fluid Power Achievement Award 2012.

Mr. Rhodes has 25+ years of industrial experience. He holds and Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering and is a Purdue University alumnus, Mr. Rhodes spent the majority of his early career with Neff Engineering holding positions of increasing responsibility including sales engineer and manager, designer and instructor. His areas of expertise include hydraulics, pneumatics, lubrication, safety, PLC’s, electronic controls and industrial networking.

Mr. Rhodes joined CFC Industrial Training in 2011. Most recently he completed an assignment in Pakistan where he solved several hydraulic and control issues that were preventing a steel mill from starting up.  He has been a Fluid Power Society Specialist since 1993 and is one of the few Certified Fluid Power Electronic Controls Specialists in the United States. He also holds the title of IFPS Accredited Instructor. Currently for CFC Industrial Training Mr. Rhodes is a senior instructor, course developer and troubleshooting consultant.  

Tim is a Fluid Power Consulting Engineer and Program Manager in the Fluid Power Institute at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He has more than 20 years experience in industrial and mobile hydraulic systems. Tim has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Master’s degree in Engineering from MSOE, and is currently working on a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University. He is also a Lecturer in MSOE’s Mechanical Engineering Department.

While Tim was an undergraduate student at MSOE, he worked at FPI for Tom Wanke. After graduating from MSOE with his BS MET in 1990, Tim worked as a Product Engineer in the Valve Division for Parker Hannifin. He then spent several years in the mining equipment industry as a Hydraulic Systems Engineer at P&H Mining Equipment and also at Bucyrus International. Tim rejoined FPI in 2006 where he provides fluid power engineering support for mobile and industrial fluid power systems on military and commercial applications. Much of the work that he does is to improve the reliability and efficiency of these systems. Additionally, Tim has been an active member of the US Air Force Reserves since 1986.

Bob O'Rourke

Bob O'Rourke is the Product Engineering Manager at Dura-Bar and has been with the company for 29 years. Bob has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology and earned his MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. He has conducted extensive research in the properties and applications of continuous cast ductile iron and has presented papers on machinability, friction and wear characteristics, and strength and fatigue.

Peter Nachtwey

Mr. Nachtwey has more than 25 years of experience developing hydraulic, pneumatic and vision systems for industrial applications. He graduated from Oregon State University in 1975 with a BSEE and served in the U.S. Navy until 1980. He became president of Delta Computer Systems, Inc. in 1992. In addition to leading Delta’s engineering and R&D programs, his articles are published in industry publications such as Hydraulics and Pneumatics, Machine Design. He has also presented technical papers for IFPE, NFPA, FPDA and various technical conferences.