About 
Fred Benson
Mr. Benson serves on the Firehole Business Advisory Council drawing on significant career experience with a major aerospace company focusing on technical, design, development and managerial roles. His thirty two year engineering career began with Rockwell Collins designing control laws for autopilots and automatic landing systems. He managed design, development and certification of air data systems, gyros, and actuator product lines for Rockwell Collins General Aviation Division. He was technical director of all Canadair CL-600 airplane avionics systems, and the Boeing 747-400 airplane automatic landing and autopilot system. He directed the development of the electronic library system for the Boeing 777 airplane. He was the Engineering Director of design, development, and certification of the Boeing 777 airplane and Boeing 737 airplane onboard automatic landing and autopilot systems. Fred holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.
Neil Benton
Mr. Benton serves on the Firehole Advisory Council calling on his long experience in creative marketing and company acquisition. An entrepreneur since starting his first business in high school, Mr. Benton has worked at Avenue A, Inc, the US leader in Internet digital marketing where he played a key role in their growth and start up. Mr. Benton honed his skills in business during this time and also interfaced with some of the top marketers in the country including L’Oreal, Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, and Nabisco. Since then, Neil has founded several successful companies in the marketing and advertising arenas. He currently is a partner at The Bark Firm, a marketing and research company. A native of Casper, WY, Neil holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Wyoming.
Josh Dorrell
Mr. Dorrell spends numerous hours advising Firehole in sales and marketing related endeavors calling on his experience as the Director of Business Development for IDES, Inc. Josh started his career at IDES while studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wyoming. After earning his Bachelor's Degree, he led the Content Development Team eventually transitioning to directly working with customers as part of the Sales Team. In addition to his work at IDES, Josh teaches a course in Sales and Sales Management at the University of Wyoming, College of Business.
The Honorable James Geringer
Mr. Geringer serves Firehole as a member of the business advisory council. Most notably known as Wyoming’s 30th Governor, Mr. Geringer’s advises Firehole calling on his extensive technical background which includes mechanical engineering and geographic information systems technology. He brings unique insight from his widespread political, economical and technical backgrounds. He served as a project officer for the launch vehicles used to place several Department of Defense and NASA satellites in orbit. Jim is currently the director of policy and public sector strategies for the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software firm, Environmental Systems Research Institute (esri), the leading provider of GIS services worldwide. Governor Geringer serves on several other academic and industry boards, including The University of Wyoming, College of Engineering and Applied Science, National Advisory Board, Chair of the Western Governors University Board of Trustees and has served on a variety of committees under the National Academies of Science and the National Research Council.
Dr. Andrew Hansen
Dr. Hansen – along with three entrepreneurial graduate students – founded Firehole Composites in 2000 and has been involved with the company ever since. Dr. Hansen is one the creators of the MCT concept and has a long history supporting Firehole. Currently, Dr. Hansen is the Department Head of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering for the University of Wyoming and also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Andy received a BS in Civil Engineering and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. He has been a professor at the University of Wyoming since 1985 and his current research interests include mixture theory, advanced multicontinuum theories, and composite materials.
Dr. Brent Hathaway
Dr. Hathaway participates as a member of the advisory council providing insight from both technical and business perspectives. Dean of the University of Wyoming, College of Business and a Professor of Marketing, Dr. Hathaway has a keen understanding of the technical/engineering side of business. Brent previously worked as vice president of marketing and sales at Aerospace Services, a $2.5 billion business unit of Honeywell International. Hathaway joined AlliedSignal (acquired by Honeywell International in 1999 from Case Corporation) where he was director of marketing, agricultural equipment, and president and general manager for Concord Inc., a Case acquisition. Prior to Case Corporation, Hathaway served as branch manager and regional general manager over field sales, service, and support operations for AGTEK Development. Dr. Hathaway received his BS, MS and Ph.D. from Utah State University, Purdue University and the University of Illinois, respectively.
Nathan Potter
An expert in web marketing and search engine optimization, Mr. Potter advises Firehole in creating, managing and measuring marketing campaigns. Nathan is currently the Marketing Manager for IDES, Inc. Previously, he has held mid to high-level sales and marketing positions for Winter Park Ski Resort and PlanetClick.com, a democratic search engine that developed technologies later adopted by Google. Mr. Potter has been a featured speaker on B2B Internet Marketing for MarketingSherpa.com, the Wyoming Technology Organization and the Idea Expo. Nathan holds a Bachelor's Degree in Communications with an emphasis on Marketing from Luther College.
Dr. J.N. Reddy
Dr. Reddy advises Firehole in its R&D efforts, its US DoD research proposals and general technical matters. Dr. Reddy is a world renowned expert in composite material analysis and simulation. He is a University Distinguished Professor and is currently the Holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Endowed Chair at Texas A&M University. The author of numerous books in the area of continuum mechanics, finite element analysis and composite materials, his research is well respected by both his peers and industry.
Bill Schepeler
Mr. Schepler leads Firehole’s Buiness Advisory Council. Along with facilitating council meetings, Bill provides business input calling on his own entrepreneurial experiences and successful exits along with his prior experience with the Wyoming Small Business Development Centers (WSBDC) as a Business Counselor. Here he worked with hundreds of small business clients. During his time with the WSBDC Bill worked as a consultant International Trade Specialist serving the U.S. Department of Commerce. He covered the state of Wyoming for the agency, assisting companies who were looking for financing and technical expertise to export goods and services to other countries. He left the WSBDC to serve as Vice President of the Wyoming Technology Business Center (WTBC), a technology business incubator at the University of Wyoming. He was with the WTBC during its first three years of existence and was a key to the early success of the program. He has counseled numerous early stage technology based startups as they worked to develop sustainable business models. Currently, Bill is working with a number of startup companies as they develop their businesses. He has authored several successful grant applications, raised funds from investors, and counseled clients through successful exits. Bill holds a BS in Finance from the University of Wyoming.
Mike Steingrebe
As a member of Firehole’s Business Advisory Council, Mr. Steingrebe provides input based upon his background in strategic and financial areas of business development. Mr. Steingrebe has over 28 years of senior level financial and operational management experience combined with hands on and strategic management roles in public and private companies. He has raised over $100 million in private equity transactions (seed and later stage) from both financial and strategic investors and has negotiated multi-million dollar credit facilities. Mr. Steingrebe has lead international corporate development efforts that include the successful completion of acquisitions in the US as well as Europe, a Joint Venture in Japan and multiple intellectual property licensing, international distribution, manufacturing and joint development agreements. Additional areas of expertise include turnarounds, strategic planning, financial modeling, performance analysis/improvement and ERP systems implementation. Mr. Steingrebe is currently a Director and Audit Committee Member for Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing, Inc. (OTC:WEMU) a manufacturer of solar panels and acts as an advisor to business incubators in Boulder, Co and Laramie, Wy. Mike has a Bachelor degree in accounting and business administration from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA and is a certified management accountant.