> Management Profile
CEO Ned Godshall and CDO Matthew Bruff, along with CFO John Brown, COO Tom Neustedter and Controller 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 is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led four high-tech startup companies since leaving Sandia National Laboratories in 1995. He has also served on several Boards of Directors for other high-tech companies and non-profit organizations. Prior to co-founding Altela, his most recent for-profit efforts have been with companies in the ‘clean-tech’ space: the hydrogen economy (MesoFuel, Inc.) and photovoltaic solar cells (Advent Solar, Inc). MesoFuel developed a new product that enables widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells, and was sold to an international company less than two years after Godshall 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. Godshall has extensive experience in venture-backed start-up and development-stage companies, both as an investor in them and operator.
At these various companies, he negotiated seed-round financing with venture capital firms, and established the company’s accounting, payroll, budgeting, tax, project management IP, and corporate legal systems.
Godshall has Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of New Mexico. He completed his B.S. degree in Materials Engineering at Drexel University.
Matthew J. Bruff, Chief Development Officer and General Counsel:
Matthew leads the company’s business development, environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property activities. Prior to co-founding Altela, Bruff was a shareholder with an AV-rated law firm specializing in real property/natural resource law, utility law, and related regulatory compliance. 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. Bruff began his career working with Sandia National Laboratories in its Technology Transfer and Commercialization Center, where he assisted entrepreneurs commercializing new technology. Bruff received his law degree from the University Of New Mexico School of Law. He received his Masters in Business Administration in Economics, Environment, and Policy as well as his Bachelors in Business Administration in Finance and International Management from the Robert O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
Thomas M. Neustedter, Chief Operating Officer:
Tom has over 20 years senior management experience in the water treatment industry in both start up and Fortune 300 corporate environments. In 1985 he co-founded Wastewater Treatment Systems, a wastewater treatment system business serving the semiconductor industry, and guided it through its acquisition by Thames Water Plc in 1993. In 1996 that business was acquired by US Filter Corporation where Neustedter oversaw the merger of three acquired businesses, creating a $75 million revenue water treatment services business. Following this, Neustedter had full P&L responsibility as VP and General Manager of a $22 million business providing wastewater products and services to the semiconductor and biotechnology industries. In 2000, he joined a start up environmental business as its VP Operations to commercialize a proprietary technology that destroyed hazardous compounds, and in 2002 joined Rain Bird Corporation as Business Manager of Rain Bird Service Corporation, a new business unit providing services to the commercial irrigation industry. Neustedter has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
John W. Brown, Chief Financial Officer:
John has over 30 years of senior management experience in corporate finance, investment banking and private equity investment. He was the Chief Operating Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities, LLC, PwC ’ s investment banking subsidiary; Managing Director of Philadelphia First Group, Inc., a private investment banking and private equity investment firm; Vice President - Private Placements at Philadelphia Capital Advisors, the investment banking subsidiary of Philadelphia National Bank; and Assistant Vice President and Regional Manager for Private Placements for Equitable Life. Brown is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a BBA from the University of New Mexico. He is a Partner with Sandia Capital Partners, LLC, and is a member of the boards of directors of Charter Bank, CashStream Inc. and the Anderson Schools of Management Foundation. Brown is on the Investment Committees of Mesa Capital Partners and New Mexico Community Capital.
Doug Penner, Controller:
Doug has over 20 years of experience in the Accounting and Finance Industry. He has worked as a Controller and Cost Analyst for various start-ups as well as established companies, including Intel. As a Cost Analyst for Intel, he helped establish standard costing for Manufacturing Project Costing, establishing benchmarking and the means to achieve lower project costs. Penner ’ s expertise spans Cost Accounting, Auditing, and Corporate Controllership with an emphasis on Cost Reduction, Process Reengineering and Management Reporting. He also has been involved in Government Contracting, Bids and Proposals, and Cost Submissions. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Penner started his career in public accounting and has a BA in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Clinton L. Eckhardt, Director of Product Development:
Clint has 11 years of experience transferring new technologies from the development lab to high-volume manufacturing, mostly in the highly competitive semiconductor industry. Prior to joining Altela, Eckhardt was an Engineering Department Manager at Intel Corporation, where he oversaw technology transfer and high volume manufacturing for the photolithography area of Intel’s Colorado Springs factory. He managed a 70 person department and $280 million of capital assets, led a turnaround of the area by implementing Lean and Total Productive Maintenance principles, and received Intel’s highest level of internal recognition by increasing equipment availability and factory output by 20% in less than a year. During 2000 – 2002, Eckhardt consulted several large domestic manufacturers (e.g. Dell, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell ) on how to improve their production processes as a part of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program. He holds both a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan school. He has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University.
William C. Huitt, Manager of Materials and Purchasing:
Bill has over 25 years of experience in the materials and supplier management fields. As New Business Systems Manager for Ethicon, Inc., Huitt developed new planning systems that linked production demand in the final processing plants to production scheduling in the raw material plants, increasing sales order service levels from 88% of target to 97%. Huitt was a member of the team that designed and built the Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) facility in Albuquerque. He implemented planning methods and manufacturing processes encompassing over 1300 finished products, over 50 production departments and 800 employees. Upon early retirement from EES, Huitt started an independent Joint Venture Warehouse Service Facility that partnered EES with its material component Suppliers, utilizing over 45,000 square feet of warehouse and storing 2500 component SKUs. He helped achieve significant reductions in pipeline inventory investment, improving customer service levels and decreasing time to market for new products. Huitt has a BBA from Angelo State University.
Ned A. Godshall, President and Chief Executive Officer:
Ned is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led four high-tech startup companies since leaving Sandia National Laboratories in 1995. He has also served on several Boards of Directors for other high-tech companies and non-profit organizations. Prior to co-founding Altela, his most recent for-profit efforts have been with companies in the ‘clean-tech’ space: the hydrogen economy (MesoFuel, Inc.) and photovoltaic solar cells (Advent Solar, Inc). MesoFuel developed a new product that enables widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells, and was sold to an international company less than two years after Godshall 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. Godshall has extensive experience in venture-backed start-up and development-stage companies, both as an investor in them and operator.
At these various companies, he negotiated seed-round financing with venture capital firms, and established the company’s accounting, payroll, budgeting, tax, project management IP, and corporate legal systems.
Godshall has Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of New Mexico. He completed his B.S. degree in Materials Engineering at Drexel University.
Matthew J. Bruff, Chief Development Officer and General Counsel:
Matthew leads the company’s business development, environmental permitting, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property activities. Prior to co-founding Altela, Bruff was a shareholder with an AV-rated law firm specializing in real property/natural resource law, utility law, and related regulatory compliance. 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. Bruff began his career working with Sandia National Laboratories in its Technology Transfer and Commercialization Center, where he assisted entrepreneurs commercializing new technology. Bruff received his law degree from the University Of New Mexico School of Law. He received his Masters in Business Administration in Economics, Environment, and Policy as well as his Bachelors in Business Administration in Finance and International Management from the Robert O. Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico.
Thomas M. Neustedter, Chief Operating Officer:
Tom has over 20 years senior management experience in the water treatment industry in both start up and Fortune 300 corporate environments. In 1985 he co-founded Wastewater Treatment Systems, a wastewater treatment system business serving the semiconductor industry, and guided it through its acquisition by Thames Water Plc in 1993. In 1996 that business was acquired by US Filter Corporation where Neustedter oversaw the merger of three acquired businesses, creating a $75 million revenue water treatment services business. Following this, Neustedter had full P&L responsibility as VP and General Manager of a $22 million business providing wastewater products and services to the semiconductor and biotechnology industries. In 2000, he joined a start up environmental business as its VP Operations to commercialize a proprietary technology that destroyed hazardous compounds, and in 2002 joined Rain Bird Corporation as Business Manager of Rain Bird Service Corporation, a new business unit providing services to the commercial irrigation industry. Neustedter has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
John W. Brown, Chief Financial Officer:
John has over 30 years of senior management experience in corporate finance, investment banking and private equity investment. He was the Chief Operating Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities, LLC, PwC ’ s investment banking subsidiary; Managing Director of Philadelphia First Group, Inc., a private investment banking and private equity investment firm; Vice President - Private Placements at Philadelphia Capital Advisors, the investment banking subsidiary of Philadelphia National Bank; and Assistant Vice President and Regional Manager for Private Placements for Equitable Life. Brown is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a BBA from the University of New Mexico. He is a Partner with Sandia Capital Partners, LLC, and is a member of the boards of directors of Charter Bank, CashStream Inc. and the Anderson Schools of Management Foundation. Brown is on the Investment Committees of Mesa Capital Partners and New Mexico Community Capital.
Doug Penner, Controller:
Doug has over 20 years of experience in the Accounting and Finance Industry. He has worked as a Controller and Cost Analyst for various start-ups as well as established companies, including Intel. As a Cost Analyst for Intel, he helped establish standard costing for Manufacturing Project Costing, establishing benchmarking and the means to achieve lower project costs. Penner ’ s expertise spans Cost Accounting, Auditing, and Corporate Controllership with an emphasis on Cost Reduction, Process Reengineering and Management Reporting. He also has been involved in Government Contracting, Bids and Proposals, and Cost Submissions. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Penner started his career in public accounting and has a BA in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara.
Clinton L. Eckhardt, Director of Product Development:
Clint has 11 years of experience transferring new technologies from the development lab to high-volume manufacturing, mostly in the highly competitive semiconductor industry. Prior to joining Altela, Eckhardt was an Engineering Department Manager at Intel Corporation, where he oversaw technology transfer and high volume manufacturing for the photolithography area of Intel’s Colorado Springs factory. He managed a 70 person department and $280 million of capital assets, led a turnaround of the area by implementing Lean and Total Productive Maintenance principles, and received Intel’s highest level of internal recognition by increasing equipment availability and factory output by 20% in less than a year. During 2000 – 2002, Eckhardt consulted several large domestic manufacturers (e.g. Dell, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell ) on how to improve their production processes as a part of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program. He holds both a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan school. He has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University.
William C. Huitt, Manager of Materials and Purchasing:
Bill has over 25 years of experience in the materials and supplier management fields. As New Business Systems Manager for Ethicon, Inc., Huitt developed new planning systems that linked production demand in the final processing plants to production scheduling in the raw material plants, increasing sales order service levels from 88% of target to 97%. Huitt was a member of the team that designed and built the Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) facility in Albuquerque. He implemented planning methods and manufacturing processes encompassing over 1300 finished products, over 50 production departments and 800 employees. Upon early retirement from EES, Huitt started an independent Joint Venture Warehouse Service Facility that partnered EES with its material component Suppliers, utilizing over 45,000 square feet of warehouse and storing 2500 component SKUs. He helped achieve significant reductions in pipeline inventory investment, improving customer service levels and decreasing time to market for new products. Huitt has a BBA from Angelo State University.