2015 40 Under 40: Thomas L. Earp, PE, ATD, 34

Principal, Senior Electrical Engineer, Page, Austin, Texas BS Electrical Engineering, Duke University

By Jack Smith, Content Manager, and Amara Rozgus, Editor-in-Chief May 14, 2015

Thomas L. Earp, PE, ATD, 34 Principal, Senior Electrical Engineer, Page, Austin, Texas BS Electrical Engineering, Duke University

After earning his electrical engineering degree at Duke in 2003, Earp chose to first strap on a tool belt, borrow some tools, and apply for a job as an electrician’s helper with an industrial contractor. As he progressed to journeyman, supervisor, and project manager, he learned how projects are actually built, which enabled him to apply the theories he learned at college. This experience would serve him well when he entered his chosen field of engineering. Earp worked for the contractor for 2 years before joining his current employer, Page, where he specializes in designing highly reliable, cost-effective data centers for national and international clients. He works closely with the firm’s data center clients to develop generator paralleling solutions that minimize downtime, and is instrumental in developing design guidelines for Tier V mission critical facilities. Earp, who has received Uptime Institute Tier Designer accreditation, served as a key member of Page’s electrical engineering delivery team on a billion-dollar program to consolidate data center operations for HP by developing a template for its next-generation data centers. The goal was to significantly reduce HP’s operational costs by streamlining operations of its more than 86 data center facilities located throughout the world. The solution involved designing six large paired centers, allowing synchronized mirroring between and among pairs to ensure multiple levels of backup and reliability. At age 32, Earp became the youngest principal and senior engineer in Page history.