McHale People

Patrick M. Mchale, President

Pat founded McHale & Associates in 1995. He is a registered professional engineer with over 40 years of management and engineering experience in the startup, testing, plant betterment, operation and maintenance, and life extension of cogeneration, fossil, nuclear, geothermal, and hydroelectric generating stations. He has managed projects of multiple configurations, including: cogeneration, oil (heavy and distillate), coal, landfill gas, geothermal, nuclear units and hydroelectric facilities. Recent testing and plant performance monitoring includes plants ranging from 15 MW to over 2000 MW. Pat has presented plant performance monitoring seminars and performance improvement training programs. Pat is a member on the ASME Board of Performance Test Codes, a member ASME PTC 46 code committee and an alternate member on ASME PTC 4.4

Prior to starting McHale & Associates, Pat was the General Manager for Plant Performance Testing at Raytheon Engineers & Constructors and was the General Manager for Operating Plant Services, Western Region. Pat obtained an Executive MBA from the University of Washington in 1985 and graduated from US Merchant Marine Academy in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering

Michael P. Mchale, Vice President

Mike founded McHale & Associates in 1995. He has over 20 years of experience in performance testing, thermal analysis and instrumentation and has developed thermal test monitoring and analysis software including programs for conducting performance tests of power plants, long term plant performance monitoring, plant economic optimization, thermal vacuum tests of space vehicles, thermal control systems, and aircraft electronics testing. Analysis includes development of performance test models, thermo-economic optimizers, as well as finite difference and finite element heat transfer and fluid flow numerical simulations. Instrumentation and control system experience includes specification and review of pressure, thermal, and flow transducers for various projects. Mike is a member on the ASME Board of Performance Test Codes, a member of ASME PTC 4.4, ASME MFFCC, and Chair of ASME PTC 6.2 .

Mike has completed coursework towards a MSME, at the University of Washington and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington where he graduated Suma Cum Laude.

Thomas C. Wheelock, P.E., Director of Testing Services

Tom directs the performance testing group including operational, business development, and strategic initiatives in the group. Mr. Wheelock was previously with Environmental Systems Corporation, Power Generation Technologies Division, where he was the Director of Performance Services. He has over 10 years of extensive project management, plant, component testing experience, and is an active member of ASME PTC 22 and PTC 46. A Registered Professional Engineer in Maine, Mr. Wheelock graduated with a B.S. in Power Engineering with a concentration in Nuclear Power from Maine Maritime Academy (1994).

Brad Woods P.E, Director of Engineering & Consulting

Brad focuses on providing consulting services related to plant performance. He has more than 24 years of power experience with a background that includes engineering support for asset management, plant restart, plant modeling, and performance improvement. Prior to joining McHale he was the Director of Engineering at AEP/Pro Serv where he managed an engineering staff of 50. Mr. Woods is a registered Professional Engineer in Maine, New Jersey, and Idaho. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, High Distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1991), and graduated from the Navy Nuclear Power Program (1981).

Dr. Thomas Keith Kirkpatrick

Dr. Kirkpatrick is a successful project manager with extensive performance testing experience. His thorough knowledge of performance test codes includes ASME and CTI. He serves on ASME PTC 6.2 and PTC 46 code committees and is chair of the PTC 51 committee. His education includes a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University (1999), an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University (1995), and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University (1994).

Gary Anderson

Gary is a Chemical Engineer with over eight years experience in power plant thermal performance testing and performance monitoring software development and installation. He joined McHale & Associates, Inc. in April, 1997 and has served as Test Director or Test Engineer on multiple gas turbine and boiler projects, including simple cycle, combined cycle, cogeneration, oil and coal-fired plant testing projects. Gary is also experienced in software development, and supports the TEMPO performance monitoring software system with both development and installation services.  Gary holds a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University (1997) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington (1995).