People

We have assembled a strong team of experienced managers, directors and advisors. Led by seasoned entrepreneur, Mark DeSantis, our team has deep knowledge and expertise across the following three key areas:

1. Technical - The technical team has deep experience in design, developing and deploying sensor based autonomous systems for military and commercial uses.
2. Business - The business team has multifaceted and broad experience with building start-ups, raising capital, and bringing products and services to market.
3. Domain Knowledge & Industry Contacts - Our team has first-hand experience within the military as well as extensive contacts within the US government. In addition we are will be building an advisory board to further tap into the expertise and knowledge within the military and later First Responder markets.

Mark DeSantis, President & Cofounder

Mark DeSantis was the Managing Director of ANGLE Technology Consulting and Management - US. ANGLE Technology is a consulting firm that specializes in providing management, strategic planning and business development assistance to emerging, technology-based companies. Mark's clients include a number of US and non-US based public and private companies. He has personally spearheaded business development, M&A and strategic planning efforts for a wide variety of companies and non-profit organizations.

Mark founded or co-founded several companies and currently serves as a Director or Adviser to a number of tech-based emerging and established companies in the US, Canada and the EU. Prior to joining Angle Technology Group, Mark was President of Formation3, LLC, a firm the specialized in providing strategic assistant to firms engaged or seeking engagement with the public sector. Prior to that, Mark was a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and a strategic consultant to the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute.

Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, Mark was the Director of Government Relations for Texas Instruments, Inc. in Washington DC. He served in a number of policy positions in the Federal government including serving as a Senior Policy Analyst in both The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Commerce in the first Bush Administration. He was also on the staff of the late U.S. Senator John Heinz and before that he was a management consultant with Booz, Allen and Hamilton.

Mark is a frequent lecturer on the topics of business management, strategy, economic development and public policy, and published a variety of articles on management, economic development and entrepreneurship. He is an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Lecturer at the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and The Tuck School at Dartmouth. Mark holds a BA and MBA from the University of Dayton, an MS in Technology Management from The American University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Economics from George Mason University.

Robert Delach, CFO

Bob Delach is a senior financial and operations executive with strong leadership experience in large and small organizations, including: manufacturing; distribution; retail; software; consulting and professional services. His areas of expertise include: financial management, strategic planning, work process improvement, supply chain management, internal control, financial analysis, goal setting, team building, management and leadership. He is a proven leader with strong interpersonal, analytical, strategic and conceptual thinking skills.

Bob currently serves as Chief Financial Officer for Geospatial Systems, Inc. (GSI). GSI designs, manufactures, and sells optical and radar imaging systems for specialized defense, homeland security, and commercial applications. Prior to joining Geospatial Systems Inc., Bob was one of the founding shareholders and CFO of MRO DIRECT, Inc. a $4 million commercial industrial start up, providing supply chain procurement efficiencies for indirect materials (MRO).

Bob also has substantial executive and consulting experience with a variety of early stage growth companies including:

• COO/ CFO at Brightline L.P. where he reduced cost of operation by 47% through new work process, and by reducing overhead costs.
• Director of Project Diamond where he led a Supply Chain Study designed to overhaul traditional source and distribution business practices and establish e-Commerce for TruServ Corporation.
• CEO of Falcon Plastics (a $15 million contract plastics manufacturer in the extrusion blow-molding segment) for the first two and one half year's of this start up operation.
• Chief Financial Officer at Mallett Technology where he achieved approval from the SEC for a direct public offering that was marketed over the Internet.

Prior to the working as an executive with these early stage growth companies, Bob developed a wide range of financial skills and accumulated valuable management experience at Servistar Corporation ($1.5 Billion Hardware Wholesaler). For the last five years at Servistar, he served as Manager of Merchandise and Financial Planning, providing strategic planning and administrative and systems leadership for Servistar's merchandise, advertising, inventory control and import departments. Earlier assignments included Manager of Accounting and Taxation and Manager of Treasury Operations.

Before joining Servistar, Bob spent four years with the accounting firm LaFrance, Walker, Jackley and Saville, during which time he became a Certified Public Accountant. Bob has a B.S. in accounting from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

Bob is a member of the A.I.C.P.A and the P.I.C.P.A. and has served as a member on the following boards of directors and advisors:

• Logic Library, Inc. (current)
• Washington Industrial Development Corporation (former)
• Board of Directors of Ultra Cart, Inc. (former)
• Board of Advisors to Innerlink Publications Services, Inc (former)
• Board of Advisors to Burbnet, Inc. (former)

Abhishek Sharma, Director of Products & Cofounder

Abhishek is the Director of Products and cofounder of MobileFusion Inc. based in Pittsburgh, PA. At MobileFusion he is responsible for the overall product design and maintaining close relations with various customers within the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to MobileFusion he has used his expertise in building large-scale intelligent systems for various sectors like quick-service, retail industry, defense and aerospace. He has participated and has served as PI and Co-PI on various R&D contracts funded by DOD agencies like DARPA, Army Research Lab, and Office of Naval Research. Abhishek has authored numerous cited publications and has several pending patents in the domain of intelligent systems.

Abhishek received Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and a MS in Robotics from, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh. His previous work experience includes work with Daimler-Chrysler Research (Germany), INRIA (France), and CalTech (USA).

Kevin Yoon, Software Engineer

Kevin Yoon is a Software Engineer at Mobile Fusion in Pittsburgh. He brings with him a passion for robotic systems and a wealth of development experience. Kevin is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), in Pittsburgh, where he received his MS in Robotics in 2007. His research involved robot task training, decentralized coordinated search, and robotic system development. From 2003 to 2005, he was a Simulation Developer at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Munich. In 2003, Kevin received a B.A.Sc in Systems Engineering with First Class Honours from Simon Fraser University (SFU), located in his hometown of Vancovuer. His previous experience includes work at the Technical University of Ilmenau (Germany), QuickLogic Corporation (USA), and Redback Networks (Canada).

Rajani Vaidyanathan, Embedded Software Engineer

Dave Vanhorn, Hardware Engineer

David VanHorn is an embedded systems engineer at MobileFusion in Pittsburgh.

He brings broad experience in analog and digital design, and low level device driver software with over 20 years experience in the field. He has worked for companies like Verifone, where he helped revolutionize the point of sale industry with low cost payment terminals. David is co-inventor of US patent number 5479532 and 5367581.

Mike Bauer, Vice President of Products

Michael is a technology executive with over 20 years of experience in defining, developing, and introducing software and hardware products to market. He has introduced over 25 major new products into the marketplace representing over $200 million in revenue. His professional background spans the data/telecommunications, enterprise software, wireless application software, and embedded system industries with companies that range from Hewlett-Packard and 3Com to start-ups such as MarketSoft and TimeSys. Prior to MobileFusion, Mike created his own consulting company and consulted with technology startups in the area of company strategy, business plan development, product development, engineering management, product strategy formulation and market analysis.

Before creating his own consulting firm, he was the VP of Products at TimeSys Corporation responsible for leading its corporate identity and product portfolio transition from a niche real-time Linux systems services provider to broad tools and Linux product supplier for the embedded systems market. He expanded TimeSys’ market visibility and brand recognition through consistent new product introductions, outbound marketing, PR and lead generation resulting in 76% year over year revenue growth.

Prior to TimeSys, Mike was the VP of Product Management at MarketSoft Corporation, a provider of marketing automation software. He was responsible for driving the company’s product strategy, customer research program, product marketing and day-to-day business management of the company’s product portfolio. His team introduced and managed a suite of five products generating over $10 million in revenues with a year-to-year growth rate of 400%.

In addition to TimeSys and MarketSoft, Mike has held management, marketing, product management and sales support positions at 3Com, Voicetek, Cerulean Technology, and Hewlett-Packard.

Mike holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering with University Honors from Ohio State University.

Volus McKenna, Lead Mechanical Engineer

Volus McKenna is the Lead Mechanical Engineer for Mobile Fusion. Previously, he worked at the National Robotics Engineering Center working on the Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle program. While at Hall Industries, he worked on many projects, most notably the Urban Maglev program, in partnership with General Atomics and other local consortium members. In 1998, Volus received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in engineering design from Carnegie Mellon University. He stayed at CMU for another 2 years to complete an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, while working with Dr. Paul Steif to develop an FEA based crack prediction method for FOD impacts into low ductility titanium alloy jet turbine blades.

Amy Hien Nguyen, Project Administrator

Amy Hien Nguyen has joined the MobileFusion team in Pittsburgh as a Project Administrator. She moved back to Pittsburgh November of 2007, from New York City were she worked for ABC an Assistant Director. She graduated with a Bachelors in Information Systems in 2002 (NYU), and 5 years experience as Project Lead.

Previous work experience includes IBM and JP Morgan Chase Co. She brings us her experience in project management and information systems knowledge. Her responsibilities here at MobileFusion are support staff, office management and project coordination and administration.

Board of Directors

Ryan McCombie, Chairman

Ryan J. McCombie, Captain (SEAL), USN-ret, is a retired United States Navy Captain with over 26 years of service. His last duty station was as the Senior Navy Representative and Faculty Instructor at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Mr. McCombie was the commanding officer of SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) TEAM TWO, perhaps the nation's most elite group of special warriors. He spent most of his naval career in special operations and is highly decorated with over two-dozen significant medals and awards, including the Bronze Star (combat V), awarded for valor, a Legion of Merit and two Defense Superior Service medals and awards from the French and Vietnamese Governments. With the SEALs, he trained and served with commandos from all over the world being the first American to complete French SEAL training and serving a two-year tour with their elite Commando Hubert. He also served as the Operations Officer of the highly regarded Red Cell Team, which was the subject of much media reporting for its innovative and never-before-seen counter-terrorist and anti-terrorist missions.

Because of his knowledge of French and special operations, he was selected to be the first United States Military AttachŽ to the U.S. embassy in Brazzaville, Congo. Following that billet, he commanded SEAL TEAM TWO from 1985 to 1987. Mr. McCombie then served in high-level positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC where his natural and acquired abilities related to project planning, crisis management strategy and decision making was used.

As a trained leader and warrior, Mr. McCombie played a significant role in tasking special operations during Operation Desert Storm from his post at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Mr. McCombie was selected by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a member of a two man briefing team to brief four former U.S. Presidents at their offices and residences on combat operations for Desert Storm.

Over the years, Mr. McCombie has consulted with International and French companies around the world. He is the author of numerous publications, speeches and symposia presentations affecting both civilian and military decision-makers.

After completing his naval service Mr. McCombie turned his efforts toward the private sector where he has served as an executive at two financial service firms. Currently, Ryan is an independent business consultant.

Mr. McCombie was born in Spangler, Pennsylvania in 1948. He is a former high school and college athlete, a member of the National Eagle Scout Association, a graduate of Penn State University and the National War College in Washington, DC and a member of the Centre County United Way Finance Committee.

Peter Metes, Technology Advisor & Cofounder

Peter Metes is currently an independent contractor with over 20 years of experience in optical sensor design, building large-scale electrical systems, autonomous robots, and vision-based systems. Prior to being an independent contractor, Peter spent 10 years at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as a Research Associate and Engineer. While at CMU, he was involved intensively in design of optical sensors, low-power electronics systems for robotic application. Peter has consulted extensively for defense agencies (Army Research Lab., Navy Research Lab.,), defense companies (Northrop, and Lockheed), and commercial robotic companies. Peter holds Masters and Bachelors degrees in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest, Romania.

Jane Dixon, CPA

Jane Dixon is the President of Mount West Investments, a private equity and angel investment organization. She is responsible for the evaluation of investment opportunities and works closely with the management teams of existing investments. Jane spent 12 years as the Chief Financial Officer of Iron City Sash & Door Company and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company, with over 450 employees and six manufacturing/distribution facilities. She was responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the business including accounting, finance, legal, operations, human resources, information technology, mergers & acquisitions, inventory control, and investment activities. Prior to joining Iron City, Jane was an audit manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she specialized in servicing clients in the financial services industry. She was a member of the Firm’s evaluation committee and peer review team. Jane earned a B.A. in accounting from Grove City College in 1985 and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Jane is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO) and the Vice President of the CLO Ambassadors. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ohio Valley General Hospital, where she is Vice Chair of the Audit Committee. Jane is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Aviary, Gateway to the Arts, a member of the Business Advisory Council of the Pittsburgh Vision Service. She is a former member of the Board of Regents of LaRoche College.

Advisors

Dr. Douglas Locke, PhD

Dr. Locke's biography is coming soon.