Repeat deep-tech founder and operator. Two exits. 125+ patents. DARPA Phase I–III. Three decades turning hard physics — MEMS, mm-wave, microfabrication, advanced materials — into companies that ship.
I started in a Virginia Tech basement building lasers from scratch. I've spent the thirty years since founding companies that take novel physics out of the lab and into customer hands — silicon micromachining at ACT, MEMS optical components at Haleos, mm-wave 3D micromachining at Nuvotronics, and now advanced materials and counter-threat systems at MacroVation and NuvoNexus.
Two of those companies were acquired. The patents along the way crossed 125. The DARPA programs ran from concept to fielded — Phase I through Phase III. The work that excites me is still the same: build the thing nobody has built yet, prove it works, ship it.
Operating, advising, and investing across the deep-tech, advanced manufacturing, and defense-tech ecosystem from Cocoa Beach to Orlando to the Virginia Tech corridor.
Advanced materials and counter-threat platforms for U.S. defense customers. Active SBIR Phase II programs.
macrovation.com →Holding company and platform for emerging deep-tech ventures.
Orlando/Space Coast deep-tech venture fund. Working with Dr. Dennis R. Pape, Founder/Managing Partner.
Seed-stage venture investor. Helping develop the entrepreneurial community from Orlando to Melbourne.
Semiconductor and microelectronics advisory (2008–2014).
BS and MS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 1988–1996.
I spent much of my time out of class on pet-projects — building lasers from scratch (Dye, N2, YAG, CO2), rebuilding and using old vacuum deposition systems in my basement for optical coatings, doing independent research at the library, and using the chemistry department machine shop and glass-working lab. Fortunately there were a handful of professors who would take you under their wing to provide keys to their city.
For board, advisory, partnership, and venture inquiries.