CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Marshalltown native Paul Boerger is an engineering manager with numerous patents. He is the author of the new book “The Alchemist’s Way.
LOVELAND, CO — Marshalltown native Paul Boerger is an engineering manager with 17 U.S. patents, five European patents, and more than 15 technical publication credits. He’s also the author of a new leadership book “The Alchemist’s Way,” a work in which he distills more than 37 years of engineering leadership experience into a transformative six-tenet framework.
Boerger said growing up, his father, Bernard Boerger, was the area manager of the local unemployment office and made sure his son had a job beginning at age 12. He graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1982, and then spent a year at MCC studying pre-engineering.
“In my late teens, I designed a lighting system for a band, and then I sold it. I got pretty good at electronics and eventually added sequencers, dimmers and a bunch of other controls like that and sold a few more,” he said. “I had a good affinity for electronics. I was also repairing some equipment, and so that’s what got me interested in electrical engineering.”
He transferred to the University of North Dakota. During his last two years at UND, he played lead guitar in an established country, rock and 50s band called Moonshine Express. By working long hours at minimum wage jobs, utilizing a patchwork of student loans, and earnings from band gigs, he was able to finance his education.
In May of 1987, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He dreamed of going west, envisioning settling into a small A-frame cabin overlooking a mountain lake in Colorado. With $60 to his name, he made the move to Loveland with the lyrics to REO Speedwagon’s “Ridin’ the Storm Out” in his head.
A little less than three weeks later, he got a job at Apogee Robotics as an electrical engineer designing automatic guided vehicle systems (AGVs) and industrial automation systems. He has remained in Colorado ever since. A career highlight was driving $500 million in new revenue valuations by delivering on two strategic Intellectual Property Licensing (IPL) initiatives for Hewlett-Packard (HP), where he worked for 24 years.
“That’s where I got the majority of my patents. I led a lot of new business creation initiatives,” he said. “If you turn over your computer mouse, and if it doesn’t have that nasty track rollerball at the bottom of it, I led that team in the late 90s, and we brought that to fruition…then we licensed that technology in a cost-reduced form to Microsoft, and then they made the optical mouse ubiquitous.”
His work has taken him all over Asia-Pacific, Europe and several other countries. He eventually got that dream cabin on the mountain lake. Today he manages engineering teams remotely, collaborating with Google, Apple and Microsoft.
“My team specializes in the readers and credential technology spaces, which is your digital badge, readers and access control technologies,” he said.
But it was the occasion of his daughter Alexa’s college graduation in May 2024 (with a BS degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering), which got Boerger interested in writing a book.
“I raised Alexa as a single dad since she was 5. I wrote this book not just for myself, but also to inspire tomorrow’s leaders and encourage more women to step into STEM and leadership careers with confidence. My daughter heard so many negative words attempting to dissuade her from a career in engineering that it prompted me to get this book out…I would love to give this book to my 22-year-old self,” he said.
Ancient alchemists that transformed ordinary materials into gold inspired the name for the book.
“Today’s alchemists create the extraordinary by unlocking potential — both in themselves and others — through the six core tenets of leadership: The 3 Cs of Setting Goals, Building Belief, Character and Integrity, Vitality and Energy, Daily Habits and Morning Rituals, and The Heart of the Servant Leader,” he explains in the book.
Boerger points out the information outlined in his book isn’t confined to those employed in STEM fields. Likewise, he says it’s not like other leadership books on the market.
“This book is going to be different. It’s more pragmatic. It’s got more stories, a lot more experience, and I really wove those into the pages as a guide to real transformation, offering a more practical framework, not only your potential, but also the potential of others,” he said. “The first step of leadership is self mastery, and that’s what this book is about. I’ll probably do a second edition of this one maybe this fall, and then a second book, maybe in 2026, that’s going to be more team focused.”
His book is available in paperback and Kindle. Learn more on his website: paul-boerger.com.