Jacob Beck

  • CEO, Electrom Instruments, Inc
Jacob Beck Headshot

I was born and raised in Norway, graduated from CU Boulder as a foreign student, and emigrated to the US 3 years after graduating. I started working for a small start-up in Boulder and ended up as VP of WW sales which brought me to many corners of the world (Micro Motion - now a multi-hundred million dollar company). The company was acquired by Emerson Electric for which I held various positions including a 4 year stint in the Netherlands leading the turn-around of a money loosing subsidiary, and the responsibility for Royal Dutch Shell worldwide, the largest customer of Emerson Process Management. I retired way too young. After 3 years I decided to buy a small company, Electrom Instruments, shortly before the economy crashed in 2008. Some arduous years followed, but the company is now a technology leader in it's niche industry of diagnostic and QA testing electric motors, generators and the like in a wide range of applications including positioning motors in space, EV motors, hydro generators, large industrial rotating machines, and solenoid valve coils in commercial espresso machines.

My advice to students...

A good education is about learning to think, write, reason, and solve problems. Some graduates go into their field of study, but many do not. The good news is that employers usually look for employment candidates who are enthusiastic and hungry to learn and, if you have the 4 skills mentioned above, you are well positioned for virtually anything.