Our Mentors

Lead Mentor & Head Coach, Drive team Mentor

Jerry Krist

As a founding mentor, Jerry Krist helped establish Round Table Robotics at OCHS in the summer of 2015.  Over the past ten years he has served as the Lead Mentor, he has also been the Business/Media Mentor, Electrical Mentor Logistics Mentor, and he currently serves as the team’s Head Coach and Drive Team Mentor.  Jerry works at Regal Rexnord in Milwaukee as a customer service technician.  A Navy veteran, he spent 10 years as an aircraft mechanic serving during Operation Desert Storm and the Peace Enforcement Operations in Bosnia. Jerry’s number one goal as a mentor is preparing all students for the real world because in the words of Dean Kamen every kid on our team can “GO PRO”.  He also just ended a 3 year term on the Oak Creek Franklin Joint School Board where he served as a LOUD voice for STEM and Technical Education throughout the district. Jerry is an active volunteer with FIRST and serves as a Judge/Judge Advisor and Tournament Director with FLL in Wisconsin.  He has served in many different volunteer roles at  FRC Regionals and World Championship events and continues to look for ways to make an impact with FIRST & FIRST Wisconsin.  He is the proud dad of two FIRST Alumni as well as strong advocate for every student that has passed through this program.

Lead Mentor/Coach/District Staff

Dani Palm

Dani Palm has been deeply involved in the FIRST community for several years. She is a second-year mentor with Round Table Robotics and a fourth-year coach for the FIRST LEGO League (FLL). Additionally, Danielle has supported her son's participation in FIRST programs for seven years, gaining a unique perspective as both a parent and a mentor.  Dani’s primary roles on the team are to support student outreach efforts, including FIRST LEGO League Challenge and Explore, and serve as a liaison between the team and the school district.

Professionally, Dani works for the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint District as the Performance Measurement Specialist.  Her job primarily focuses on evaluating and enhancing educational outcomes. Dani is dedicated to fostering STEM education for all students and believes that student involvement in extracurricular activities greatly affects college and career success.

Design and Safety Mentor

Robin Olson

Robin Olson has been a design mentor on Round Table Robotics since her son joined the team in 2015.  She is also the safety mentor for the team and a pit mentor, spending most competitions working with the pit crew to repair the robot during competition.  As a women with a career in engineering, she is an advocate for empowering girls in design and manufacturing.  By day, she is the Director of Engineering for Regal Rexnord's Engineered Gear division.  A US Coast Guard veteran, Robin's whole family has a close connection to the water, and when not helping team 1792 she can by found on her family's sailboat out on beautiful Lake Michigan  Robin was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist award at the Wisconsin Regional in 2019. 

Programing 

Brian Hicks

Bio coming soon.  

CAD Mentor

Matthew Holl

Matthew Holl  is a mechanical engineer and spent most of his professional career designing Bulldozers, Locomotives, & Electric Rope Shovels for Caterpillar, and currently designs concrete Redi-Mix plants for JEL Manufacturing. He has professional experience with Pro/Engineer & Solidworks but is implementing OnShape within 1792 RTR. OnShape is a semi-professional CAD software with significant advantages over traditional professional CAD for the team.. This includes cloud based computing and file sharing, which eliminates the need for expensive computer hardware and issues with file sharing / compatibility. In addition to mentoring with 1792 RTR, Matthew has been scoutmaster for Scout BSA troop 218 from 2109-2024. He has a son and daughter both active on the team.

Mentor/Team Mom

Becky Lindquist

As a parent mentor, Becky Lindquist has been involved in FIRST since her son started in the FLL Explore program back in the fall of 2018. She has served as an adult support for the high school FRC team as they mentored the FLL explore team, and went on to coach FLL Challenge for the 3yrs her son was competing. When her son joined FRC his freshman year, Becky joined the mentor team for FRC 1792, her son’s team. Becky continues to work in direct support with students with special needs at her day job. She uses skills from her day job to help make sure students on the FIRST teams she works with are met where they are to make their FIRST STEM experience a positive one. This fall, Becky will once again don a FLL Challenge coach hat as her daughter “graduates” from her past 2 years of FLL Explore and breaks into the FLL Challenge world. Becky loves watching the students learn and grow and have fun as they explore STEM with their peers. She looks forward to being able to do more volunteering with FIRST now that both of her kids are old enough for her to do so.

Mentor

Jeff Lindquist

​Jeff Lindquist became involved with Round Table Robotics when his son joined the team in 2022 but has watched this team grow and succeed since the beginning thanks to his friendship with Lead Mentor Jerry Krist.  His role has evolved, originally being an involved parent and cheering them on at events.  This past season he spent a lot of time ensuring the students were safe using the Omio, our very own CNC machine which allows us to create our own parts versus sending them out to be manufactured.  Jeff is a Senior Human Resources professional who is not mechanically driven but does have the experience to be able to come alongside others and supervise so that tasks get done.  He is amazed by the time and effort these students spend during and outside of the build season and love to see them succeed and be recognized for their hard work.  Moving forward Jeff is available where needed and can’t wait to see how this team moves towards accomplishing the team’s vision.

Mentor/Machinist 

Daniel Matthews

Dan Matthews has been with the FIRST Robotics program starting in 2007 with the Original MORE Robotics Team #1714.  He came on board with his son and immediately went to work as a mentor in machining, fabrication instruction and team assistant.  With the spin-off of RTR in 2015, he made the decision to share his loyalties, skills and life experiences with both teams and in later years has spent most of his build season bouncing back and forth between both teams.   Mr. Matthews comes from an extensive background in industry, serving separate apprenticeships as a Tool & Die Maker and later as a Vacuum Systems Specialist/Machine Repairman at General Electric Healthcare until retirement, after 43 years, in 2016.  He also brings the experience of 30 plus years as a referee in several High School sports and in Division III collegiate football.  Mr. Matthews further was asked to be a Referee for FIRST and has willingly and joyfully performed in this demanding volunteer role for 18 years, refereeing at an average of 4 Regional events and the Championships each of those years.  At the 2018 Wisconsin Regional event Mr. Matthews was awarded the most prestigious FIRST volunteer award, The Woodie Flowers Award. Mr. Matthews also enjoys telling stories revolving around his many life experiences, especially promoting FIRST Robotics, and gets immense satisfaction of working with all of the students, mentors and parents on the teams both at home and at the competition events where they participate.

Mentor

Ann Hogan

Bio coming soon.  

Mentor

Kristina Reich

Bio coming soon.