Our Founders

Bill Kappele founded Objective Experiments in 1998 to share the Design of Experiments (DOE) method he learned from Dave Doehlert, a pioneer in the field.

Bill is a chemist with extensive experience in DOE, both as a researcher and teacher. He first encountered DOE at the beginning of his career at Hewlett-Packard. He was responsible for the design and development of dye-based thermal inkjet inks and earned numerous U.S. patents for his work.

From H.P., Bill went on to Lexmark International, where he invented the first lightfast black ink for their inkjet printers. He then joined DOE pioneer Dave Doehlert at The Experiment Strategies Foundation, where Bill began to teach DOE to scientists and engineers.

A lifelong learner and born teacher, Bill has seen the powerful advantage that DOE training has given each of his students, from chemists and engineers who convert theories into real-life products, to researchers who no longer rely on luck to produce results on time and within budget.

Bill is very pleased to know that Ken Bertagnolli will carry on with the great tradition of teaching DOE started by Dave Doehlert.

Beth Heffernan holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. She began her career at Acurex Corporation, and then moved on to Hewlett-Packard, where she was on the team responsible for developing the ink production process and other components of the inkjet pen. She holds patents for two processes used in the inkjet pen production. Beth has used DOE extensively in the development of these products.