Mike Nager

For 25 years Mike Nager has worked leading manufacturers of industrial controls and connection device technologies. He is an electrical engineer by education and has visited several hundred manufacturing sites in the US and Europe and now brings that knowledge into the technical education space.

Currently Mike works in the Solution Center of Festo Didactic, North America, a leading provider of advanced solutions for technical and industrial education. In this role, he is working with colleges and universities in the United States to develop customized hardware systems to better train technicians and engineers.

Mike has been a driving force in developing Festo’s Industry 4.0 Cyber Physical Factory that better prepares students for high-tech careers by providing platforms that function as real equipment with real industrial components. This brings higher education and industry together to prepare students for new careers, like mechatronics. This is especially valuable in a rapidly changing industrial community where specific skill sets are required.

Mike has presented and published papers such as “The Four Organic Growth Sales Strategies” in the ISA Management newsletter, “Hot Tips on Thermocouples” in Machine Design, “Understanding Surge Suppression” in Plant Engineering, “You’re Not in Kansas Anymore! The Strange Physical World of Industrial Ethernet” at the BiCSI Winter Conference, “The Internet of Industrial Things” at the IEEE/ACM Conference and “How to Future Proof your Career in IoT Era” at the IoT Emerge Conference, and “Industry 4.0 and the Rebirth of American Manufacturing” at the Nevada Economic Conference.

Mike is a senior member of the IEEE and the ISA professional societies and has held leadership positions in both as well as the Material Handling Industry Association. Mike is a volunteer programs such as the IEEE Mini-Engineering Academy which gives students experience in the technical fields.

Prior to his current role at Festo, Mike was the General Manager and Vice President for Metz Connect USA, a German connector manufacturer and prior to that he created and managed the Vertical Industry department at Phoenix Contact USA.