West Virginia Department of Commerce From Alps to Mountain State

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From Alps to Mountain State



Celebrate Traditions with International Spirit

International career path leads Swiss executive to West Virginia

Kurt RuefenachtKurt Ruefenacht was born in the crossroads of Europe. His native Switzerland shares borders Austria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein and Germany and is home to four national languages. He began his career working in Switzerland for an American-based company. Today he is an American citizen, serving as CEO of EuropTec USA Inc., a Swiss-owned specialty glass company in West Virginia. He talks about the traditions of both countries.

Where are you from originally and what was it like there?

Ruefenacht: I came from a suburb of Lucerne, Switzerland. When I lived there, the population was 80,000. Lucerne is on the lake of Lucerne, one of the biggest tourist cities in Switzerland. The area is famous for its covered wooden bridge and the Alps.

Tell us about growing up there. For example, what favorite childhood activities do you recall?

Ruefenacht: I grew up in a family with two older brothers. My dad was a factory worker and my mom stayed at home. We had a very big vegetable garden which provided fresh vegetables and fruits for the whole year. Growing up in the 1950s, we spent most of our free time outdoors. My favorite activities were playing soccer in the summer and ice hockey in the winter on our neighborhood pond. I also was active in a band. 

What holidays or traditions do you recall?

Ruefenacht: Just as in the U.S., holidays in Switzerland are a special time with the family. We had big get-togethers, great food and lots of fun and laughing. The biggest holidays in Switzerland were Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Other traditional events are the Carnival in early spring and St. Nikolaus in December.

Switzerland is home to several languages, a reflection of the varied heritages of the people who settled in each region. Local holiday traditions also vary by region.  Around Lake Lucerne, people celebrate St. Nikolaus Day with a parade in which they carry decorated cardboard bishops’ miters. They construct the hats from cardboard, cut out intricate designs and lined them with translucent colored paper. Candles light the hats from within, creating a stained glass effect.

What was your education?

Ruefenacht: After all the mandatory school years, I decided to become an electronic engineer. I started out as an electrician but with additional education, I earned my master’s degree in electronic engineering during the mid 1970s.

When and why did you move to United States? To West Virginia?

Ruefenacht:  While working in Switzerland for an American-based electronic company, I met my wife Heidi in 1976. We married in 1979. In 1985, I was offered a business opportunity to move to the U.S. with a German architectural glass company located outside Madison, Wis. As general manager, I was in charge of setting up the site and planning the production facility. We produced some of the first low emissivity (low-E) glass in the US. Low E glass is energy efficient glass that lets in visible light and blocks heat-generating ultraviolet light.

When we moved to the U.S., we already had three young boys —Andy, Dan and Tom — which made a move to a new country very interesting.

After 12 years in Wisconsin, I moved to Minnesota to join a technical glass company as their international sales/marketing manager. In 2004, I opened EuropTec USA, the American sales office for Switzerland’s EuropTec. While looking for a way to expand its glass fabrication capabilities, EuropTec discovered Eagle Glass Specialties, a successful etched glass manufacturer in Clarksburg. EuropTec bought the production plant in West Virginia, which led to me and my family moving to Morgantown in the late fall of 2006.

How would you describe what EuropTec USA does, especially in its operation in West Virginia?

Ruefenacht:  I have been fascinated by glass for a long time. It is a product which has so many capabilities and applications. EuropTec USA is manufacturing high quality chemical etched glass for the technical display market. The company also is a glass processing operation which produces laminated, silk screened and tempered glass for the display market. EuropTec supplies some of the biggest touch panel manufacturers in the world.

What were your first impressions of West Virginia as a place to live, work and conduct a business operation such as yours?

Ruefenacht:  Our first impression of West Virginia reminded us of Switzerland, with its hills and winding roads. West Virginians are very loyal, hard working people who, like us, are proud of their heritage. Their friendliness makes some “strangers” feel very welcome.

We felt at home from the first moment we arrived here in the U.S. A couple years later, our fourth son Roger was born in America. We raised the boys to speak both English and Swiss German so they had no problems communicating with their relatives in Switzerland. We tried very hard to raise our boys with the traditions from Switzerland. The boys often traveled with us, which let them experience different cultures and broaden their minds. In the mid-1990s, the entire family became U.S. citizens.

Today, Heidi is EuropTec’s office manager and handles accounting and human resources. Andy works for EuropTec in international sales in Virginia. Dan joined the U.S. Army and is stationed in Germany. Tom plays professional ice hockey in the top league in Switzerland. Roger is attending the Army Airborne School in Georgia.

What traditions did you encounter in West Virginia that made an impression on you?

Ruefenacht:  We have become familiar with the Italian Heritage Festival in Clarksburg. We were surprised at how many people here have some connection to Italy or other parts of Europe. People here are proud of their heritage and love good food. Before long, we hope to visit the Little Switzerland in West Virginia, Helvetia (a town in Randolph County settled by the Swiss and Germans in 1869. The town celebrates Swiss National Day on the Saturday closest to Aug. 1).