Sporting Goods, Military and Space Industries Polymer Material Science Expert

Expertise

• Materials science and engineering specific to the polymer, sporting goods, military and space industries.
• Sporting goods products: (inflated balls, golf balls), protective equipment, and structural fiber reinforced composites for the sporting industries; golf, soccer, tennis, basketball, football, volleyball, ice hockey, lacrosse.
• Technical performance garments.
• Elastic semi-permeable membranes.
• Separation technologies and flavorings.
• Guiding businesses to commercial success.
• IP portfolio management.

Expert Witness Experience

• Providing expert witness services to sporting goods brands regarding performance claims.

Experience

Undisclosed Company, Owner and General Manager, 2012 - Present

• Acquired assets and formed a compliant company, led the turnaround of a small surf and skate equipment and lifestyle brand.
• Transformed a "family hobby" into an internationally recognized growth business. Sales started b2c, web and direct, and then gradually shifted to b2b via coastal surf/skate/SUP shops.
• Extending formidable worldwide social media content and relationships with extraordinarily engaged friends, followers, and participants.
• Currently a leading brand in a new sports category with desirable adjacency to surf, skate, snowboard and SUP.
• Co-branding collaborators include San Diego Tourism Board, Subaru, RedBull, Burton, Billabong, ABC/Sony, and a variety of Television and Hollywood feature film productions.
• Made a successful pitch on ABC's hit TV Series "Shark Tank" resulting in a significant sales bump, but more importantly, worldwide syndicated and reruns enabled the brand and category to achieve international awareness.
• Built a scalable webstore in the USA, Sweden, England, Spain, Amsterdam, rounded-out the product mix and tested in surf/skate shops.
• Organized brand marketing with professional resources and built a scalable, competitive and reliable off-shore supply chain.
• Relaunched the brand with significantly lower retail prices and clear category messaging.
• Company's selling in the USA market via several sales channels, webtore, Amazon, and distribution.
• International retail: UK, South Africa, Australia, Japan and Taiwan sells through Distributors. Sweden, England, Spain and Amsterdam we sell via webstore. This company is paperless, utilizing synchronized web-based information technology platforms.

Dynasep Inc., Newark, DE, Investor and Advisor, 2010 - Present

• Provided support for this separation technologies company that utilized the unique and often superior characteristics of liquefied and supercritical gases.
• Assisted this company to provide a full range of services to support customers from initial process evaluation through plant and process deployment. Applications include extraction, purification and cleaning, recycling, dewatering and critical point drying.
• Biologically and naturally derived flavor and aroma extracts.
• Biologically and naturally derived colorants.
• Biologically and naturally derived nutraceuticals, (e.g., Omega-3 fatty acids derived from algae rather than from sea animals).

University Of Delaware, Composite Manufacturing Center, Newark, DE, Consultant, 2011 - 2012

• Collaborate on research projects related to carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic materials and manufacturing.
• Advised Center and University Directors related to entrepreneurial opportunities to commercialize their formidable intellectual property portfolio.

Warrior Sports, Inc., Warren, MI, General Manager - Research and Innovation, 2011 - 2012

• Signed-on with Warrior ($1.5 billion) for a short-term assignment to boost the company's technical functional capability with special emphasis on two principle objectives: To ensure the orderly transition and commercialization of a sport intellectual property portfolio.
• Address excessive defective returns of professional ice hockey sticks.
• Actively participated on the executive leadership team. Represented technology function in performance management, succession planning and budget planning.
• Organized existing technical development resources (under SBU Leads) into cross-functional groups.
• Successfully guided commercialization of Primo Sport technologies.
• Developed and resourced new business process for evaluating "volunteer" innovations v/v fit and value.
• Commissioned and resourced a task team comprising Warrior's best manufacturing, design and pro services resources along with a new a structural engineering partnership with the University Of Delaware Center for Composite Materials.
• Resolved core issues related to manufacturing and design, and developed new analytical tools, Six Sigma quality measures, and some very creative teamwork. Defects were reduced by an order of magnitude.

Undisclosed Sporting Company, Founder and President, 2005 - 2011

• Created and led the business evolution from start-up consulting through technology licensing and into a sports technology company with its own patented and branded sports equipment.
• Patented technology and licensed to Spalding, a division of Russell Athletic. Spalding's basketball, won Popular Science Best of What's New award and Sports Edge Product of the Year award and was featured on the Today Show and Discovery Channel. Spalding increased basketball market share from 40% to 55%, making it the most successful new product launch in Spalding's history.
• Built and launched company's own branded (patented) sports equipment in the grass roots soccer retail channel achieving over 150 new accounts in the USA and a handful in England within the first six months.
• Invented latex technology applied to revolutionary inflated sport balls, wrist support technology (patented) for completely new soccer goal keeper gloves and Hexoflex® body armor technology for revolutionary protective shin pads and equipment.
• Developed and managed all relationships with off-shore manufacturing vendors.
• Led organization through a challenging partner buy-out.
• Showed personal leadership throughout an extraordinarily tough cash flow and financial climate.

Consulting Contracts

• For Johnson & Johnson, Cordis Endovascular to develop a polymer membrane for a novel embolic protective device (EPD). Approved Vendor for J&J.
• Easton Bell Sports, developed a differentiated bicycle inner tube consumer product for mass channel.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, DE, 1995 - 2005

Marketing Manager, North America Sales & Global Sports, Terathane® Products, 2001 - 2004

• Managed $30 million of annual ongoing business-to-business specialty chemical sales. Actively marketed direct customers' products into applications they imagined but didn't have time to market, especially in tires, inflated sport ball and cast elastic polyurethane applications which grew business at four accounts totaling $1.5 million top line growth.
• Completed two different price increase campaigns without losing any business to competitors.
• Conducted a trade PR campaign for awareness of Terathane and customers' products, conducted several sports market assessment studies and consumer focus group research efforts.
• Invented a new application for alloy blends of polyurethane rubber and latex rubber.
• Extensive business travel in USA, Europe and especially factories in Asia.

Research Laboratory Manager, North America Textile, Apparel Textile Sciences, 2000 - 2001

• Guided a $35 million internal service organization to renew its trust in management and renew its focus on innovation and business resulting in a 15% improvement in customer satisfaction.
• Supervised and led operations planning and performance management of highly skilled and creative technical staff, resulting in zero safety, diversity or personal respect incidents.
• Added additional $250 thousand revenue for external fabric dying, finishing and analytical services.
• Managed a $15 million capital project through completion free of work disruptions or safety incidents.
• Conducted two Six Sigma black belt certification projects with four corporate labs, Global Fabric Certification Network Task Team resulted in $3 million per year reduction in costs in Geneva Switzerland and Singapore.
• A Development Lab Productivity Project resulting in a $450 thousand cost reduction for the North America Textile Research Laboratories.

Senior Technology Strategists, Lycra® Spandex, 1998 - 2000

• Coordinated details of $100 million global research and development program as assistant to the Technology Director with travel to fabric customers and to laboratories in USA, Europe and Asia.
• Managed the human resource performance management process for 125 technical service representatives.
• Led worldwide Technical Marketing Managers Network collaborating on fabric technologies.
• Provided regular technology portfolio briefings to the corporation's executive office.
• Conducted competitor evaluations and special studies in apparel fiber manufacturing trends.
• Prepared financial analysis and organized several new business development venture candidates.
• Teflon® fiber in knit hosiery and garments. LYCRA power in knit suits.
• Lycra manufacturing expansion study pointing to countries and regions lacking adequate supply/demand. Result was a go decision by DuPont executive office to expand into several markets, manufacturing inclusive ($100 million CAPEX).
• Special Assignment: Global Technology Manager - New Chemistries (Melt Spun Elastomers).

Division Engineer, Corian® Decorative Surfaces, 1996 - 1998

• Demonstrated manufacturing feasibility of a new outdoor building cladding product by a new process at an acrylic cell casting factory located in Matamoros Mexico.
• Completed the manufacturing viability assessment three months before colleagues finished the market feasibility analysis.
• Represented technology function in the Stage-Gate Business Analysis Process resulting in a no-go decision based on market viability.
• Solved product issues with technical expertise in Acrylic Resin/ATH/Silica Slurries, Cell Casting, Analytical Materials Characterization, Particulate Composite Interfaces, Surface Polishing, and Surface Releases.

Senior Engineer, Advanced Material Sciences, 1995

• Designed, built and commercialized a continuous manufacturing process for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer ribbon.
• Commercialized Ph.D. thesis enabling the ongoing operation of a going commercial process.
• Solved process issues with technical expertise in heat transfer (drying and melt processing), thixotropic aqueous slurries, viscous melt fiber impregnation, prototype machine design and process control.

Professional Development and Projects

• Conducted build plan audits for various jet engine components and fixtures.
• Conducted efficacy analysis and implemented the use of a vibratory finishing process for de-burring jet engine stator and blade sub-assemblies - United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney.
• Performed pipeline tracing audits for the onboard systems of the lead-ship Aegis Destroyer, USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51).
• Coordinated and inspected the exhaust bellows retrofit for a Coast Guard Cutter - Bath Iron Works, Machinery Group.
• Conducted performance testing of hydro-electric generation facilities.
• Designed and built a custom inclined monometer for use in field testing - Central Maine Power, Hydro Performance Group.

Honors & Publications

Credentials

• DuPont Six Sigma Black Belt
• NASA Graduate Student Fellowship, Langley Research Center: Conducted research and development supporting the NASA High Speed Research Program related to human transportation aircraft that travel at Mach 6.0.
• Represented NASA Langley Research Center at professional conferences and recruiting seminars. Invented manufacturing methods carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer ribbon used in Automated Tow Placement. Authored several publications in refereed scientific journals.
• Dissertation: Fabrication of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Ribbon

Awards

• Received four NASA Technology Brief Awards.
• DuPont-Numerous Achievement Awards

Publications

• Customized Towpreg
• Polymer Powder Prepreg Technology
• Ribbonizing Powder-Impregnated Towpreg
• Ex Parte Ribbonizing Thermoplastic Powder-Coated Towpreg
• Composite Ribbon Fabrication with Reactive Polymers

Patents

• Awarded numerous patents in the areas: Polymeric prepregs, blends; latex and natural rubber, protective cover, and land paddles.

Education

• Ph.D. Applied Polymer Science, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, The University of Maine, Orono, ME