Jim Hutmacher, CWD/PI, sales engineer with Wyo-Ben Inc., was born and raised in the Chamberlain, South Dakota area and began his career in the water well industry at an early age. When he was growing up, he would spend all his spare time either at the rig or at the shop helping his father and uncle. He has always said that he could run a drilling rig before he could legally drive.
Hutmacher graduated from Chamberlain High School and attended the University of South Dakota. Eventually he was at home helping with the well drilling business. He became interested in learning more about water wells and began to attend the state association meetings, and then NGWA conventions.
A South Dakota-licensed well driller since the mid ’70s, Hutmacher took the NGWA voluntary certification test in 1986 for mud rotary, and the pump installer test in 1993, and is an NGWA Certified Well Driller/Pump Installer (CWD/PI). He has served on the South Dakota Water Management Board, which licenses well drillers and pump installers and issues water use permits, from 2003 to the present.
Hutmacher has been employed with Wyo-Ben Inc. since 2016 and is currently a sales engineer. His responsibilities include training for customers and distributors, in both classroom and on-site settings. He specializes in the fields of water well drilling, environmental, and HDD. His territory covers eight states in the upper Midwest. Hutmacher has instructed classes on drilling fluids in the eight states in the Midwest region and at NGWA’a Groundwater Week 2018.