Dr. Carl Kirkconnell

After a 25-year career developing advanced technical solutions for the most demanding customers in the world, primarily the United States military and NASA, Dr. Carl Kirkconnell has founded a new company, West Coast Solutions (WCS). His vision at WCS is to create the “perfect partner” for the customer community he cherishes by focusing on those aspects of the technology development mission best served by a small, agile, technically savvy business.

From 2001 to mid-2009, Carl was a Senior Fellow and Product Line Manager for Space Cryogenics at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (RSAS), revitalizing the technical team and pioneering the invention and maturation of the Stirling / pulse tube hybrid cryocooler, which remains the trademark RSAS cryocooler technology to this day. Carl was also a corporate-wide technical resource across a wide range of thermal management technologies beyond cryogenics, in particular leading a DARPA-funded effort to manage the extreme heat flux challenges associated with high power, compact electronics packages.

Carl moved over to Iris Technology in 2009 as the Chief Technology Officer. During his six years at Iris, Carl was the principal change agent in tripling the size of the business in terms of revenue, staff, and facility square footage. This was accomplished through the introduction of new technology, driving engineering excellence through improved processes and process discipline, and bringing in his extended consulting network of subject matter experts. Carl founded the cryocooler electronics product line at Iris, while also leading the development of expeditionary alternative energy solutions, including solar power generation, lithium-ion energy storage, and the hybrid power systems that utilize these core technologies.

West Coast Solutions (WCS) is Carl’s third foray into building a hardware technology portfolio. Leveraging the previous two “intrapreneurship” experiences and his valued network of colleagues and customer partners, Carl is looking forward to working with you to create a world-class organization to meet the critical needs of the defense community, and beyond.