< Back Steven Arms David and Jan Blittersdorf Frank Bryan Mary Cushman David Marvin Raymond J. McNulty Lindsey Melander Miriam E. Nelson Germain Njila David Perez Andrew Siebengartner Bridget Thabault John Todd Mary C. Watzin Jody Williams		DAVID AND JAN BLITTERSDORF Class of 1981, College of Mathematics and Engineering Class of 1984, College of Education and Social Services “The Vermont myth,” David Blittersdorf reflects, “is that you come up here, raise sheep, and work once and a while. No, we work hard, and UVM educates people who create jobs." David and Jan Blittersdorf met and married on the UVM campus, where David built his first wind turbine as his senior project. He’s been tilting at windmills ever since. In 1982 he founded NRG Systems, which makes the anemometers, sensors, towers, data loggers, and software that are essential to siting and operating wind turbines. Today the company, located in Hinesburg, Vermont, does $12 million in annual sales to more than eighty countries and has 35 full-time employees. “All my engineers are UVM graduates,” David says, adding that some workers attend UVM part-time to earn degrees. “The technical education they get is superb.” While David is in charge of high concepts, marketing, and engineering, Jan handles human resources and accounting. Unlike David, a native Vermonter, she came from Connecticut. “I fell in love with the state from the first time I saw it,” Jan says. “My father always said I left as a freshman and never came home.” One of her innovations is a monthly, cash-based profit-sharing system that rewards and retains employees. “Intellectual capital is key,” says David, and UVM provides much of the intellectual capital Vermont businesses need to compete in a global economy where “we have to engineer and innovate faster than everyone else.” Controlling energy costs is also critical, and Vermont imports 90 percent of its energy. “We’d like to see that change,” says David, the founding chair of Renewable Energy Vermont and former president of the American Wind Energy Association. “Wind energy is very close to becoming competitive with fossil fuel. It’s the way to a safe, secure energy future.”