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MANAGEMENT
Charles West, VP of Engineering
Charles F. (Charlie) West has been leading and developing
product development of thin inorganic films for over 30 years.
He has been directly responsible for the development of many vapor
phase thin-film (primarily CVD) applications in the areas of electronic,
bio-medical, optics, and wear and corrosion. Prior to joining
ADT he was one of the founders of QuesTek
Innovations, LLC, another award-winning high tech startup
in the Chicago area. Charlie was the CVD Group leader and a Research
Scientist at Northwestern University prior to starting QuesTek
and a research scientist for 10 years at Battelle Columbus Laboratories
in the Electronic and Optical Materials Group. Charlie has been
working directly with prospective clients and helping them develop
new products and processes throughout his career. He has also
been personally responsible for enabling and transferring new
and unique CVD processing to NASA, universities, national laboratories,
and several industrial firms.
Dr. Nicolaie Moldovan, MEMS Lead
Scientist
Nicolaie ("Mike") Moldovan is a top micro-nanofabrication
expert with 20+ years of experience in materials, process, and
device integration. He joined ADT after being a research professor
with Northwestern
University where he developed diamond AFM probes, nanofountain
probes for AFM nanolithography, and carbon nanotube devices. During
1998-2002, with Argonne
National Laboratory, he conducted research in ultradeep x-ray
lithography, x-ray microoptics, field emitters, and ultrananocrystalline
diamond (UNCD) microfabrication technologies. From 1983 to 1998
he developed electronic devices, micro-optics, and microfabrication
technologies at the Institute for Electronic Components and the
Institute of Microtechnology
in Bucharest, Romania. As head of the Laboratory for Unconventional
Microfabrication Technologies, he ran international projects in
LIGA technology, silicon, germanium, metal, and glass micromachining
for micromechanics and micro-optics.
Dr. Moldovan received his M.Sc. degree (1982)
and his Ph.D. (1997) in Physics from the University
of Bucharest, Romania. He completed two DAAD research stages
in the Fraunhofer
Institute for Solid State Technology Germany, where he specialized
in anisotropic etching of silicon and germanium, and stress engineering
in thin films and membranes. Among his achievements is listed
a master equation-based atomic scale model able to reproduce the
Si-KOH etching anisotropy diagram starting from atomic and lattice
parameters. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers, five
patents, and received an
R&D 100 award.
James Netzel, Director of Seals Engineering
James P. (Jim) Netzel has more than forty years of experience
in the design and application of mechanical seals which includes
twenty years of service as Chief Engineer at John
Crane, Morton Grove, Illinois. He has written and has
published numerous technical papers that were published through
the International Pump Symposium, STLE,
ASME, BHRA, AISE, SAE,
and various trade publications. Jim has written chapters
on seals, sealing systems for the Pump Handbook, The Centrifugal
Pump Handbook and the Compressor Handbook.
Jim received his B.S. degree in Mechanical
Engineering in 1963 from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a fellow of The
Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE).
Wayne Beth, Director
of Manufacturing
Wayne A. Beth has over twenty five years of experience in the
field of Thin Film Deposition Technology. He has been involved
in all aspects of CVD and PVD processing from performing basic
research to managing commercial coating facilities generating
annual revenues of several million dollars. Wayne has established
ISO certified Quality and Operating systems allowing consistent
high quality products to be manufactured profitably. Industries
serviced include aerospace, medical, automotive and tooling. He
has been employed in senior engineering and management positions
with industry leaders such as Air Products and Chemicals, Science
Applications International Corporation and Chromalloy Research
and Technology.
Wayne received his B.S. degree in Metallurgical
Engineering in 1982 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He has been certified by General Electric’s Central Coatings
Laboratory in man-rated aerospace coating analysis and received
the Fansteel President’s Award for company leading cost
savings.
BOARD MEMBERS
Bob Geras, Board Member
Bob Geras, President of LaSalle Investments, Incorporated, has
been an active participant in the VC and angel community in Chicago
for over 35 years. Bob has extensive line operating experience
as an entrepreneur, and he received the “Angel of the Year-2002”
award by the Chicago Software Association. Bob has been
a featured panelist, lecturer, mentor and/or business plan judge
for the Illinois Coalition,
the University of
Illinois, Kellogg
School of Management, University
of Chicago, Roosevelt University, DePaul University as well
as in seminars sponsored by the Chicago
Software Association, Garage.com,
the Midwest Entrepreneurship Forum, and the Association for Corporate
Growth.
In 1986 he bought MEDX, Inc. a troubled Rolling
Meadows, Illinois medical equipment company, and in five years
turned it around and sold the company for 26 times his cost. Since
1989, he’s been a co-founder and the largest shareholder of publicly
traded Merge Technologies (MRGE),
the industry leader in eHealth connectivity products for medical
imaging and other clinical information, helping to make the "electronic
patient record" a reality. He's also an investor in
Exadigm, NexVu, and 20/20 Technologies. Bob is also a director
and/or investor in VideoHomeTours,
ShowingTime.com,
Citizens Bank and Trust, and PowerQuest Corporation, a leading
software developer and technology pioneer. In addition, he is
an investor and/or advisor to Kettle
Partners, Chicago Ventures, KB
Partners, Kingsport Capital, Artesian Capital, and is a founding
member and a Director of the Illinois
Venture Capital Association.
John Regan, Board Member
John
Regan is a Senior Director of Illinois
Ventures, LLC.
Jeffrey Niew, Board Member
Jeffrey S. Niew is the Chief Operating Officer of Knowles
Electronics. Mr. Niew joined Knowles in June 2000 and has
been held various management positions among which he was responsible
for the development and productization of the SiSonic MEMS based
microphone. Prior to joining Knowles, he was the Business Development
Manager for Littelfuse Incorporated, a global electronics manufacturer
specializing in the consumer and automotive markets. In addition
he held various engineering and marketing positions in the optoelectronics
division of Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Niew has a Bachelor of Science
degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois
at Chicago.
Dennis Roberson, Board Member
Dennis Roberson is Vice Provost, and Research Professor in Computer
Science at Illinois
Institute of Technology. In this capacity, he has responsibility
for IIT’s relationships with its various corporate partners.
Professor Roberson is an active researcher in the wireless networking
arena and is a co-founder of IIT’s Wireless
Network and Communications Research Center (WiNCom). He also
assists with IIT’s technology transfer efforts, the development
of new research centers, and technology-based business ventures.
He currently serves on the boards of several technology-based
companies, including four in the telecommunications industry.
Prior to IIT, he was EVP and CTO at Motorola. Professor Roberson
has an extensive corporate career including major business and
technology responsibilities at IBM, DEC (now part of HP), AT&T,
and NCR. He is and has been involved with a wide variety of Technology,
Cultural, Educational and Youth organizations currently including
the FCC
- TAC (Technology Advisory Council), the National Advisory
Board for the Boy Scouts of America, and the Board of FIRST Robotics.
He is a frequent speaker at universities, technical workshops,
and conferences around the globe.
Professor Roberson has BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and
Physics from Washington State University and a MSEE degree from
Stanford.
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