Patrick Van Deventer

Head of Engineering and responsible for all Product Development and Innovation initiatives for the market leader in portable evaporative cooling.

• Recruited and developed a high performing R&D team with multi-disciplined engineering backgrounds and various levels of experience. We improved existing products, launched an entirely new line of next generation product, and built a roadmap of innovation for growth. Overall recruited 9 new employees to the company including 7 degreed engineers and 2 engineering interns to roles in R&D, Engineering, and Operations.
• Conducted vision casting and strategic planning for the Portacool Innovation Center. Identified the place, the plan, and the people to make it happen and in less than 6 months began operating out of a leased facility that became the home base for the R&D team. Expanded capabilities in prototyping and testing including additive manufacturing, electronics testing, airflow performance and psychrometric chambers, component reliability and life testing, shipping and vibration, safety/compliance, and sound testing.
• Forged new external partnerships across a wide spectrum of expertise to accelerate innovation as a hybrid team responsible for various aspects of new product development. Our partners helped us add resources and experience in key areas including electronics hardware design, industrial design, firmware development, cloud architecture, IoT, app development, cyber security, engineering analysis, mechanical engineering, facility design, and intellectual property.
• Launched a ground-up new product offering with industry leading performance and disruptive features. Replaced legacy product lines while significantly reducing complexity, labor, and cost.
• Lead teams to develop an IoT solution for the new product line including a mobile/web app, purpose built cloud infrastructure (Azure based), and a completely new controls platform.
• Championed the Product Strategy and roadmap for evaporative coolers.
• Visited customers, conducted competitive and market research, and built robust product requirements for the development teams to execute.
• Improved processes for engineering and product development including a stage-gate process, streamlined change management and ECN processes, standard work, project management tools, and requirements management systems.
• Responsible for $5.5M annual Engineering and Product Development budget.
• Voice of Product and Engineering to the Executive Leadership team and Board of Directors.

• Responsible for engineering development of psychrometric and environmental test facilities
• Lead cross functional teams with lab operations and design engineering to develop state of the art facilities, including a $1.3M next generation psychrometric test facility
• Lead project teams to identify areas for cycle time reduction by utilization of LEAN tools and methodology
• Responsible for annual operating plan and long range planning
• Ensure strict adherence to industry and regulatory standards, including ASHRAE/AHRI, Department of Energy, UL, and ISO.

• Held a variety of portfolio responsibilities within the $2.5B Residential HVAC business unit in a fast-paced and multi-disciplinary environment
• Led Product Growth Teams (PGT’s) to develop product line strategy and multi-generational product plans, launch new offerings to market, and manage product lifecycles
• Led NPD initiatives for manufactured and sourced products, spearheading the launch of an entirely new brand, RunTru, and a full portfolio of products to gain share in the Value segment
• Led cross functional teams with Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and others to drive key programs to support the Portfolio Growth Plan for Coil, Outdoor and Indoor Air Quality portfolios
• Conducted regular Line Reviews with Senior Leadership
• Worked closely with company-owned sales offices and independent distribution on product strategy and performance
• Drove year over year revenue, margin, and share growth for all product lines managed, for both growth market opportunities and mature product lines.

• Led teams through multiple new product development and sustaining projects for the Air Handler and coil product portfolios to drive share growth, increase productivity, reduce complexity, and improve customer experience
• Reduced complexity in Coil product line by over 50% in total SKU and part count, while expanding overall offering to the customer and implementing best practice design and manufacturing principles
• Led team that completely redesigned 95% of the product portfolio
• Developed and launched an entirely new and patented air handler platform for a growing market segment
• Design was lower cost, more compact, higher performing, and contained about half the part count of the leading competitor.

• Member of a fast-paced new product development team to deliver an air handler platform to compete in an aggressive cost market
• Delivered ground-up new platform design from concept to launch in 6 months including hard tooling lead times
• Cut product cost by over 40% from the legacy platform
• Delighted customers with a product that eventually compromised over 80% of the portfolio revenue.

• Responsible for new component development, VAVE, and quality improvement projects for refrigeration and air-moving components
• Worked closely with manufacturing, quality, finance, and procurement to deliver cost savings and quality improvements across a variety of product planforms.