Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Brookings
Electrical Engineering,
Reece Kurtenbach began his career with Daktronics, Inc. in 1982 as a student, working in manufacturing and customer service. After graduating from South Dakota State University, he worked for two other technical companies and returned to Daktronics in 1991 to work as an applications engineer on large display projects. In 1994, he became manager of a design group, leading the development of Daktronics’ first full color LED video display product. Since then, Daktronics became a leader in the technology of large screen LED video displays and the acknowledged world leader in sales in this product category.
Kurtenbach went on to serve as executive vice president for live events and international with Daktronics and provided corporate oversight for the company’s design and development engineering. The Live Events Business Unit encompasses the sales and service departments for Daktronics’ large sports venues and rental and staging markets, as well as the video products engineering development group. The International business unit served Daktronics’ customers outside of North America. Kurtenbach’s responsibilities for engineering included providing oversight to the company’s product strategies and platform developments. In 2012, Kurtenbach was named chief executive officer for Daktronics, Inc.
Reece’s wife, Kami, earned two degrees from SDSU including a bachelor’s in history in 1986 and a master’s in education administration in 1987.