Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Huron
Electrical Engineering,
Lawrence R. Thielen was active in basketball and amateur radio as a student at South Dakota State College. He held many positions following his graduation from SDSC including RCA engineer in New Jersey, engineer for Bell Telephone Labs in New Jersey, marketing and sales manager for the instrumentation division for the Ampex Corp. and director of marketing for Applied Technology, Inc. He went on to become the founder, chairman, chief executive officer and director of Avantek, Inc., a company that designed semi-conductors, microwaves and digital microwaves. Thielen was the recipient of several awards including the Hughes Award, the Quality Products Award and various awards for Avantek’s product performance. He was also active in American Electrics Association and the Standard Advanced Education Committee.