Robert (Bob) Yester, PE, Executive Vice President is retiring from Swanson Rink on December 31, 2013 after serving the company for 38 years. Mr. Yester has served in many roles at Swanson Rink including President from 1985-1992, but he is most known as an expert in electrical engineering for mission critical data center facilities.
For almost all of Bob’s career he has provided consulting engineering for the design and renovations of data centers for large and small companies including Comcast, Centurylink (including work under US West and Qwest), Safeway, Lockheed Martin, Federal Express, Viawest, Sabre and United Airlines to name a few. Bob Yester’s design concepts have been published in multiple national publications.
In 1988, Robert Yester, designed one of the first major dual power path data centers in the country for US West (now CenturyLink) in Omaha, Nebraska. This “system + system” concept was cutting-edge during the time and this data center was one of the first two data centers to be built with this new technology. When asked about this project, Mr. Yester commented that while a simple concept, “as they say, the devil is in the details, and there are a lot of details.” The dedication to diving into detailed design is what Mr. Yester is known for and the foundation upon which he built the Swanson Rink data center team.
More recently, Bob has been recognized for his work on the ViaWest Lone Mountain Data Center where his team developed a Uptime Institute Certified Tier IV electrical design with a target PUE of 1.2 utilizing a modular concept that allows capital expenditures for infrastructure to be aligned with the needs of ViaWest’s customers and also minimizes stranded capacity.
When asked by our clients what attributes they admire of him, it was his ability to engage with the client, listen to their needs, and develop solutions that meet those specific needs.
“I have had the unique opportunity of having been both first a client of Bob and then his design associate for the past 20 years, so I have watched and experienced how Bob can make every client feel that they were his most important client. He relishes the opportunity to explain how systems work and did it in such a way as to bring each of his clients into the conversation regardless of their technical background. His ability to listen to the client and then develop a solution to meet their needs is legendary.”
— Gary Orazio, PE, President, Swanson Rink
In 2013, Bob transitioned the management of the data center electrical team to Dan Heggem, PE, Vice President who has worked under Bob for over 23 years. During the past year Dan and Bob have worked together to ensure a smooth transition process in preparation for Bob’s retirement in December. Gary Orazio, PE, President will continue in his role as Project Executive overseeing Swanson Rink’s Data Center Practice, providing mechanical engineering leadership and leading data center business development, positions in which he has served for the past 20 years.
No one person can replace Bob, but he has trained a team of engineers to continue his dedication to detailed engineering. He will be missed by everyone at Swanson Rink.
