Bios

Robert Barazotto - Technical Consultant
Bob is a mechanical engineer with 19 years of industrial experience in both design and manufacturing engineering. Bob received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park and an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has extensive experience with turbomachinery, process equipment, manufacturing operations and structural analysis. Bob has worked for several companies in Maryland and Virginia. His experience includes continuous and batch processing of urethane and concrete materials, molding processes, machining operations, total quality, design of bearing and seal assemblies, and reduction of machinery noise and vibrations.
E-mail
401-706-4775

Charles Carr - Senior Technical Consultant
Charlie is an experienced mechanical engineer with a record of 25 years of accomplishments in the areas of consulting, marketing, analysis and design, and domestic and international project management. Charlie received B.S. degrees from the University of Maryland in Mechanical Engineering, Economics and Finance. His major areas of experience are analysis and design, and project management. He is also active in professional organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.
E-mail
301-405-7389

Al Etheridge - Innovation Program Manager / Technical Consultant
Al earned both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga. His manufacturing experience has taken him from clean rooms to coal-fired power plants, from 24-7 continuous processes to low volume high-tech prototyping, and from near-commodity items to singular, new technologies. His career in manufacturing engineering began in the textile industry with Shaw Industries of Dalton, Ga., and Softrol Systems of Acworth, Ga. Since earning master's degree, Al has spent eight years working in the engineering and manufacturing development of emerging technologies in the defense industry with Northrop Grumman ESSS in Baltimore, Md., and in photonics and atmospheric sensing with several venture-funded start-up companies. In his most recent position with Zolo Technologies of Boulder, Co., Al was responsible for various aspects of component and system design and manufacturing. He was ultimately responsible for customer implementation, including system installation, service, and customer relations related to these functions. Al joined MTES in February, 2006 to develop the Continuous Innovation Initiative.
E-mail
301-405-6673

Dr. Barry Frey - Acting Director/Manager
Barry received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D., also in Agricultural Engineering, from Oklahoma State University. Barry has extensive experience with food processing machinery, energy management, and agricultural and food processing waste management technologies. He has worked on projects that include waste minimization, wastewater treatment, material resource planning, total quality/productivity, protocols for product evaluation, plant layout, process enhancement, ergonomics, recycling and much more.
E-mail
410-548-4372

Paul Gietka - P.E., Associate Manager/Manager, Environmental Program
Paul has a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering and a M.S.degree in Civil Engineering with an Environmental Concentration. He is a registered professional engineer in Maryland. His 30 years of experience include extensive work in engineering and project management in complex manufacturing and industrial environments, including compliance with air and water regulations, waste minimization, manufacturing process automation and facility modernization. Paul's current areas of concentration are in the varied aspects of industrial waste management, including regulatory issues and pollution prevention, as well as related manufacturing modernization technologies.
E-mail
410-706-3445

Ron Hawkins - Acting Associate Director/Manager
Ron is a manager of the Federal Technology Applications Office with MTES. His responsibilities include working with the federal laboratories to assist Maryland companies in commercializing products and processes, locating solutions to technical problems and encouraging cooperative R&D activities. Ron's past experience includes 15 years with the Koppers Company in Baltimore, where he was most recently Vice President of Manufacturing. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and holds a B.S.
Email
410-706-3442

Linda Johnson - Administrative Assistant
Linda is an Administrative Assistant for the Eastern Shore Regional Office. During the past 12 years, she has been responsible for supporting the daily operations of this office, which includes providing administrative support for the consultants, and serving as a liaison between various colleges and universities, economic development departments and the private industrial sector. She works closely with other state agencies, aiding in the coordination of seminars and representing TES at the registration table at seminars. Linda is also responsible for collecting, reviewing, verifying and compiling the data needed to generate project reports.
E-mail
410-548-4372

Dave Rizzardo - Technical Consultant/Lean Services
Dave received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1982. Dave worked in industry for 17 years in various positions focusing on quality/productivity improvement and the implementation of Lean Manufacturing principles. Dave's career began as a Manufacturing Engineer with AMP, Incorporated in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Following nine years at AMP, Dave obtained a Project Engineering position with Becton Dickinson in Sparks, Maryland where his major responsibilities included developing new manufacturing processes for Disposable Diagnostic Devices. Dave then worked for Stewart Connector Systems, Incorporated in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. There, his primary responsibility was leading employee teams in the planning and implementation of cellular manufacturing methodologies. In 1999, Dave joined the Technology Extension Service in the Northern Regional Office. Dave's area of concentration has been the development of Lean Manufacturing training and implementation services.
E-mail
410-706-4774

Gwen Saunders - Administrative Assistant
Gwen is an Administrative Assistant providing administrative support to the MTES Director. Gwen has worked for the University for over 20 years. During the past 14 years she has been responsible for supporting the daily operations of this office, which includes providing administrative support for the Director, and serving as a liaison between the regional offices, various universities departments, economic development departments and the private industrial sector.
E-mail
301-405-3883

John Songster - Senior Business Consultant
John received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He served for six years in the US. Air Force and worked for Collins Radio Company, a maker of defense electronics and high reliability avionics for commercial airlines. After Rockwell bought Collins, John helped make the Rockwell Missile Systems Division competitive in the high rate tactical weapons systems business. In 1989 he established and led a Baltimore subsidiary company called Systems Management, Inc. in the successful development marketing and production of ground weather sensing systems. John joined MTES in 1995 as a business management consultant. With his 30 years of experience, John brings a broad manufacturing and general management background in high and medium technology companies.
E-mail
301-405-7173

Kathy Sullivan - Information Technology Support Associate
Kathy is an I.T. Support Associate currently pursuing an A.A. degree in Computer Science. During the past 14 years she has been responsible for supporting the daily operations of the Northern Regional Office, which includes providing administrative support for the consultants, and serving as a liaison between various colleges and universities, economic development departments and the private industrial sector. She is also the primary reporting coordinator for NIST/MEP responsible for collecting, reviewing, verifying and compiling the data needed to generate project reports. Kathy was a major contributor to the overall creation and beta testing of MEIS, the tracking and reporting system used by TES. Kathy is responsible for training of all field staff on the MEIS data base and MEP reporting procedures.
E-mail
410-706-3441

Paul Vinikoor - Manager
Paul is an electrical engineer with extensive experience in the hands-on conception, design, development and manufacture of sophisticated electronic and computer-based products, and in the management of these complex activities. Paul has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering, and over 20 years of experience with Ford Aerospace Communications Corp. in managerial and senior engineering specialist positions, and eight years as a Vice President of Engineering with EMC Corp.
E-mail
301-405-7685

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