Board of Directors

Richard 'Bud' Cass, Chairman of the Board, CEO & President Advanced Cerametrics:
Mr. Cass is responsible for the rebirth of Advanced Cerametrics from its old line business to its current high tech manufacturing and development position. Mr. Cass holds 15 patents with several more pending and has been a frequently published author and invited speaker on topics ranging from advanced materials to dealing with government laboratories. He has been appointed by former Governor Whitman to serve on the Prosperity New Jersey Commission and is President of the AACCMCI Corporation (Association of American Ceramic Component Manufacturers, Consortium I), which is developing ceramic compaction computer modeling software in cooperation with Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs and five advanced ceramic manufacturing companies. Mr. Cass has recently been named to the Board and has been appointed Chief Technical Officer of KSA Sports Group, a company developing wireless scoring apparatus for contact sports. Mr. Cass is a Director of the North Central Campus for Emerging Technology in Ohio.

Morton Collins Ph.D.: Dr. Collins received his Doctorate in Engineering from Princeton University . Dr. Collins is the Managing partner of Battelle Ventures, a $150 million fund focused on commercializing technologies emerging from government and private laboratories. Dr. Collins has been an advisor to several Presidents and serves on several Boards of Directors. He is currently the leader of a government sponsored group chartered with the task of managing the development money provided to five major government labs to commercialize their core technologies. He also serves a similar function in managing certain homeland security funds. Dr. Collins has a chapter devoted to his success in the venture capital history “Done Deals.”

Mark Sirangelo:  Mark has founded and run several companies, both public and private, and is currently President of Quanstar Group, a technology development company linking technology to industry. Mr. Sirangelo is Chairman of the CEO’s Council of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. His most recent corporate enterprise (PGI, Inc.) was named to Inc Magazine’s list of the top 200 companies in the US . He holds several patents and has been published in many scientific journals.

Robert Frawley: Mr. Frawley received his Law Degree from Georgetown University Law Center and now manages his own law firm. He is licensed to practice in New Jersey and specializes in corporate law. Mr. Frawley is a co-founder and the President of the New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network- an association of investment professionals and businesses. He has been published numerous times in law journals.

John Sfondrini: John Sfondrini graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. He is the managing partner of the Edge Group, based in Ridgefield, Conn., an early stage venture capital firm formed in 1987. Since 2001, Edge has sought to invest in high growth companies, whose products have a distinctive technological advantage, funding ten companies for approximately $30MM. During the late 80’s and early 90’s Edge Group focused solely on oil and gas exploration, funding numerous ventures for approximately $40MM. Edge is usually the first institutional investor for a company and brings high levels of value to its company partners through its strategic relationships and affiliations with high net worth individuals.

David Benedict: Mr. Benedict graduated from Lehigh University with a BA and a BS in Materials Engineering. After spending five years with IBM, the rest of his career was spent in the securities industry where he worked for several firms including Alex Brown, Oppenheimer and Dillon Read. He was an original founder as well as a Managing Director and partner of The Capital Markets Group at First Albany Corporation. Mr. Benedict is as investor in ACI through The Edge Group and is a former director of Edge Petroleum as well as a current director of several other private firms.

Mike Hendricks: Mr. Hendricks is Vice President of Manufacturing and Chief Operating Officer. He has been active in his role since 1984. Mike has a business management background from Rider University and studied Electronics and Manufacturing Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Mr. Hendricks was appointed to the New Jersey Department of Transportation Aviation Advisory Council. He has served as a Director for Advanced Cerametrics Inc, Lambertville Ceramic Manufacturing, HiTc Superconco and The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition.

Management

Bud Cass, President and CEO - Mr. Cass is responsible for the rebirth of Advanced Cerametrics from its old line business to its current high tech manufacturing and development position. Mr. Cass holds 15 patents with several more pending and has been a frequently published author and invited speaker on topics ranging from advanced materials to dealing with government laboratories. He has been appointed by former Governor Whitman to serve on the Prosperity New Jersey Commission and is President of the AACCMCI Corporation (Association of American Ceramic Component Manufacturers, Consortium I), which is developing ceramic compaction computer modeling software in cooperation with Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs and five advanced ceramic manufacturing companies. Mr. Cass has recently been named to the Board and has been appointed Chief Technical Officer of KSA Sports Group, a company developing wireless scoring apparatus for contact sports. Mr. Cass is a Director of the North Central Campus for Emerging Technology in Ohio .

Mike Hendricks, Vice President Operations - Mr. Hendricks is Vice President of Manufacturing and Chief Operating Officer. He has been active in his role since 1984. Mike has a business management background from Rider University and studied Electronics and Manufacturing Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Mr. Hendricks was appointed to the New Jersey Department of Transportation Aviation Advisory Council. He has served as a Director for Advanced Cerametrics Inc, Lambertville Ceramic Manufacturing, HiTc Superconco and The Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition.

Jerry C. Ruddle, Executive Vice President Marketing & Business Development - Jerry is a senior executive with a blue-chip background in business development, sales, marketing, operations, venture finance and strategic transactions in the high-technology sector.  Jerry brings experience building businesses from early stage technology ventures to growth divisions of Fortune 500 companies. He has expertise in government relations, industrial security technology, technology transfer and medical device/healthcare technology.  Jerry is a proven leader with broad experience in technology commercialization – having established value and market-leading positions for numerous new technologies in emerging markets.  With a BS in Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, Jerry also brings to ACI strong relationships with global technology corporations, solution integrators and US and international government agencies.  His career has included positions with such technology leaders as Hewlett Packard Company, Iridian Technologies, The Research Triangle Institute and NASA.

Cynthia Cass, Financial Officer - received her B.A. from Douglass College and serves as the company’s comptroller.

Dr. Farhad Mohammadi, Director of Research & Development - Dr. Mohammadi earned his Doctorate in Ceramics and Materials Engineering from Rutgers University . Dr. Mohammadi earned a Master’s Degree in Ceramics and Materials Engineering from Rutgers and a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from The University of Florida. He received his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of Iran. Dr. Mohammadi has 5 patent disclosures and has been published many times in peer-reviewed journals.