> Management Profile
CEO Ned Godshall and CDO Matthew Bruff, along with COO Paul Short and CFO Doug Penner, have proven business development skills as well as experience in revenue growth, customer development and successful exits for investors in prior companies.
Ned A. Godshall, President and Chief Executive Officer:
Ned co-founded Altela in 2004, a water desalination company based in Albuquerque and Denver, whose initial market is the generation of clean water from the oil and gas industry’s primary waste product: ‘produced water’. Ned is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led four high-tech start-up companies since leaving Sandia National Laboratories in 1994. With extensive experience in venture-backed start-up and development-stage companies, both as an investor and founder, he first negotiated seed-round financing with venture capital firms and established the accounting, payroll, budgeting, tax, project management, IP, and corporate legal systems before leading these companies in their development and growth phases. Prior to co-founding Altela, Ned’s most recent for-profit efforts have been in the ‘clean-tech’ space: the hydrogen economy (MesoFuel, Inc.) and photovoltaic solar cells (Advent Solar, Inc.). MesoFuel developed a new product for hydrogen fuel cells, and was sold to an international company less than two years after he founded it in 2002. He then became a Director and Chairman of the Board of Advent Solar, which completed two successful rounds of venture capital investment totaling $38 million during his tenure as Chairman. He also serves on numerous civic and non-profit Boards, including being named the 2011 Chairman of the University of New Mexico Anderson Business School's Foundation Board, and is a Leadership New Mexico alumnus. Ned received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, his MBA from the University of New Mexico, and his B.S. in Materials Engineering from Drexel University.
Matthew J. Bruff, Chief Development Officer and General Counsel:
Matthew co-founded Altela in 2004, a water desalination company based in Albuquerque and Denver, whose initial market is the generation of clean water from the oil and gas industry’s primary waste product: ‘produced water’. He leads the company’s business development, environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property activities. Prior to co-founding Altela, Matthew was a shareholder with an AV-rated law firm specializing in environmental and natural resource law, utility law, and real property law. He managed the firm’s water rights transaction practice group representing major Fortune 100 companies, institutions, and other public and private clients in water rights and related natural resource matters, including administrative hearings and regulatory compliance. Matthew began his career working with Sandia National Laboratories in its Technology Transfer New Venture Program where he assisted entrepreneurs commercializing new technology. Matthew received his law degree from the University Of New Mexico School of Law. He received his MBA in Economics, Environment, and Policy as well as his BBA in Finance and International Management from the Robert O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
Paul Short, Chief Operating Officer:
Paul is responsible for all of Altela's daily operations and program management, both manufacturing Altela's products in-house and customer service operations of Altela's products in the field. Paul has an established entrepreneurial background. Prior to joining Altela, he founded his first company, InnovASIC, a company that designed integrated circuits for its customers, and bootstrapped it to over $1M in sales. After developing a higher growth strategy, he raised $3.25M in Venture Capital and grew InnovASIC to $5M in revenue and cash flow breakeven, even though the technology crash occurred shortly after raising the money. He subsequently raised an additional $4.5M and hired professional management to bring the company to its full potential. Prior to founding InnovASIC, Paul was an engineer and technical marketing representative at Honeywell. After leaving InnovASIC, he joined the Verge Fund, a New Mexico seed-stage venture capital fund, as their Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Paul brought multiple opportunities to the partnership, evaluated numerous investment opportunities, and conceived of and formed a new venture, Quadric. He concurrently ran a successful consulting firm, and continues to be an advocate for entrepreneurship. Paul is a life-long New Mexican and received his MSEE while working full-time for New Mexico State University (NMSU) Physical Sciences Laboratory. He also received his BSEE from NMSU.
Doug Penner, Chief Financial Officer:
Doug has over 20 years of experience in the Accounting and Finance Industry. In addition to his current role as CFO and former role as Financial Controller at Altela, he has worked as a Controller and Cost Analyst for various start-ups as well as Fortune 500 and established companies, including Intel. As a Cost Analyst for Intel, he helped establish standard costing for their Manufacturing Project Costing, establishing benchmarking and the means to achieve lower project costs. Doug’s expertise spans Cost Accounting, Auditing, and Corporate Controllership with an emphasis on Cost Reduction, Process Reengineering and Management Reporting. His experience also includes Government Contracting, Bids and Proposals, and Cost Submissions. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Doug started his career in public accounting and has a BA in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Ned A. Godshall, President and Chief Executive Officer:
Ned co-founded Altela in 2004, a water desalination company based in Albuquerque and Denver, whose initial market is the generation of clean water from the oil and gas industry’s primary waste product: ‘produced water’. Ned is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led four high-tech start-up companies since leaving Sandia National Laboratories in 1994. With extensive experience in venture-backed start-up and development-stage companies, both as an investor and founder, he first negotiated seed-round financing with venture capital firms and established the accounting, payroll, budgeting, tax, project management, IP, and corporate legal systems before leading these companies in their development and growth phases. Prior to co-founding Altela, Ned’s most recent for-profit efforts have been in the ‘clean-tech’ space: the hydrogen economy (MesoFuel, Inc.) and photovoltaic solar cells (Advent Solar, Inc.). MesoFuel developed a new product for hydrogen fuel cells, and was sold to an international company less than two years after he founded it in 2002. He then became a Director and Chairman of the Board of Advent Solar, which completed two successful rounds of venture capital investment totaling $38 million during his tenure as Chairman. He also serves on numerous civic and non-profit Boards, including being named the 2011 Chairman of the University of New Mexico Anderson Business School's Foundation Board, and is a Leadership New Mexico alumnus. Ned received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, his MBA from the University of New Mexico, and his B.S. in Materials Engineering from Drexel University.
Matthew J. Bruff, Chief Development Officer and General Counsel:
Matthew co-founded Altela in 2004, a water desalination company based in Albuquerque and Denver, whose initial market is the generation of clean water from the oil and gas industry’s primary waste product: ‘produced water’. He leads the company’s business development, environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property activities. Prior to co-founding Altela, Matthew was a shareholder with an AV-rated law firm specializing in environmental and natural resource law, utility law, and real property law. He managed the firm’s water rights transaction practice group representing major Fortune 100 companies, institutions, and other public and private clients in water rights and related natural resource matters, including administrative hearings and regulatory compliance. Matthew began his career working with Sandia National Laboratories in its Technology Transfer New Venture Program where he assisted entrepreneurs commercializing new technology. Matthew received his law degree from the University Of New Mexico School of Law. He received his MBA in Economics, Environment, and Policy as well as his BBA in Finance and International Management from the Robert O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
Paul Short, Chief Operating Officer:
Paul is responsible for all of Altela's daily operations and program management, both manufacturing Altela's products in-house and customer service operations of Altela's products in the field. Paul has an established entrepreneurial background. Prior to joining Altela, he founded his first company, InnovASIC, a company that designed integrated circuits for its customers, and bootstrapped it to over $1M in sales. After developing a higher growth strategy, he raised $3.25M in Venture Capital and grew InnovASIC to $5M in revenue and cash flow breakeven, even though the technology crash occurred shortly after raising the money. He subsequently raised an additional $4.5M and hired professional management to bring the company to its full potential. Prior to founding InnovASIC, Paul was an engineer and technical marketing representative at Honeywell. After leaving InnovASIC, he joined the Verge Fund, a New Mexico seed-stage venture capital fund, as their Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Paul brought multiple opportunities to the partnership, evaluated numerous investment opportunities, and conceived of and formed a new venture, Quadric. He concurrently ran a successful consulting firm, and continues to be an advocate for entrepreneurship. Paul is a life-long New Mexican and received his MSEE while working full-time for New Mexico State University (NMSU) Physical Sciences Laboratory. He also received his BSEE from NMSU.
Doug Penner, Chief Financial Officer:
Doug has over 20 years of experience in the Accounting and Finance Industry. In addition to his current role as CFO and former role as Financial Controller at Altela, he has worked as a Controller and Cost Analyst for various start-ups as well as Fortune 500 and established companies, including Intel. As a Cost Analyst for Intel, he helped establish standard costing for their Manufacturing Project Costing, establishing benchmarking and the means to achieve lower project costs. Doug’s expertise spans Cost Accounting, Auditing, and Corporate Controllership with an emphasis on Cost Reduction, Process Reengineering and Management Reporting. His experience also includes Government Contracting, Bids and Proposals, and Cost Submissions. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Doug started his career in public accounting and has a BA in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara.