Our History

Bergquist has a long history of customer satisfaction, an achievement of which we are truly proud.

Founded in June, 1964 by Carl Bergquist, The Bergquist Company has grown from a small midwest electronic components distributor to a leader in thermal management, switch and touch screen technologies. The Bergquist Company began as a one-person manufacturers’ representative company for electronic materials. To make ends meet in those first few months, Carl sold electronic materials full time during the day while holding down a full-time night job. Toward the end of that summer, his business began to blossom as orders started coming in.

For five years, Carl grew his business and became quite successful, but he knew that something was missing. People. Carl worked alone and without people, he could not truly enjoy his job. He longed to be a part of a team. At this point he "remade" his business into an electronic component distribution company. He enjoyed working with other people and watching them grow with the company. But there was still something missing. He needed to fulfill his desire to manufacture a product.

In the mid 1970's, opportunity crossed Carl’s path when a silicone company asked him to develop a material to replace mica and grease behind power transistors. It was then that he developed what is now known as Sil-Pad thermal interface material. This product quickly became successful and fostered many related products for the company.

But Sil-Pad was just the first step. Now, with a cohesive team of energetic “go-getters,” innovative ideas were popping all over the place. Carl asked his team and a few outsiders to focus on the broader scope of heat management in electronics. Out of the resulting brain storm session emerged the idea of putting a layer of thermally conductive dielectric onto aluminum and laminating this with copper, thus producing a thermally conductive PC board. They decided to call this new technology “Thermal-Clad” and it is now a major platform for PC boards used in power supplies, motor controls and other electronic devices.

In 1980, The Bergquist Company was distributing standard membrane switches for another company. Unfortunately, most manufacturers required custom-designed switches and Carl and his team soon developed another new solution, the HeatSeal membrane switch. This new switch far exceeded any standards for durability in harsh environment and remains as a leading force in the industry.

Close work with membrane switches soon led to the development of another successful venture, specialized touch screens. Today, Bergquist’s 5-wire resistive touch screens feature industry-leading light transmission and unsurpassed clarity and are available in sizes ranging from 3.5” to 23” diagonal.

"The real joy and blessing of business turns out to be the very thing I was lacking as a manufacturers representative. We now have developed a team that allows people the opportunity to exercise their personal skills and God given talents, and this brings me great joy.” — Carl Bergquist