Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Sioux Falls
Mechanical Engineering,
Richard (Dick) Gustaf grew up in Sioux Falls. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1973. Upon graduation, he joined an architectural engineering firm in Minneapolis as a HVAC design engineer and worked there for four years. In 1977, he joined TSP in Sioux Falls. Gustaf became the TSP mechanical engineering department head in 1984 and a partner in 1989. He was appointed CEO in 2004. In 2010, TSP was a 120 person A/E/C firm located in five states throughout the upper Midwest. The firm was responsible for the design of approximately 200 million construction dollars annually. In December 2008, Gustaf retired as a Lt. Col., with 31 years of service in the U.S. National Guard. While serving as the commander of the 114th Civil Engineering Squadron, his unit was activated in March 2003 and sent to Tallil Air Base, Iraq. While there he oversaw the reconstruction of the base for fighting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Squadron’s performance, while in Iraq, earned them the nation’s most outstanding Civil Engineering Squadron of the Year for the Guard and Reserve in 2003. Gustaf was an active member of St. Michael Catholic Church serving on the parish council, served as vice chair of the Sioux Empire Junior Achievement Board, was a member of the SDSU Mechanical Department Advisory Council, past SDSU president of the Air Force Association, past president of the local chapter of ASHRAE, past member of the College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council and a member of Downtown Rotary in Sioux Falls.