I am a technical leader with 10 years of technical management/executive experience in operations, product development, R&D, business development, marketing and technical sales and 20 years of engineering and R&D experience in sensors and arrays, algorithm development, firmware, embedded systems, acoustic measurement, MEMS, physical modeling, transduction, fabrication, characterization/test, and consulting. I have a track record of success as CTO/CEO in startup and medium-sized growth organizations, leading product development efforts from initial concept through R&D and commercialization to market introduction and growth. I am experienced in developing new business, managing products, projects and people, and leading internal strategic and resource planning to grow revenues and control costs. I am well experienced in taking early stage R&D concepts through to full products, and developing and growing businesses based on those products.
I hold a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (2005, University of Florida), with a focus on sensors/instrumentation, MEMS/microfabrication, and energy harvesting, along with 20 years of small business technical and leadership experience in the field, as an engineer, researcher, program/project manager, CEO, and CTO with several small businesses. I founded Satori Scientific in 2020 to provide SBIR grant-writing and R&D/engineering consulting to other small businesses. I currently lead the company as CEO, overseeing several teams totaling 15+ staff, mostly engineers and scientists, along with management and support staff. Over the past 2 years, I have also served as CTO for several startups developing electronics and sensor-based products.
From 2014 through 2020, I was president and CEO of IC2, a developer and manufacturer of precision sensors and instrumentation for the aerospace industry. Our focus at IC2 was (and still is) on scientific-grade instruments leveraging MEMS-based sensors for the measurement of aerodynamic quantities such as pressure, shear stress and aeroacoustic fluctuations. During my tenure, we grew the company by 5x, resulting in several commercially launched products by the time I left to form Satori Scientific.
Before IC2, I spent 6 years as program manager and lead engineer for micro and nanosystems research at Ducommun Miltec, later acquired by General Atomics. Before Miltec, I worked as a Research Scientist at Taitech, Inc., developing optical-based sensors for aeroacoustic applications. I have personally authored 35+ research publications and 3 patents related to sensors, acoustic and mechanical energy harvesting, and technology for aircraft noise control.
On the technical level, I am well experienced in R&D and engineering for sensor/transducer design, sensor system design and low noise signal conditioning circuitry, as well as microcontroller firmware (Arduino) and IoT gateways. In addition, I have many years of work experience in data collection, processing and analysis, sensor and system calibration and characterization, and development of firmware and software algorithms and code. Over the past few years, I have also led our team to develop IAQ, agricultural, and food/beverage-focused sensor systems for various clients, employing optical/spectral, chemical, capacitive, and electromagnetic sensors along with all support electronics (signal conditioning, power, embedded control, wireless data transfer), firmware, and industrial design of the housing.
In addition to my leadership and technical skills and experience, I am well-versed in project management (PMP trained but not certified), team-building, written and oral communications, and the development of internal processes for engineering, finance, operations, contracts, etc. I believe that teams work best when transparency and clear communications are maintained as top priorities. Further, I believe it to be important to set a clear vision for the team, setting expectations high while planning for the inevitable challenges that come with product development.