Leadership
Gerald McGuire
President & CEO
Jonathan Pfohl
CFO
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President & CEO
CFO
Ben Wolkowitz is a non-executive Director of the Company. Mr. Wolkowitz has had an extensive career in finance and economics. Most recently, he headed Madison Financial Technology Partners, a consulting firm that advised technology companies on how to position their products for the financial services industry. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he had several assignments in the Fixed Income Division over a 16-year career including running their Financial Futures Brokerage operation, and a significant portion of the Fixed Income sales force. He also was the head of Fixed Income Research and prior to retiring, he managed a portfolio of Morgan Stanley invested technology companies. Before the New York phase of his career, Mr. Wolkowitz was with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System where he was in charge of Financial Studies, a department in the Division of Research and Statistics. His team was responsible for analyzing and advising the Board of Governors on financial markets and financial institutions. He previously taught at Tulane University in the economics department and was also a consultant to the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Mr. Wolkowitz has written and lectured extensively on both theoretical and applied topics in economics and finance. In addition, he co¬authored a book, Bank Capital. Mr. Wolkowitz has a bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, from Queens College and a PhD in economics from Brown University. He is a Town Council Member, Madison N.J. and a member of the Advisory Board of the Great Swamp Watershed Association in Morristown, NJ.
Lewis Smoak is a non-executive Director of the Company. Mr. Smoak is a founding partner of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, which was founded in 1977. During more than 44 years of representing companies in labor and employment matters, he has personally handled approximately 300 union organizing and decertification campaigns. He has extensive experience in the development and implementation of preventive labor relations programs for clients in all regions of the country. He is among the one percent of US lawyers listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and has also been selected by his peers for inclusion in the American Bar Association’s College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and Chambers & Partners’ USA Leading Lawyers in America. Mr. Smoak is the author of three comprehensive nationwide labor relations studies in the construction industry. He has served on the Greenville (President) and South Carolina State Chambers of Commerce and serves on the State Chamber’s Good Government Committee. He has served since 2002 as a member of the South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee’s (BIPEC) Board and its Executive Committee since 2004. He focuses community efforts on early childhood education issues, including service on United Way’s Success by Six Board, and chairing both Greenville County (2001-2003) and the State of South Carolina’s First Steps for School Readiness Board of Trustees (2003-2013). For his work in early childhood education, he received the 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Karl Leaverton is a non-executive Director of the Company. Most recently, Mr. Leaverton was the President/Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Seattle Northwest Securities Corporation, a broker dealer specializing in public finance investment banking, sales and trading of fixed income and asset management. The company was acquired by Piper Jaffray in July, 2013. Mr. Leaverton is Chairman of SNW Asset Management Corporation, a fixed-income portfolio manager with more than $2.5 billion in assets under management. He is also the principal of Blakely Management Company LLC, providing business and management consulting for various companies and disciplines. Mr. Leaverton is the former President of the Private Client Group of RBC Wealth Management, where he had management responsibility for more than 2,300 advisors and assets under administration in excess of $200 billion. He has more than 30 years of financial services experience. Mr. Leaverton earned a bachelor of arts degree in chemical environmental science from the University of Puget Sound and completed the course work for a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He earned a master of science degree in infrastructure management from Stanford University.
Bruce Likly serves as non-executive Vice Chairman of the Board of the Company. Mr. Likly has more than 25 years of technology, communications and management experience. Having begun his career at IBM and worked to help grow Sun Microsystems from $1 billion in sales to more than $10 billion. Mr. Likly has spent the last decade as Principal at Kovak-Likly Communications, where his team helps companies develop and implement strategic sales, marketing and communications plans. This work previously included assisting Apollo Diamond, the company whose assets Scio Diamond Technology Corporation acquired in 2011. Mr. Likly also serves as Chairman of the Board of Mutual Security Credit Union and the Wilton Public Schools Board of Education.
Bern McPheely serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board of the Company. Mr. McPheely retired in December 2012 as President of Hartness International, after more than 35 years of service. A leader in total solutions to the packaging industry, Hartness provides equipment globally to more than 100 countries. From its startup, and under Mr. McPheely’s guidance, Hartness was profitable every quarter since 1982. He spearheaded short- and long-term strategic planning, including four major company-wide transformations to reposition the Hartness value proposition, product portfolio and go-to-market strategy. Mr. McPheely negotiated and executed the sale of Hartness to Illinois Tool Works (ITW) and was responsible for shepherding the transition from a family-owned business to a public company. He was also responsible for successful synergistic acquisitions. From 2000-2002, Mr. McPheely was Chairman of the Association for Packaging and Processing (PMMI), a trade association representing more than 700 companies. He is on the Board of Directors of Dorner Manufacturing Corporation in Hartland, Wisconsin. Mr. McPheely was honored by Start Magazine as one of the top 10 CEO Visionaries Who Ignite Technology. He briefed former President Bill Clinton and his cabinet members on the state of US business and previously worked with the US Department of Commerce. He has a graduate degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University and received his undergraduate degree from Albion College.
Jonathan Pfohl has more than 25 years of financial and management experience. Before joining Scio Diamond, he served as President of Rose Creek Associates, a management consulting firm; CEO of Wireless Express LLC, one of Sprint’s largest independent distribution partners; CFO of Main Street Broadband LLC, a privately held wireless broadband service provider; CFO of Movida Communications, a leading pre-paid wireless provider; and Vice President of new products and marketing at AirGate PCS, a publicly-traded Sprint wireless affiliate. Mr. Pfohl began his career with Frontier Corporation and Sprint PCS. His expertise is in profit and loss management, strategic business management, financial planning and analysis, raising capital, and sales and marketing leadership. Mr. Pfohl has an MBA in finance and a bachelor’s degree in business administration, both from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Gerald McGuire has more than 25 years of semiconductor industry experience. He was most recently Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Low-Voltage and Mid-Power Analog Business at Fairchild Semiconductor. Prior to Fairchild, he was Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Signal Processing business at Analog Devices. He spent 23 years at Analog Devices in various technical, marketing and business roles. His expertise includes building global technology businesses, turning around under-performing businesses, developing and implementing competitive strategies and leading successful go-to-market strategies. Mr. McGuire has extensive experience in working with global customers, determining what products they want and how to deliver them. He earned a master of science degree in electrical and electronics engineering and a bachelor’s degree in biology, both from the University of Vermont. Mr. McGuire is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Company.
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