创新与慷慨

比尔和奥黛丽·达尔格伦夫妇, 崔的长期支持者, built an industry-leading company and family through a combination of innovation, 冒险与祈祷.

“The Dahlgrens are passionate about Lutheran education,蒂姆·耶格说, executive vice president for university advancement. “Bill is a full-speed-ahead guy—fun, generous and very energetic. 罗伯特·艾伦·格林大厅的会议室, 2007年, 以他们的名字命名, 他们目前正在支持新的 Borland-Manske中心.”

达尔格伦夫妇创立了Airtech 国际, 现在位于亨廷顿海滩, 谁的产品被用来制造所有的飞机. 他们最大的客户是波音和空客. Their products are also used to build America Cup boats, 一级方程式赛车, 风力发电叶片, 军用和航天飞行器.

“Airtech就像一个大家庭，”比尔说. “我们几乎没有营业额.”

Bill graduated from Kent State University in 1959, and did post graduate work in chemistry in Cleveland while working at Dow Chemical Company. His employer transferred him to California in the 1960s. While making calls to aircraft industry customers, Bill noticed that a certain process wasn’t working well: vacuum bagging, the process of creating formed parts for a myriad of uses in the aerospace, 飞机及其他工业.

“I could see w在这里 this product and many more were going to be needed, 于是我在1973年自立门户,比尔说. “这样做非常可怕. I had to mortgage the house and I didn’t tell my wife. 幸运的是，结果还不错. I told her twenty years later and I am very glad she was not near any weapons.”

Bill’s newly-formed company addressed a problem with the films used in vacuum bagging: he replaced PVA vacuum bags with his nylon film. The PVA film was not water resistant and would not take the high temperatures and pressures used in autoclaves to create composite parts. 今天 autoclaves use nylon film almost exclusively for vacuum bagging.

今天, that product and many others invented by Airtech are used throughout the industry to help create the big blades on wind turbines, 飞机的机身, 翅膀, 尾巴, 控制面, 一级方程式赛车等等. 自从第一项发明, 比尔旅行了200年,000 air miles per year to every major city in the world, 检查工厂和销售. Bill and Audrey’s son and daughter both work at Airtech, along with three of their grandchildren. Airtech在全球拥有1000多名员工. Their son, Jeff, is now the President and CEO of Airtech. Bill’s sales card reads, “The sun never sets on Airtech.”

"Our son Jeff’s leadership is the source of my optimism for Airtech’s future. He is leading the company into new technologies that will cause Airtech to prosper and grow for many generations to come. Jeff has secured Airtech’s future as he trains his son Alex to take his place.

Our daughter Joy supports Jeff and helps him w在这里ver she is needed. I have to admit, she has my sales genes and has proven herself in her sales performance. Joy has imparted her abilities to her daughters Kristin and Michelle. 他们会帮助亚历克斯带领Airtech走向未来."

找到康考迪亚·欧文

The Dahlgrens discovered 肯考迪娅 Irvine through Jack Preus, who was the new pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Rancho Palos Verdes some decades ago and would go on to become 肯考迪娅’s third president some years later.

“We became good friends and that’s when I got involved with 肯考迪娅 Irvine,比尔说. “Jack and Kurt Krueger and the other presidents have done such a fabulous job at 肯考迪娅. 我不能说太多. 学生们都很棒.”

For at least fifteen years, the Dahlgrens have attended the 群星晚会 并慷慨地支持学生奖学金. In 2006, CUI gave Bill its 信仰fulness and Excellence award at the 信仰 & 商业论坛. The award is for business leaders who show a commitment to Christian principles, ethical standards and exemplary success in business.

“上帝对我太好了，”比尔说. “In my early days I wasn’t able to give service to the church like I wanted, 但我没钱去做, 要么. 现在是我报复的时候了. I can do more things for the church that I couldn’t afford to or had no time to do earlier.”

建立一家伟大公司的秘诀是什么? “A lot of hard work, if you want to know the truth,比尔说. “After all those early years, I didn’t have any personal friends. 都是客户和同事. I gave up a ‘normal’ life to travel the world selling my products and building factories. It was a lot of hard work but you look back and it was all worth it.”

His other secret: having a praying, supportive wife. “Audrey is a woman of prayer, and I couldn’t have gotten into this business without her,比尔说. “Early on, I had two employees and we used her teacher’s salary to pay them. 她照顾我们的两个孩子, got her master’s degree and doctorate degree in education and kept the home front going while I was traveling.”

It was a lot of hard work but you look back and it was all worth it.

在他们的教堂, Audrey started the secret prayer partners group which prays for each other throughout the year. Bill and Audrey served at Mount Olive for forty-seven years, and are now at Christ Lutheran Church in Rancho Palos Verdes w在这里 Bill serves as chief elder and vice president. Audrey serves as the head of the board of education for the church’s school, which has 250 students and an outstanding reputation.

Airtech的未来看起来很光明, 比尔说, as sales continue to grow and they create new and innovative products to meet the times. He also cherishes his and Audrey’s connection with 肯考迪娅 Irvine.

“每当我沮丧的时候, I go down to 肯考迪娅 and see those wonderful students and that takes me out of my depression in a hurry,比尔说. “这个国家仍然有机会对付他们.”