Where Are They Now? Seibold and Lommen both land at John Deere

Coincidences. Do they occur more frequently in small communities? You know what I am referring to. You talk about someone to your spouse and then run into that person in the grocery store on the very same day, or you cross paths in the fitness center with someone you haven't seen for a while and exclaim, "I was just wondering last night about how you were doing!"

Two New Rockford High School graduates share several coincidences. Both Kyle Seibold, Class of 1996, and Matthew Lommen, Class of 2006, not only pursued engineering degrees, work for the same company, and live in the same state, but also last fall, unbeknown to each other at the time, they took part in a conference call together. Because of the 10-year age span between the two, Matt thought Kyle's name sounded familiar during the call, but he didn't immediately realize he was talking with someone who had graduated from the same high school as he. Later, when Matt's dad, Dennis Lommen bumped into Kyle's dad, Jerry Seibold, (another coincidence?!), the two men started talking about their sons' occupations at John Deere. It was only when Dennis told Matt about the exchange that Matt realized he had indeed been talking to another New Rockford alumnus!

An additional connection Kyle and Matt have is that they were both involved in internship programs that played enormous roles in landing their first jobs with the mega company John Deere. Matt's internship at Goodrich, which is now a part of UTC Aerospace in Jamestown, gave him his first hands-on experience working in the electrical engineering field. He learned how to design and test hardware and software in large cargo planes. Matt interned at John Deere during his final two years at NDSU and then accepted a full-time position in December of 2010. Kyle, too, learned much from two different internships, first at IBM for eight months in Rochester, Minn., and then at Pella Windows for three months. Kyle graduated in 2001 from Iowa State University with a BS Mechanical Engineering. He will celebrate 17 years with John Deere in June.

Both men relate interesting tales about their births. Although Kyle grew up in New Rockford, he was born in Grand Forks. His mother Maxine was visiting Kyle's grandmother in northwest Minnesota a month prior to her due date, but Kyle decided to come early. "It may be the only time in my life I've been early for something," he quips. Matt, on the other hand, was the second to the last baby born at the New Rockford Hospital in 1988. (Devin Weber was the last baby born there.) Matt and his classmates were the final graduating class before the reorganization took place with Sheyenne.

Thinking back to their formative years in New Rockford, Matt and Kyle comment on the impact growing up in a small community had upon them. Matt vividly remembers long weeks of two football practices per day, along with putting in full-time hours working with his dad. Kyle also recalls working with his dad on their farm. He remembers a time when he was around 9 or 10 years old, and he started thinking about the future of farm equipment. At the time his dad's John Deere 4440 had a cab and air conditioning. What possibly could be next? He says, "Little did I know someday I would be designing the next generation of tractors." Both graduates credit their parents in giving them their strong work ethic, problem-solving skills, determination and patience.

While Kyle leaned more toward the co-curricular activities of speech, one-act play, band, and yearbook in high school, Matt favored the athletic route of football, baseball and basketball. Both give much credit to teachers Mrs. Anne Erickson, Ms. Jay Nitschke and Mr. Kevin Cartwright for prodding them to participate in speech.

Kyle admits, "[My speech team involvement] helped me break out of my shell and gain confidence and the skill of speaking in front of people that I use regularly in my job." Matt echoes this sentiment by saying, "Being technically savvy only gets you so far. Having good communication skills are so important in today's business world." For Matt, the transition from 9-man to 11-man football took place during his senior year, which was a tough change for him and his teammates. Whatever the obstacles, the involvement in extra-curricular activities surely aided both of these men in their employment positions today.

Although he has held Product Design Engineer I and II and Systems Engineer titles with the company, Matt's current title of Senior Electrical Systems Engineer is his most interesting and demanding so far. He is the electrical technical lead of a new combine development program, which translates to his having the direct responsibility for all of the hardware components in the combine's electrical system. During the summer of 2017, Matt traveled to England for field testing of the new system.

Kyle also has held various titles in his tenure with John Deere, including Engineer of New Product and Continuous Improvement at the factory, Software Engineering Manager, and currently, Large Tractor Operator Station Engineering Manager. His work affords him trips to India and Germany, along with other John Deere locations in the United States.

Major developments take place annually with the machines that John Deere produces. Kyle lists agricultural equipment advancements of automation, AutoTrac guidance, rapid prototyping to help validate new designs, and the gathering and using of data to make agronomic decisions as some of the more notable ones. His most significant accomplishment in his job has been the production of a "clean sheet" cab design in 2009. The many long hours and late nights involved with this project were validated with the satisfaction of seeing his product working in the fields for the purpose of feeding the world.

Even though Matt has worked for John Deere less than a decade, he, too, has seen immense technological improvements in equipment. Embedded microcontrollers and other components used in electronics, along with continual advancement of GPS guidance, prove that the market for software developers and engineers is wide open right now. Matt says, "My proudest accomplishment [with the company] so far is seeing the first project that I designed starting back in 2011 now in production." He led a team in the hardware development of the image processing module used in the new ActiveVision grain camera system, which was recently introduced with the new S700 series of combines. He is currently involved with a patent disclosure that is expected to be granted within the next year or two.

Outside of work, Kyle and Matt both lead busy lives. Kyle has been married to his wife Dawn, whom he met at Iowa State University, for 16 years. Dawn is a physical therapist. Kyle and Dawn are parents to 12-year-old Joshua, 10-year-old Abigail and 6-year-old Ava. The family recently moved into a newly built home to the outskirts of Waterloo, Iowa, to a school district similar in size to New Rockford. "Both Dawn and I grew up in small towns and wanted our kids to have some of the same activities and experiences we enjoyed while growing up," Kyle asserts. When he reflects on his years in New Rockford, he gives much credit to the volunteerism, generosity and collective ambition of the community's people. These are the characteristics that make it possible for New Rockford to maintain certain features that many small towns do not have, such as a vintage movie theater and active golf course.

Matt is also married, but he has yet to celebrate his first wedding anniversary with his wife Jade, whom he married in September of 2017. Jade is an interior designer in Bettendorf, Iowa, where the couple resides. Matt commutes each day across the Mississippi River from Bettendorf to the John Deere Global Crop Harvesting Product Development Center in Silvis, Ill. For fun vacations, Matt and Jade have started highpointing, an activity that involves hiking and climbing to the highest natural point in each state. So far, they have completed 11 states and love the outdoor travel experiences.

Because both Kyle and Matt have understood the importance of building a network within personal and professional lives, they have taken advantage of certain opportunities for success. The famous slogan "Nothing runs like a Deere" is due in part to the North Dakota work ethic of these two New Rockford graduates. As far as coincidences go, Kyle and Matt have proven that North Dakotans have only "2 degrees of separation," even if they live in Iowa.