Michael Cappello is chief executive officer of S.A. Robotics. Since joining the firm in 2003, the staff complement has increased from twelve positions to 140 positions. Company revenues tripled in 2003 and again in 2004, with S.A.Robotics being placed on the Inc 500 list of fastest growing companies for 2005 and 2006. Prior to joining the company, he was senior vice president of Informatics Corporation where he was responsible for substantial, results-driven growth. During his tenure, Informatics was placed on the National Inc. 500 list for two years in a row as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.
Mr. Cappello has a background that includes over 24 years of experience in the commercial nuclear industry, telecommunications industries, and at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Facilities. He has expertise in the areas of engineering, project, outage and production management, nuclear operations, and facility decommissioning and dismantlement (D&D). Mr. Cappello specializes in the management of large multibillion dollar, complex projects with experience in key phases of the project life cycle including: design, construction, startup, operations (outage and maintenance), production and D&D. He has a proven track record for turning troubled projects into successes for his customers by applying expert project team leadership skills.
As executive consultant to the DOE Undersecretary for Environmental Management (EM), Mr. Cappello headed the National Transuranic (TRU) Waste Capacity Study. He led a team of experts from around the country to rapidly identify ways to improve and accelerate the nation’s ability for consolidation, packaging and transportation of TRU waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This project became a national risk reduction priority as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack; it is estimated that there are 30 million people nation wide living within a 50 mile radius of plutonium materials. Other accomplishments as executive consultant include oversight and improvements to $750 million of infrastructure construction, waste management and environmental restoration capital projects at a DOE facility. He was instrumental in accomplishing major schedule and cost performance improvements for these projects.
Mr. Cappello also provided executive level, international telecommunications project management consulting for a $4 billion dollar infrastructure construction project in Thailand where he mentored and trained senior level project managers for a major US telecommunications company. Mr. Cappello was the winning proposal and project manager for a major US technical consulting firm that integrated a consortium of mid-size commercial nuclear utilities’ supply chain management programs with electronic commerce, strengthening the utilities’ competitive positions in the deregulated power utility market place.
Mr. Cappello holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering sciences from Regis University with minors in physics and mathematics. He was one of the first 500 people certified as a Professional Project Manager (PMP) by the Project Management Institute. He has trained project managers around the world.
Dan Johnson founded S.A.Robotics in 1992 with an initial sub contract to Westinghouse Corporation in support of the Decontamination and Demolition (D&D) project at the Fort Saint Vrain Nuclear Generating Station. Mr. Johnson was responsible for the design and fabrication of prototype equipment for special application tooling associated with decontamination and survey activities. He was also responsible for the generation of general and detailed work instructions for system decommissioning, removal of internal reactor components, removal of large concrete sections, and overall decontamination of systems and components including craft coordination and equipment procurement.
Mr. Johnson has always been the primary driving force behind the company’s ‘From Concept to Creation’ technology development program. S.A.Robotics has grown to become a $7 million operation as a result of Johnson’s vision to provide the company’s customers with innovative and practical solutions to complex technical problems.
Before the start-up of S.A.Robotics, Mr. Johnson worked for Public Service Company of Colorado, where he held numerous management positions including superintendent, project manager, and engineering supervisor during commercial operations at Fort Saint Vrain. He was responsible for management of engineering and production activities necessary for power production; for procedure compliance, coordination of craft, construction and technical resources, resolution of daily equipment and operation problems, and development and execution of schedules and work plans for plant activities. His responsibilities also included defueling the reactor and transfer of spent fuel to a dry storage facility.
Mr. Johnson mentors and encourages students in the local community by supporting their desire to learn more about the engineering discipline and robotics in particular. A local high school team of students received national recognition for their work on a robotics project while under his direction. S.A.Robotics is presently providing leadership and support to students from Colorado State University that are participating in a national competition for a Homeland Security robotics project.
Mr. Johnson holds a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering (Robotics) from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University.
Sam Johnson is one of the key inventors of deployable technologies used by S.A.Robotics including breakthrough innovations in cooling, control systems and lightweight precision materials. Sam holds 27 U.S. and worldwide issued patents in the fields of lighting, ASIC design, Inkjet and Electrophotographic printing and in telescope design. In addition, he holds the provisional patent filing for 12 unique technologies relating to the S.A.Robotics Boiler Pipe Cleaning Robot.
Prior to joining S.A.Robotics, Mr. Johnson spent 12 years with the Hewlett Packard Company, beginning as a design and project engineer and rapidly advancing to a senior staff engineer, specializing in the design and testing of advanced control systems. In 1988, Mr. Johnson founded Beacon Light Products where he was instrumental in raising $20 million in private equity and debt financing and subsequently helped secure $100 million in purchase commitments through his innovative, patented technology development efforts.
Mr. Johnson received his Master of Science in electric engineering, emphasis on analog IC and high frequency radio design, from the University of Idaho and Stanford University. He received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering (nonlinear control systems) from Arizona State University.
Scott Adams is a home grown executive harvested from the S.A.Robotics farm of talent. He started his career serving the nuclear industry within another Colorado based design engineering firm but quickly moved to S.A.Robotics in 1999. It is here that he learned design engineering from the likes of Dan and Sam Johnson.
Mr. Adams has been the technical lead on many of our more complicated design schemes, including a number of our long reach manipulator projects, many of S.A.Robotics' products delivered to the Rocky Flats Site Closure Project, S.A.Robotics' highest payload manipulator, and S.A.Robotics' boiler inspection arm project. After moving through the ranks as a technical lead he moved into project management leading up S.A.Robotics' Advanced Products group and acting as a Site Project Engineer at the UKAEA Windscale Piles Decommissioning Project. After serving in the UK, he came back to S.A.Robotics to lead up the Business Development and Marketing team where he enjoys the easiest job in his career: touting the value of S.A.Robotics to existing and current customers.
Mr. Adams holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University.
Brian Dyck joined S.A.Robotics as senior project manager in 2003 and immediately began management of projects. He was promoted to vice president in 2005.
Mr. Dyck joined S.A.Robotics following assignment at the DOE Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site. He was Project Manager/Project Engineer for decommissioning. He was qualified as an Engineering Manager, his responsibilities included management of a $14M fully contained robotic size reduction (thermal and mechanical cutting) system for radioactive components and the decommissioning of two contaminated buildings at the site.
Mr. Dyck worked as consultant and staff for Westinghouse during the decommissioning project at the Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Generating Station. He became the program manager for decommissioning and spent fuel storage activities for Westinghouse where he had responsibility for foreign and domestic nuclear power plant decommissioning and spent fuel storage projects. Additionally, he prepared new decommissioning accident analyses for Fort St. Vrain and for a Westinghouse test reactor.
Mr. Dyck also worked at Fort Saint Vrain during commercial operations. He worked in the Radiation Protection and Engineering departments during plant outages and operations. He was the project lead to obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the storage of spent nuclear fuel at the nation’s first dry storage facility. Mr. Dyck was the mechanical/regulatory lead during construction and initial fuel loading at that facility. He is a veteran of the US Naval Nuclear Power program, including operations at a land based nuclear power plant and aboard a nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine.
Mr. Dyck holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado with a minor in business administration. He is a registered Professional Engineer, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a lifetime member of the American Nuclear Society.
David Morley is quality assurance manager of S.A.Robotics, reporting directly to the company’s CEO. He is also the organization’s manager for environment, safety and health (ES&H).
Prior to joining S.A.Robotics, Mr. Morley gained over 25 years experience in the development of quality systems for a variety of organizations including: DOE sites, commercial nuclear sites, nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning and contaminated sites. He has had assignments as Quality Officer, Quality Engineer, and auditor. His experience includes NQA-1 auditing and implementation, ISO 9000 registration assessments and internal audits for commercial manufacturing companies in North America and Asia. He has performed Supplier Qualification Audits and Source Inspections in support of both commercial and nuclear projects.
Mr. Morley’s certifications and qualifications include: ISO-9000 Lead Auditor; ISO-14000 Auditor; Lead Auditor Certification ANSI N45.2.23, NQA-1; Certified Inspector N45.2.6 Level II Electrical, I&C, Mechanical, Receiving and Welding AWS D1.1 VT; Certified Packages for Radioactive Waste Shipments, U.S. DOE 10 CFR 830.120 Rule, U.S. DOE Order 414.1A; Certified Quality Assurance Officer at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site; screened NCR’s for Price Andersen Amendments Act; Suspect/Counterfeit Items (S/CI) requirements.
Tim Libal is the production manager and shop supervisor for all fabrication and testing operations at S.A.Robotics.
A veteran of Desert Storm, Tim Libal served as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps before starting and operating his own business. He first joined S.A. Robotics in 1998, and served as Project Manager, technical advisor, and liaison between management and union craft on the embedded pipe project at Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainer, Oregon. Subsequently, Libal was employed at Bailey’s Nurseries in Oregon as equipment manager, where he managed all equipment, fabrication, and building maintenance. Tim returned to S.A. Robotics in 2006, and is currently Production Manager for project fabrication.
Matt Cole took over as chief engineer of the company in 2007 after moving up from a project engineering and lead mechanical engineering role. Mr. Cole was the first employee hired by Dan Johnson and started work for the company while still in high school. Starting work as a machinist and welder Mr. Cole built some of the first equipment made by the company under the direction of Mr. Johnson. After completing an engineering degree in 2000, Matt hired on full-time to the company as an design engineer. Mr. Cole has grown as the company has grown moving from entry level design engineer through project engineering/management and finally to engineering management. He understands and has worked with nearly every aspect of the company from fabrication to purchasing.
Mr. Cole has been instrumental in improving the engineering discipline and professionalism while maintaining the creativity and flexibility that was key to the company’s growth. Under Mr. Cole, the engineering program has built an extraordinary core of engineering leadership by elevating engineers who have proven themselves on difficult and quick turn-around projects to lead positions. This group, under Mr. Cole’s leadership, improved the engineering process to meet not only the standards required by NQA-1 but also ISO9001:2000. Matt has seen every aspect of the business from working out of Dan Johnson’s garage to a multi-national company with 150 employees.
Mr. Cole has had a working role on nearly every major project done by the company since its inception. This insight into the realities and challenges of producing complex equipment in short-time frames is the experience that Mr. Cole will use to continue to improve every aspect of the engineering program. This will ensure that S.A.Robotics continues to deliver high-quality products highly focused on specific clients needs so that these clients get the equipment they need to solve their problems while understanding the difficult project constraints these clients face.
Evan Husney is the Company’s Vice President and General Counsel. Mr. Husney is responsible for all legal matters affecting S.A. Robotics and works closely with the rest of the management team to ensure legal compliance with all applicable laws and customer contracts. Mr. Husney joined S.A. Robotics in April, 2007 and brings a broad base of corporate and transactional legal experience. Prior to joining S.A. Robotics, Mr. Husney was General Counsel for Lifevantage Corporation, a publicly held provider of science-based products. Mr. Husney also previously worked as a transactional lawyer at Holland & Hart, LLP, the largest law firm in the Rocky Mountain Region, where he represented public and privately-held companies in a broad variety of matters, including contract negotiation and management, corporate governance, general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, and other financing transactions of all sizes, including venture capital transactions and private placements of equity and debt securities.
Mr. Husney holds a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Bachelor of Science from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Husney is admitted to practice law in Colorado and is a member of the Colorado State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Association for Corporate Counsel.
Frank Roundy is the composite shop manager of S.A. Robotics, reporting directly to the company’s CEO.
Frank’s first composite job was working on the B1-B bomber, laying unidirectional tape into a compound contour mold for a wing fairing. He has worked on the F-14, F-15, C-17 military aircraft as well as many commercial programs for Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus. He was instrumental in developing a repair method for the Apache rotor blade that enabled the trim tabs to be re-bonded to the blade. In 1996 he left the aerospace market and joined StorageTek in their composite group where he was in charge of resin transfer molding manufacturing. At StorageTek he developed a manufacturing cells for robotic tubes that saved the company several million dollars over the life of the project. In 2004 Frank hired on with S.A.robotics to head up the composite group and helped introduce composite structures into the remote handling arena. When S.A.Robotics purchased the assets of a failed composite business that had been run into the ground by poor business practices and mismanagement, he was given the task of making it a viable business. In the three years that Frank has managed the composite shop, his composite team of professionals has been able to take this failed business model and make it a viable performance and profit center for S.A.Robotics.
Steve Wolfe is Senior Vice President of Business Operations at S.A. Robotics. Prior to joining the Company in November 2007, he served as Vice President of Finance for Hach Ultra Analytics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, a Fortune 500, multinational conglomerate. Prior to its acquisition by Danaher in 2001, he served as Vice President of Finance for Anatel Corporation, where he was a key member of the team responsible for negotiating and closing the acquisition transaction. Subsequent to the acquisition, he was an integral member of the team responsible for the successful integration of the Anatel operations into the Danaher platform. He also successfully managed the integration efforts for two subsequent acquisitions by Danaher.
Mr. Wolfe’s background includes 30 years experience in public accounting and corporate financial and administrative management for technology based companies operating in the global environment. Industry experience includes nuclear waste disposal systems and services, process control instrumentation manufacturing, and data storage hardware. He has completed coursework and obtained practical experience in lean management processes including value stream mapping, standard work design and deployment, materials management and transactional process analysis and improvement.
Mr. Wolfe holds a Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree, with an emphasis in accounting, from the University of Louisville. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Colorado. He has attained the Certified Management Accountant and Certified in Financial Management designations offered through the Institute of Management Accountants, of which he is a member. He is also a member of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Bill Kirby is the Chief Operating Officer. After extensive work with S.A.Robotics on the Idaho National Laboratory and Rocky Mountain Flats projects, he joined the team in the fall of 2007. He is directly responsible for programs, project delivery, facilities, and day to day operations. He is also responsible for the management of engineering, fabrication, and project management groups within the company. Mr. Kirby has brought a wide range of experience from over 23 years of working in decommissioning, engineering, design, construction, testing, and operations in the nuclear industry. His education of a Masters of Business Administration form the University of Massachusetts in 1996 and a Bachelors of Science degree from the Marine Engineering Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1985 further reinforces his qualification to be the Chief Operations Officer. Mr. Kirby’s’ expertise and hands-on experience makes him a valuable resource to the team here at S.A.Robotics.
Prior to joining S.A. Robotics, Mr. Kirby was the ES H&Q director for D&D at Idaho National Labs responsible for D&D of 3 reactors and other nuclear support facilities. He was a D&D engineering manager at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site on a nuclear weapons complex clean up project. Prior to this, he was the Project Manager for Decommissioning and security modifications at Millstone Nuclear Power Station. As an Operations Engineer in a program improvement project, he was responsible for upgrading Unit 2 programs, coordinating special projects in analysis of operating events in a 50.54 (f) recovery effort. Prior to this, he was a Project Manager responsible for the decommissioning of plant systems at Shoreham Nuclear Power Station, including major structural remediation projects. He was responsible for coordinating engineering, operations, QA, HP, and labor organizations in a decommissioning effort. He has tested Naval Reactor Plants and has extensive experience on BWR and PWR nuclear plants in the commercial industry.