Title: Chief Technology Officer and Managing Partner
Company: Cross Plains Solutions LLC
Location: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States
David E. Garlie, chief technology officer and managing partner at Cross Plains Solutions LLC, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Scientists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in chemistry and biological sciences.
Celebrating nearly 40 years in his field, Mr. Garlie has crafted a reputation for thoughtful innovation in new product development with an eye toward sustainability. His career began in 1987 as a tech aide in the research and development department of 3M. After five years in that position, he joined Potlatch Corporation as a research chemist. With that company, he primarily worked in research and development in the areas of papermaking and pulping.
Mr. Garlie reached a major milestone in his professional journey in 1997 when he began a tenure of more than 25 years with Cargill Incorporated. Serving as the company’s industrial business development manager, he played a key part in developing revenue streams through biologically based materials in industrial markets. This role gave Mr. Garlie an opportunity to make headway in a market dominated by materials derived from petroleum. He was greatly impacted by recognizing the need to find alternatives to the less environmentally friendly methods of manufacturing.
Driven by that realization, Mr. Garlie co-founded Cross Plains Solutions LLC in 2022 and has since operated as its chief technology officer and a managing partner. Cross Plains Solutions manufactures a soybean-based foam for firefighting, offering a safer and more environmentally conscious alternative to current foams, which contain toxic perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) polymers. Mr. Garlie considers this product to be deeply personal, as he has worked with fire departments and witnessed firsthand how many firefighters have lost colleagues to cancer, the risk of which is increased by exposure to PFAs. He notes that firefighters have a 72% increased cancer rate compared to the general public, and he believes Cross Plains Solutions’ foam can significantly help.
Importantly, Mr. Garlie does not view himself as an environmentalist or an activist, but rather as a scientist approaching his work from a commonsense perspective. He believes more manufacturing companies should be using chemistry to engineer products with an intended lifecycle — a clear design for how long the product will be functionally used and for how it can safely break down and return to the earth.
Before venturing onto his vocational path, Mr. Garlie set a strong foundation in his education. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 1992. Subsequently, Mr. Garlie earned a Master of Science in chemistry from North Dakota State University in 1995. He has maintained membership in the American Chemical Society since 1987 and in the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) since 1995.
Among his career accomplishments, Mr. Garlie is especially proud of his numerous patents. These efforts go all the way back to 2003, when he received patents for star compositions and methods for use in papermaking. Through this creation, Mr. Garlie helped bring major improvements to the speed and cost of paper product manufacturing. He has been granted a total of 10 patents, including several that are focused on insulation products that reduce the use of petroleum.
In addition to his professional life, Mr. Garlie is a devoted husband and a loving father to two grown children who are now in the early stages of their own careers. In his free time, he relaxes with fishing, camping and backpacking. In the immediate future, Mr. Garlie is committed to completing the formulation of his groundbreaking firefighting foam. He’s currently working on a version of the foam for the Department of Defense that will be used on 1,800 U.S. military bases domestically and internationally.
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