Neeser retires from Chart

Neeser began with Chart, then known as Minnesota Valley Engineering (MVE), as an intern in 1980 before being hired as a product engineer for packaged gases two years later.

Neeser saw the company grow from 150 people in a small town to over 5,000 employees worldwide and achieved 25 patents in his time based at Chart’s New Prague, Minnesota, location.

Neeser’s mentors in the early days included Joe Shuster, MVE co-founder, Mike Lutgen and Jim Eaton.

“Back then when I joined, we would never have thought all the growth and acquisitions that have happened was possible,” Neeser said.

“I’ve been fortunate to work for a company where I have had the freedom to create new products in the expanding industrial gas space. While the number of patents is important, the quality of each patent is more important.”

Neeser worked in new product development and some of his earliest designs, such as the bulk carbon dioxide (CO2) storage systems that are still marketed today. In the late 1990s, Neeser was promoted to Microbulk Product Manager and in 2002 he established the New Product Development (NPD) department and established a marketing department. Neeser was responsible for continuing new product development responsibilities of cryogenic equipment along with integrating marketing services and strategies for the Americas market within the distribution and storage division.

Over his career, one of Neeser’s highlights was the successful commercialisation of microbulk.

“I had a great team and the freedom from by boss, Tom Carey to make it work and grow the business,” Neeser told gasworld.

“As I look back at it today, it grew faster and bigger than expected – it changed the world on how packaged gases are distributed today. It’s certainly one of the products that I am most proud of.”

More recent products from Neeser’s NPD team are the ChillZilla CO₂ and liquid nitrogen bulk tank systems targeted at improving food freezing efficiencies.

Looking back at his career, Neeser cherishes the glory days where he worked with customers to develop the next big solution with his NPD team. Once ready for the market, he and his marketing team would drive the new product launch and help the sales team make it part of Chart’s ever-expanding portfolio.

Neeser added, “They were very exciting times, and we moved pretty fast. I want to thank all my colleagues at Chart who supported me over the years.”