Katja Hinz is drawn to all kinds of building projects and actually finds home renovation to be therapeutic. Why? “Blame my dad,” she said with a laugh. Growing up near Cologne, Germany, she was often by her father’s side, fitting pieces together to make something new. This innate desire to understand, undertake, and improve processes — mixed with “a good amount of crazy!” she added — is how she ended up with a work history that, so far, spans three countries and five job titles in 25 years. And all of it has been with one company.
From Klingenberg to Canada to Colorado
Today, Katja is general manager of Phase IV Engineering, a Boulder-based startup that WIKA fully acquired in 2023. Her WIKA journey actually began in Märkische Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) in Hagen, Germany. “There was this booklet called Zukunftschancen (Future Chances) 2000 — now I’m dating myself! — that profiled some businesses that might be interested in hiring engineering graduates,” she recalled. “I thought WIKA sounded interesting and contacted them about a topic for my senior dissertation.” WIKA also thought she sounded interesting and suggested that she research instrumentation in the shipbuilding industry.
Katja’s contacts at WIKA were so impressed with her initiative, people skills, intelligence, and tenacity (“My boss calls it stubbornness, but tenacity sounds much better!“ she quipped) that after she graduated with dual degrees in industrial engineering and industrial marketing, they offered her the job of Market Segment Manager for Shipbuilding. A few months after she joined, her supervisors added another segment, Refrigeration.
This combination of personal drive and company-initiated advancement opportunities is the hallmark of Katja’s entire career. Three years later, she accepted a short-term contract to work as Technical Product Specialist in Edmonton, Canada. What started as a 3–5 year assignment grew into two decades, during which time she was also Regional Sales Manager (Western U.S.) and Business Development Leader.
She loved living and working in Canada, which was home for almost as long as Germany. “I have seen more of the country than most Canadians get to see, and that has been a beautiful blessing,” she said. But when WIKA tapped her to manage Phase IV in 2023, the opportunity was too good to pass up. “Moving from Edmonton was difficult, but my team is phenomenal, the people are very nice, and I like being able to work with more people in WIKA USA,” she said. “And it’s never a bad thing to see the mountains on my way to work and have all sorts of hiking trails within an hour of my house.”
Going Global with Wireless Sensing Solutions
Katja might live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but her focus is global as she integrates Phase IV, a small engineering firm, into a large multinational company. Most mornings, she rises early to meet with colleagues in Germany, which is eight hours ahead. Phase IV’s transceiver nodes are already approved for use in the U.S. (FCC) and Canada (IC), so one of her priorities is to attain CE (Conformité Européenne) certification so that Leap Sensors can be sold in Europe, a prospect she’s especially excited about as that would open up a completely new market for the wireless sensing system.
“Once that’s done, we’ll send the hardware to our colleagues in Latin America to get local radio approvals, which will expand our accessible regions even further,” she said. “There is a huge future for IIoT within the WIKA world, and I am excited to be part of that and to have such a dedicated team that is walking this path with me, and leadership that is supporting us to get there.”
The Boulder location functions as the IIoT hub for all WIKA IIoT Solutions across the Americas, “so a lot of work goes into building up the right structure and knowledge base,” Katja added. “With that setup, WIKA's solutions can be rolled out on a larger scale, such as automated systems for warehouse condition monitoring and predictive maintenance for rotating machinery."
After her European colleagues end their work day, Katja drives to the office to tackle other projects. As Phase IV is a small company, she’s involved in every aspect of its operation, from engineering and finance to procurement and production.
“I love the variety, and I believe in what we’re doing,” she said. “And we have a lot of fun in the office, which makes work very enjoyable. As a bonus, on most days there is at least one dog here!” Sometimes that dog is her own, a very pampered German shepherd.
When not at work, Katja finds joy in renovation projects, motorbiking, her faith, and spending time with her husband, a fellow traveler throughout her multinational journey.
Fill out the form below to start a conversation with Katja Hinz about IIoT or your wireless sensing needs.
