Team photo from Oshkosh 2007.
Carl Dietrich, Ph.D.: CEO, CTO, Co-Founder
Carl received his SB, SM and Ph.D. degrees from the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, winning all four out of four design competitions available to him in the process. In 1998 Carl founded and subsequently directed for five years an educational organization to develop a new type of rocket engine that he invented while still an undergraduate at MIT. Eight years after its founding, and no longer under his leadership, that group continues to successfully design, test, and launch rockets. Carl has one issued patent and five patents pending. In 2000, Carl was formally recognized by the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics for "having shown extraordinary accomplishment early in his career." In 2006 Carl was awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize which annually recognizes one member of the MIT community for outstanding innovations. Carl's background also includes time spent as an assistant to an A&P mechanic and three years experience as an assistant machine shop instructor. Carl has both pre-preg and wet-layup composite construction experience, and he holds a private pilot certificate.
Anna Mracek Dietrich: COO, Co-Founder
Anna received her SM degree from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics. She received her SB from the same department, with memberships in Sigma Gamma Tau and Tau Beta Pi honor societies. Anna has worked at Boeing Phantom Works in Advanced Combat Aircraft in St. Louis and at GE Aviation in Lynn, MA. Anna is trained in both six-sigma and lean manufacturing techniques, and has demonstrated outstanding leadership and project management ability in every program she has be involved with - most recently as the lead on the dynamic modeling of the fuel system for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine currently under development at GE Aviation. She also holds her private pilot certificate.
Samuel Schweighart, Ph.D.: VP Engineering, Chief Engineer, Co-Founder
Samuel received his SM and Ph.D. from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and his BS with highest honors in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois. While at MIT, he founded and served as head of the MIT Emergency Medical Services. Samuel has served as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Draper Laboratories in Cambridge, MA. At Draper, he has worked on the Trident Missile Program and served as a Principal Investigator (PI) for an internal research and development program. Samuel also holds a private pilot certificate. In addition to his responsibilities as VP Engineering, he will be the lead engineer on the Transition electrical and control systems.
Alex Min: VP Sales and Marketing, Co-Founder
Alex received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, focusing on entrepreneurship, marketing, and finance. Prior to MIT Sloan, Alex spent five years in sales, business development, and sales management with a global semiconductor distributor. Prior to this experience, he served in the United States Marine Corps as a naval aviator. After graduating at the top of his flight school class, he served as an attack helicopter pilot and staff officer, primarily flying the AH-1W "Super Cobra." He still serves as an Officer in the Marine Corps Reserves. Prior to active duty, Alex received his SB in Art and Design from MIT. He holds commercial pilot certificates with instrument ratings for rotary-wing and single-engine fixed-wing aircraft. Alex is also an AOPA Life Member and an EAA Lifetime Member.
Arun Prakash: Co-Founder & Business Advisor
Arun is currently with Virgo Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments in the technology-enabled services sector. Prior to Virgo Capital, Arun managed technology planning as well as development projects at The Boeing Company. Arun received his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, and BS in Aerospace Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. Arun also holds a private pilot certificate with an instrument rating.
Andrew Heafitz: Senior Engineer
Andrew has 18 years of experience building and racing solar and electric vehicles. He has been a key team member in the design and construction of four light-weight composite vehicles and has been involved in the operation and racing of seven more. As the Director of Truck Engineering at Solectria Corporation, Andrew led the electric conversion design and developed production methods for the E-10, an electric pickup truck based on a Chevy S-10 chassis, and the Citivan, an electric delivery van. Approximately 100 electric trucks were manufactured using batch assembly at Solectria. Andrew founded TacShot Inc., a company that designed an unmanned aerial surveillance system for the US Air Force, and as a consultant at Arthur D. Little, Andrew designed an experiment that flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia on two missions. He received his SB and SM degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and he was also a previous recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. Andrew is the lead engineer on the design of the Transition fuselage structure and suspension systems.
Ben received his BS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aeronautics and Astronautics. Ben has experience with CAD, human factors mechanical design, robotics, flight vehicle aerodynamics and aircraft construction techniques.
John Telfeyan : Senior Engineering Technician
With direct involvement in the construction of more than 80 world-class custom composite boats -- including 9 America 's Cup Class boats -- John possesses a high level of expertise and skill with all facets of the composite construction process. During his thirty-plus years at Goetz Custom Boats in Rhode Island , where he was Vice President, John gained experience with many styles of both pre-impregnated and wet lay-up composite construction, as well as project management and customer support. Going beyond boat building, John is also an avid sailor, having served as the University of Rhode Island sailing coach and as a manager for an Olympic sailing campaign . Following his passion for aviation, John received his pilot's license in 1991 and continues to be an active pilot.
Richard Gersh: VP Business Development
Richard has more than 25 years of executive-level experience in all phases of insurance company operations, including claims management and underwriting (Sentry Insurance), marketing and brokerage (Alexander & Alexander), corporate risk management (Congoleum Corporation and New England Mutual Life Insurance Company), and captive management (Housing Partnership Network and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company). He has been an active member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) and the Captive Insurance Company Association (CICA). He is a member of Financial Executives International (FEI) and holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation. He holds a BA from Boston University, an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and an M.Ed. from Suffolk University. He is also a graduate of the Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth College. Richard is also currently pursuing his Private Pilot's License and is an active member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).
Marc received his BS in Mechanical Engineering, graduating Cum Laude from Tufts University. Having spent time at Northrop Grumman, The Gillette Company and Chop Shop Customs, Marc has experience in a wide variety of systems, from aircraft carrier design to custom car mechanical work. Marc has also worked on an S7R ALMS race car improvement project collaboration between Tufts University and Saleen, Inc.
Gregor received his BS from MIT in Aerospace Engineering where he participated in design, construction and wind tunnel testing of a prototype wing, research on rotating fluid flow, and design of a robotic leg for a space exploration rover system. Before joining Terrafugia, Gregor led a team of mechanical and electrical engineers and worked as a hardware design engineer at a robotics company in the Boston area. Gregor also holds a private pilot's certificate.
Col. (Ret.) Phil Meteer: Flight Test Coordinator, Test Pilot
With over 3,000 hours of flight and instruction experience in the Air Force, including the F-4, F-16 and A-10, Phil brings both his perspective as an experienced pilot and as an operations and systems engineer and operations manager, both in the Air Force and as a civilian. Phil has also acted as test engineer, lead test pilot and airborne mission commander for a new infrared countermeasure system. Phil is currently working onsite at Hanscom AFB and assisting with development of the Transition® flight test plan.
Mark Drela: Engineering Advisor
A world-renowned aerodynamicist and aircraft designer, Mark is a professor in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics where he first led the design of the Daedalus human-powered aircraft in 1988. The computational tools that Mark has developed for aerodynamic analysis, including XFOIL for airfoil design and analysis and AVL, a vortex lattice code for vehicle aerodynamic design and analysis, have been used widely within Terrafugia and throughout the global aerodynamics community. Recently, Mark has been researching flexible aircraft shapes and the dynamic interaction between aero loading and structural deformation as part of the Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory (ACDL) at MIT.
Ken Morse: Business Advisor, MIT E-Center
Ken is a Senior Lecturer and Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. Ken is a serial entrepreneur, having played a key role in launching several high-tech start-ups, including 3Com Corporation, Aspen Technology, an expert systems company, and a biotech firm. Ken's batting average is 0.833: five of his start-ups went public or were successfully merged; one was a complete disaster. As head of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, Ken is responsible for inspiring, training, and coaching new generations of entrepreneurs from all parts of MIT. Ken has been profiled and quoted in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal , Financial Times , Economist , and Red Herring . Ken's entrepreneurial and sales expertise are sought after the world-over.
R. John Hansman: General Aviation Advisor
John is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, where he is head of the Division of Humans and Automation and Director of the International Center for Air Transportation. Professor Hansman holds 6 U.S. Patents , and has authored over 250 technical publications. John's current research activities focus on information technology applied to air transportation systems, air traffic control, integrated human-automation systems, advanced vehicles, and advanced cockpit information systems. He is also an internationally recognized expert in aviation meteorological hazards such as icing and wind shear. John is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and gave the 2005 National AIAA Dryden Lecture on Research. He has received numerous awards, including a 2004 Commercial Air Transport Laurel from Aviation Week and Space technology. He also consults and serves as a member of numerous advisory and technical committees including the FAA Research and Development Advisory Committee and the NASA Aeronautical Research Advisory Committee. He serves on several editorial and corporate boards. John has over 5000 hours of pilot in-command time in airplanes, helicopters and sailplanes, including meteorological, production and engineering flight test experience.
Lou Goldish: Business Advisor, MIT VMS
Lou Goldish is Senior Advisor on the staff of the MIT Venture Mentoring Service. VMS provides mentoring and business-development counseling to start-up and early-stage companies established by MIT alumni, faculty, staff, and students. Lou was a founder and Managing Director of consulting firm Data and Strategies Group and spent 35 years as a management consultant to corporations offering industrial, commercial, and technology based products and services. Prior to joining MIT Lou was Relationship Manager for a leading supplier of management software for very large databases and data-based enterprise systems.
Jeff is currently a Principal at Still Water Design, based in Chelsea, MA. Still Water manufactures low- or no-wake launches, training barges, and kayaks using the latest in wet-layup composite technology with a small team of skilled craftsmen. Jeff has degrees in computer science, civil engineering, and transportation from MIT.
Milo Mracek: Engineering Advisor
Milo spent 37 years at the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, serving as Chief of Design Engineering and making significant contributions to the development of fighter aircraft, space programs, and missile systems including the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle Orbiter, F-4, B-52, and the Harpoon missile programs. A specialist in mechanisms design, some of Milo's munitions deployment systems are still in use on aircraft such as the F-15. Milo has designed numerous wing folding and deployment mechanisms for missile and aircraft systems. Milo has also founded and led Mracek Industries' manufacturing operations and negotiated its sale. Milo holds seven patents, served in WWII in the U.S. Army, and holds his BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Kansas.
David Bentley: Engineering Advisor
David spent 19 years at the McDonnell Douglas Corporation serving as a senior design engineer on such projects as the DC-10, the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and various guided missile and satellite systems. Prior to his work at McDonnell Douglas, David worked as an engine design engineer for International Harvester, Motor Truck Division. For the past 21 years, David has run an automotive restoration shop specializing in maintenance and modification of Rolls Royce and Ferrari brand vehicles as well as custom vehicle fabrication. David has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, with graduate level work at Purdue University and the University of Missouri. David is lead engineer on the design of the Transition power train system.
