Spheric Technologies' management team has extensive experience in building successful private and public companies, with international sales, strong R&D programs, tight financial controls, aggressive protection of intellectual property, and productive employees.

Joseph Hines, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, has a long history as a builder and leader of successful corporate organizations. He has proven skills and considerable experience in corporate structure and integration, technology business startup and development, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning. Hines' most recent experience was as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zila, Inc., which he built from a struggling Pink Sheets pharmaceuticals firm into an $80 million holding company with interests in several biotechnology areas. Hines also served as Executive VP and Division General Manager for Dart Industries and in other senior executive positions.

Michael Kirksey, MBA, Executive Vice President & Treasurer, is an experienced operating and financial executive and strategic planner. Kirksey took a start-up from concept to seven-figure sales in less than two years, and rebuilt a small operating-stage company, improving several key relationships to restore profitability. His positions in the ten years prior to 2002 include President, Director of Finance and Board membership for three technical start-ups. Kirksey holds an MBA from Arizona State and a technical undergraduate degree.

Robert Desberg, Director of Sales and Marketing, has an impressive track record in engineered powder, metallurgical and wrought materials for products in the aerospace, defense, electronics and medical industries. He spent nearly 10 years with H.C. Starck, Inc., a global manufacturer of refractory metals and fabricated components. There he served in product management, business development and sales capacities. Earlier, he was aerospace product manager for Hoogovens Aluminum Corp.; metallurgical engineering supervisor at Agro-Tech Corporation (formerly TRW); senior metallurgical engineer (landing gear systems) for Cleveland Pneumatic Corporation (now BF Goodrich); and metallurgical engineer at Republic Steel Corporation (now Warren Consolidated). Desberg has a B.S. degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Case Western Reserve University, and did post-graduate work in business management, corporate finance, marketing, project management and contract law.

Kuruvilla "Karl" Cherian, Ph.D., Director of Applied Research, is an expert in novel approaches to materials processing using microwave and other forms of electromagnetic radiation and applications of these processes for industrial use. Dr. Cherian has most recently worked for Dana Corporation in their Microwave Technologies Division as the Senior Materials Scientist; prior to that position Dr. Cherian lead two major research projects on microwave effects for Penn State/Naval Research Laboratory and Penn State/University of Queensland studies. Dr. Cherian holds a Ph.D. in Physics (Solid State Physics and Materials Science) from Sardar Patel University, Gujarat, India. Dr. Cherian's work has been widely published internationally in such journals as Materials Technology, Journal of Materials Research and Nature.

Peter Blonsky, Ph.D., Technology and Business Development Consultant, is an expert in the chemistry and physics of energy storage, and has long-term success in the technology and operations management of battery start-ups and development programs. Dr. Blonsky also has considerable experience in business development and marketing with organizations such as Moltech and Eagle Picher, and holds an MBA in addition to a Doctorate in Chemistry from Northwestern University.

Janice Backus, Corporate Secretary, Administrative Assistant to the CEO and Personnel Director, is highly experienced in the areas of corporate records, office management and personnel. She has more than 20 years' experience as Vice President and Corporate Secretary of Zila, Inc., with responsibility for regulatory reporting, senior executive support and operational management of facilities.

Penn State Technical Advisory Group

Rustum Roy, Ph.D., is an internationally acclaimed researcher and educator in materials science, and is widely known for his contributions to fundamental science in ceramics and discoveries of some of the most widely used research techniques such as sol-gel processing and hydrothermal and microwave processing. Dr. Roy is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and of four other National Academies and has published over 1000 articles in peer reviewed journals. He holds five professorships at Penn State, Arizona State University (Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering) and the University of Arizona (College of Medicine).

Dinesh Agrawal, Ph.D., and Jiping Cheng, Ph.D., are widely published researchers in materials and are co-inventors, with Dr. Roy and others, of many of the patents licensed by Spheric Technologies. Dr. Agrawal is the Director of the Microwave Processing Engineering Center at Penn State and is a respected authority in microwave processing theory. Dr. Cheng is one of the world’s leading experts in design and implementation of microwave processing systems, and is widely versed in related materials topics.

Arizona State University Technical Advisor

Sandwip Dey, Ph.D., is a leading researcher and professor in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. Dr. Dey has investigatory knowledge of such diverse industries as ceramics, chemical vapor deposition and semiconductor fabrication. Dr. Dey and the Department Chair of Materials Sciences, Dr. Subhash Mahajan, have been instrumental in bringing the new science of microwave processing of particulates to Arizona State.