Our team
Jason Pottinger
Chief Executive Officer
Jason earned an MBA at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada specializing in international business & marketing. His undergraduate work was completed at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he earned an economics degree. Jason has negotiated and facilitated numerous investment and partnership agreements with large multi-national corporations. Jason has been involved with many technology companies working on operations, business development and marketing strategies. He is also a former professional football player, seasoned investor and has built several successful businesses.
Frank Oliver
Chief Technical Officer
Frank is a physicist cross trained in both electrical and mechanical engineering with broad business experience in a wide range of technology. As a technology executive, with many years of industry experience in various executive roles including Chief Engineer, CTO and CEO, Frank has been involved with both commercial and government technology programs and start-up planning and execution. Notable industry activities include: Principle Investigator on SBIR Programs in Smart Grid, Systems Health, and Software Based Decision Support for systems engineering; Product and service development leading to corporate diversification and growth; Engineering and Research Engineer for Laser Systems; Energetic Materials; and Titanium processing through the DARPA Titanium Program.
Stephen Litsas
Chief Operations Officer
Stephen holds a Masters of Science and Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. He is a both Professional Engineer in California and a Chartered Engineer in Australia, with experience working on some of the largest and most notable building and infrastructure projects in Northern California and New South Wales. Stephen brings strong teamwork skills, an open communication style, and sharp critical thinking skills to the work he is involved in. This allows for effective and efficient working across the various tasks he is engaged in.
Vincent Marsland
Chief Marketing Officer
Vincent graduated from Imperial College London with an MBA. During his studies he received the Dean’s Award for Inspiring Brilliant Minds for his work with the campus Entrepreneurship Club along with the Joan Woodward Memorial Prize. He was also a Microsoft Student Partner, Education Committee Student Representative and studied abroad for part of his degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Prior to pursuing an MBA, Vincent worked for a variety of technology and entertainment companies in various roles, including marketing, project management and strategy. He has worked for global firms such as IBM and Sony along with a number of startups and independent companies such as giffgaff, Jagex, Giggling Starfish, and The News Hub. He has helped launch dozens of products, ranging from fintech platforms to video games and ecommerce sites. He is a certified product manager, company coach and has nearly a decade of experience in leadership and management roles.
Jennifer Peavey
Chief Innovation Officer
Jennifer completed her Master’s in Industrial Design from North Carolina State University to add to her two degrees in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University. This new ID degree allows her to develop insights from design research to inform multi-disciplinary teams in the creation and production of materials and technologies that connect directly with human needs.
She then also supports these teams with prototype concepts to tangibly tell the story of that material or technology. In the NEXT group, Jennifer will be working on the flexible thermoelectric cooling technology by engaging with industry in the technology, managing sponsored projects for concepts, presentations and prototypes, researching for new markets and applications, and developing best practices for consistent creation of cooling modules.
Dr. Mark Losego
Inventor & Advisor
Dr. Losego is an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). His research focuses on developing, characterizing and measuring the performance of advanced materials systems for renewable energy generation, energy storage, microelectronics, thermal energy management, and national security applications. His research group has expertise in advanced materials synthesis using both liquid-phase chemical solution methods and vacuum-based vapor phase processing (ALD, MLD, PVD, etc.). The Losego Lab combines this unique set of expertise to explore complex materials systems that interface organic and inorganic components for synergistic functionalities. Prof. Losego has over 70 peer-reviewed publications in leading scientific journals that have been cited over 2000 times. Most recently, he co-authored an invited Nature Materials News and Views article on the current state of flexible thermoelectrics.
Dr. Jesse Jur
Inventor & Advisor
Dr. Jur is an Associate Professor of Textile Engineering, Chemistry & Science at NC State University’s College of Textiles, the global leader in textile education and research. Having undertaken his undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina, and then spending three years in Silicon Valley, he earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at N.C. State. Dr. Jur has spent his career researching the interfaces of technologies: from semiconductor device development to textile designs. His research focuses on integration of systems electronics into wearable platforms for energy harvesting, monitoring of a person’s physiological state, and improving user’s comfort. He is the Technology Thrust Leader for ‘Wearability and Data’ for ASSIST (Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies), a National Science Foundation Nanosystems Engineering Research Center (NERC). He is also the co-director of the Textile Engineering and Textile Technology Engineering Design Program in the College of Textiles, an intensive course that interfaces students and industry for innovative product development.
Chuck Widhalm
Advisor
Chuck, an electrical engineer, brings 32 years of experience in commercial DoD RF and Wireless Systems Development to the team. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, in Rapid City, South Dakota.
During his tenure at Texas Instrument’s Defense Systems and Equipment Group, Chuck managed multiple teams establishing emerging technologies resulting in lower cost solutions for premier DoD RF defense systems. As a co-author, Chuck presented a paper at the 1993 ARPA Symposium as part of the Raytheon-Texas Instruments Joint Venture titled, “Application of a Statistical Design Process to Increase Predicted GEN-X Module First Pass Yield”. Out of 140 papers submitted at the TI Technical Ladder Recognition Day in 1994, this paper was selected as one of four papers to be presented.
Courtney Lee
Product Development and Design
Courtney graduated from North Carolina State University where she earned a B.S. in Textile Engineering. As an innovative thinker, she revels in being challenged to think outside the box and help create solutions to problems. Courtney has a vast set of skills and experiences like designing ads for a nationwide magazine company, providing technical support for cellular conversion of a telecommunication network, building and coding of an electronic glove for at home physiotherapy, and researching the possibilities of 3D printing garments for a leading manufacturer in apparel.
Damian Oliver
Production Manager
Damian currently lives in Tucson, Arizona where he helps product develop for Thermoflex. At the same time, he also provides product support and analysis to help further future development. He has experience with an aerospace engineering company where for 2 years he worked on cables, molding compounds, and laser engraving. In his free time, he is often working on personal projects and tinkering with ideas of his own.