Dustin Kaap, 35

By Martha Byrnes

You’ll have to move as fast as the jet turbines he engineers to keep track of Dustin Kaap this spring. In addition to his aerospace engineering job at Hamilton Sundstrand, Kaap is co-chair of the set-up committee for the Rockford Airfest, an active volunteer with Junior Achievement of Rock River Valley in a fifth grade class, and a perennial Special Olympics and Hamilton Sundstrand Paint-a-Thon volunteer.

For exercise, Kaap plays basketball and golf, and relaxes by playing guitar, keeping his cars in good repair and home building projects.

“If you enjoy what you do, and you’re good at it, you have more choices of what you can do in the community,” Kaap says. He sees the younger employees at companies like his having a greater impact on the community in the next decade, as the longer-term employees retire or curtail their external activities.

Since 2003, Kaap has been the lead recruiter for students from his alma mater—UW-Madison—for Hamilton Sundstrand’s co-op program. The first recruit was his wife, Heather, also an engineer—and the two have become mentors to the younger recruits.

Kaap is treasurer of the UW Alumni Club of Rockford for four years, and editor of the club’s newsletter. If that’s not enough, he’s pursuing a master’s in business administration at Rockford College. He’s in the midst of a two-year term as vice president of Hamilton Sundstrand’s Rockford Leadership Club.

“The hardest sell [in getting recruits to move to Rockford], is that we don’t have as vibrant a night life or as many big sporting events as Madison,” Kaap notes. Some engineers also are looking for a place where they can earn advanced degrees in their fields. “I’d like to see a big university here,” he says.

The Kaaps seem committed to raising their family in the Rockford area, and so far have welcomed 45UWrecruits to join them since 1997.