‍Can you share a little about your background and what you do at CrossnoKaye?

My background is mechanical refrigeration, primarily industrial refrigeration. I got my start in this industry on a whim of my father. The contractor at his facility was looking for someone new, green, and I spoke with the VP of Operations at their North Carolina office for about two hours. Shortly after, I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to work as a service apprentice in industrial refrigeration. Ten years later, here I am.

A big part of how I learned was simple: pick up a book, or an equipment bulletin. Valves, compressors, everything has an operations manual that explains how it works and how to troubleshoot. I read, absorbed what I could, and took everything in stride.

Industrial refrigeration is not for the faint of heart, especially as a contractor. The hours can be rough and the environments can be tough, but it’s also an industry that can take you anywhere. Cold storage and industrial refrigeration are everywhere, and it’s been a very giving industry for me.


‍And how did you make the jump to CrossnoKaye? What are you working on now?

At the point I was in my career, I knew I couldn’t do heavy-duty contracting work forever before my body would tell me it was done. I was trying to get ahead of that and find something still technical, but more sustainable. I’d always gravitated toward controls, but I didn’t realize it was an avenue I could work in. When CrossnoKaye reached out, it clicked. After going through the conversations and interview process, I joined.

Today, I’m an Implementation Engineer. I wear two main hats. One is Refrigeration SME. If anyone across the company has refrigeration questions, they reach out to the refrigeration engineers and we help set expectations for how we want to control equipment, and we help keep ideas grounded in what’s mechanically realistic and controllable. The second hat is Controls Support. I assist control engineers with programming and building control narratives to actually control refrigeration equipment.

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‍What surprised you most about joining a fast-paced startup after working in traditional refrigeration environments? What changes are most noticeable to you?

It was a shift from predictability to agility. In traditional environments, there’s a manual for everything. If you want to do a PM on a compressor, the steps are in a book.

In a startup, we’re solving problems where the manual doesn’t exist yet, so I rely on foundational knowledge, thermodynamics, physics, mechanical understanding, and we innovate on the fly. ATLAS gives us tools and data that traditional control systems don’t, especially trending and monitoring, so you learn to be resourceful and to pivot quickly.


‍Are there any new skills you feel like you’ve either gained or strengthened since joining CK?

I’ve developed strong proficiency in IoT and remote monitoring, especially the monitoring portion of our platform. Before, I’d see issues while I was onsite. Now I get phone calls when I’m states away, and I’m able to troubleshoot remotely; I use trending in ATLAS to make correlations and isolate what’s actually happening, sometimes even when the issue is mechanical.


‍What excites you most about the problems you’re solving here?

Dynamic optimization. A lot of traditional refrigeration systems are “set it and forget it,” and optimization by hand is very hard. At CrossnoKaye, optimization is what we do. We can see how the grid is acting, see how rooms are performing, adjust suction pressures accordingly, and as things become more satisfied, we don’t have to run the system as hard.

What’s exciting is that we can monitor, make changes, and see real benefits in real time, often with minimal human interaction.

When I first started, I honestly was skeptical about the energy savings numbers. When I heard “20%,” I didn’t believe it. Seeing the results and understanding the strategies made me a believer. Some facilities are running inefficiently enough that savings can be even higher. During UATs, we also find opportunities mechanically. Sometimes just re-evaluating how a facility is operating, for example running fewer machines or changing a process, can create immediate improvements.


‍If another fellow Refrigeration Engineer was considering joining CrossnoKaye, what advice would you give?

Stay curious and be ready to unlearn old habits. In traditional environments, holding temperature can feel like the finish line. At CrossnoKaye, holding temperature is the starting line. The question becomes, “Is it optimized?”. You have to be open to letting data challenge your assumptions.


‍As we look into the busy schedule we have ahead for next year, what are you excited about in terms of where the team and company are headed?

I’m excited about the next phase of growth for ATLAS. We’ve built a strong foundation in industrial refrigeration, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the platform continues to evolve.

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