Tom Wellenstein
Name: Tom Wellenstein
Position: Regional Sales Manager
1) What was your childhood like?
I was born in Minnesota in the 1960s. My early memories include playing in huge snow drifts that were literally half the height of our house. My family moved to Kansas City later, and that’s what I consider to be my hometown, where I went to high school and college.
2) Who was a hero to you growing up? Why?
I’ve always been a sports fan, especially baseball. Name a Kansas City Royals player, and at some point that was probably my hero.
3) What are your hobbies?
My friends know me as a motorcycle guy. I’ve been riding since I was a teenager, and I started modifying bikes for myself several years ago. That grew into doing motorcycle customization for friends and associates, and even for paying customers when I had time to spend on that.
4) How did you end up in metrology? Did you go to school for it?
My formal degree is in Mechanical Engineering, and I went to grad school for business. Some level of metrology was required for the design work I did in the aerospace industry. Since starting at API, I can see that I had barely scratched the surface with all of the innovation that has taken place in this field. It’s very eye-opening.
5) How did you come to be at API?
I took some time off from aerospace starting in 2019. I traveled and spent time with hobbies and with family all over the US. About the time I started looking at possibly returning to work, the aerospace industry was beginning to get hit hard by the pandemic. Somehow, I ended up sending a resume online to API for the US NW sales position, and here I am.
6) What are your roles and responsibilities with API?
I’m the Regional Manager for sales here in the US Northwest, and Western Canada. There is tremendous opportunity in this region, so I’m spending my time learning everything I can about API and applying that to the few decades of experience I’ve had in business development.
7) What sets API apart from other metrology companies in your mind?
Getting to know the people at API has been great. There’s a real sense of obligation to taking care of customers that prevails in the culture here. Much of the team has grown up together at API and putting the customer first has obviously never been in question.
8) What API Product or Service are you most excited to tell people about?
It seems we have a great portfolio overall, and I think as we align ourselves as an overall solutions provider with that entire offering, we really have something special to take to our customers.
9) What about API’s future excites you?
We are going to get new business growth here in the Northwest region that we have not experienced before.10) What does “Nothing Beyond Measure” mean to you?
I think this is a good sort of mantra to take with us as we explore opportunities with customers, and as a guide for ourselves in going forward as an organization. All companies need to evolve, and I think the fundamentals of measurement are key to helping both customers and API take the right steps in knowing how to move ahead.
