Active RFID: Hi-G-Tek Attracts World-Class Executives To Direct Company's Explosive Growth
Hi-G-Tek, a leading developer and provider of radio frequency ID (RFID) solutions for high-value assets and sensitive materials, has assembled an executive team with decades of combined management experience and an impressive list of advanced technology expertise to its credit.
Larry A. Blue who was appointed the new President and Chief Executive Officer of Hi-G-Tek, has assembled a U.S. executive team that combines seasoned veterans, with entrepreneurial company builders who have taken former start-ups and taught them how to scale for long-term success. Blue has nearly 30 years' management experience with radio frequency (RF) and microprocessor technology.
Most recently, Blue was Vice President and General Manager of the RFID Tag Sector of Symbol Technologies (formerly Matrics, Inc.). From 2004 through early 2006, he directed that unit's growth from $4 million to $30 million plus.
Mr. Blue earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Duke University and holds two U.S. patents.
"Hi-G-Tek is enjoying an unprecedented growth spurt," Blue said. "With the recent $10 million capital infusion we received, we are able to move full speed ahead to pursue our core applications of RFID technology in our primary markets."
The two venture-capital firms that have financed Hi-G-Tek, Inc. are Battelle Ventures, L.P. and L Capital Partners.
Blue added that Hi-G-Tek has just launched several promising initiatives to highlight the company's leading-edge technological innovations.
"The biggest key to our next phase of growth is the technical competence and capable leadership of our new management team," he said.
Micha Auerbach, who is the one of the original founders, will lead the Israel R&D part of the organization and also operate as Chief Technology Officer. Auerbach is an internationally renowned expert in microelectronics and wireless devices, and started the company in 1989 in Israel to develop low-powered, advanced microelectronic products for biomedical and military applications. Among its early clients was the Israeli Defense Forces, for which Hi-G-Tek produced a system that provides theft and tamper protection for ammunition and weapons armories.
Auerbach will serve as the main liaison between the corporate headquarters in Maryland and the company's R&D team, located in Israel. He holds 14 patents in countries around the world. Before Hi-G-Tek, he was an innovator in microelectronics and biomedical research, including hybrid development and applications, and telemetry for pacemakers.
He holds B.S. and Master's degrees in electronic engineering from Delft Technical University in the Netherlands.
Gerry Badorrek has been named Chief Financial Officer of Hi-G-Tek. In this position, Mr. Badorrek will work closely with Larry Blue, Hi-G-Tek CEO, to guide the strategy and growth of the company.
Badorrek has 25 years of experience in finance, operations, consulting and engineering. He has held a variety of executive leadership positions and has a proven track record of building organizations, solving business problems, improving profitability and driving change. He most recently was the Vice President of Revenue Operations at MCI Communications and has held senior leadership positions at corporate, business unit and joint venture levels including joint ventures CFO, business unit CFO, business unit Controller, Director of Business Development and Director of Corporate Financial Analysis. He has managed worldwide organizations and provided financial leadership for startup domestic and international ventures as well as major business units.
In addition to his positions at MCI, Mr. Badorrek has experience in financial consulting and worked as a manufacturing engineer at Eaton Corporation. He has an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, a Master's in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.
Monte R. Lucas, Vice President, Business Development and Marketing. Lucas has more than 20 years of hands-on experience in the automation market, including seven in RFID. Previously, he served in high-level positions with Symbol Technologies, Matrics RFID (acquired by Symbol), Intermec Technologies, Zebra Technologies, and Paxar/Monarch.
His credentials include experience in supply-chain solutions, including advanced product development, marketing strategy, and design of bar code/data collection/automation systems for retail, transportation and other markets.
Lucas attended Georgetown College in Kentucky and also earned his logistics certification from Georgia Tech. He holds one patent with a second pending.
Avi Lichtash, Vice President, Product Management & Engineering. Lichtash has more than 25 years of experience in wireless technologies, telecommunications systems, products and networks. His previous executive positions were with Sonera US, ECtel Inc., Geotek and Tadiran Telecommunications.
Lichtash has compiled a track record of success in design, implementation and management of multidisciplinary engineering and marketing initiatives that provide effective business solutions.
He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA degree from Tel Aviv University. He holds one U.S. patent.
Jonathan Wiener, Vice President, Global Sales. Wiener has enjoyed a 20- year career in client-server computing, the Internet and wireless technology. He has held top-flight positions with Ziff Davis Communications and @Track Communications.
At Ziff Davis, he led turnarounds that took the lowest-producing regions of the company to the top-producing regions within a year. As Vice President of Business Development and Market Planning at @Track, he was in charge of strategic planning and partnering. He also wrote market studies of the U.S. regional service fleet and freight brokerage exchange markets. And he authored a business plan for the spin-off of @Track's national terrestrial network.
Wiener received a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Colorado.
About Hi-G-Tek
Hi-G-Tek is the developer of a new active RFID platform for the real-time monitoring of critical assets and sensitive materials globally.
The company's patented "sensing" technology has applications in several key markets, including homeland security, transportation, military and biomedical.
Hi-G-Tek's unique solutions provide unparalleled levels of real-time security and "sensing" of key assets, whether stationary or in transit, indoors or outdoors. Its sophisticated technology not only detects where an "asset" is, but also its status or condition -- anytime, from anywhere in the world.
For more information, please go to www.higtek.com.