Meet The Product Realization Group’s Consultants

Consultants

Michael D. Keer

Allen M. Adolph

Mark Brinkerhoff

Michael W. Gozzo

Aaron W. Joseph

Meet the Product Realization Group Consultants

	Michael D. Keer Founder & CEO Mike Keer has over 20 years of High Technology business leadership experience in both Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Contract Manufacturing (CM) environments. As founder of the Product Realization Group (PRG), Mike created the end-to-end outsourced services model that supports high-tech companies bring new products to market. Prior to the PRG, Mike was CEO of SofTEQ, an Enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) services company, where he supported a broad range of technology based businesses including medical, networking, telecom, defense, and consumer. Prior to joining SofTEQ, Mike was Director of Operations for Paramit Corporation, an Electronic Manufacturing Service provider where he supported over 30 high technology companies, and also held Operations Management and Engineering positions for SemiPower Systems, Ericsson/Raynet, and NCR. Mike received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He is an active Mentor for Stanford University’s Product Realization Network and an adjunct faculty member at National University. Back to Top
	Allen M. Adolph Senior Consultant Allen M. Adolph has over 30 years of experience in managing local and offshore turnkey manufacturing/global distribution activities, supporting fast track new product introduction programs and implementing business system applications for both early stage start-up companies and high volume public firms. Allen served as VP of Operations at Adaptive, Whitetree Technology, Atmosphere Networks, Atoga Systems, Aperto Networks and SkyPilot Networks. He has held senior management operations positions at Arris, NET and Dataproducts Corporation. Besides running Adolph Consulting Services (ACS), Allen serves as a mentor to the Stanford PRN program and is on the Board of Advisors of the Product Realization Group (PRG). Allen has a BS in Business Administration - Operations Research from California State University Northridge and CPIM certification from APICS. Back to Top
	Mark Brinkerhoff Senior Consultant Mark Brinkerhoff, PE, is president and part owner of Fusion Design, Inc. in Campbell, Calif. Mark has obtained eight patents for mechanical devices and systems. Previously, Brinkerhoff was an engineering and model shop manager at Amdahl Corporation and a manufacturing engineer at Hewlett Packard Company. He has 26 years of experience developing both products and production machines. While earning his degree at California Polytechnic State University and the College of the Siskiyous, Brinkerhoff participated in a co-op program at Schlage Lock company. Since joining the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 1995, he has been active in Silicon Valley Chapter 98, where he previously served as treasurer has coordinated many factory tours throughout the Bay Area. He has also been a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Laboratory Robotics Interest Group and TELTECH. Brinkerhoff is an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America. Back to Top
	Mike Freier Senior Consultant Mike Freier is Founder and President of the Product Management Consulting Group and President of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association. Mike has 20+ years of experience working with high-tech companies, including more than a decade in product management and product marketing roles. During this time, Mike has helped companies grow their business by gathering competitive information, creating compelling features & benefits, streamlining packaging & pricing and aligning product plans with other functional groups. In addition to his full time work, Mike mentored Armageddon Energy (CA Finalist/Renewable Energy) and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Network (Semifinalist/Transportation) in the 2009 Cleantech Open competition. Mike also serves on the MIT-Stanford VLAB executive committee, is an active member of Stanford University’s Product Realization Network and has worked with senior faculty at San Jose State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Mike graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on product design and development. Back to Top
	Michael W. Gozzo Senior Consultant Michael W. Gozzo is President and Founder of THE TOTAL BUSINESS CONSULTING GROUP, INC., a firm specializing in counseling and education of all levels of management in the areas of Supply Chain, Lean Manufacturing, Demand Flow Technology, Just-In-Time, Total Quality Control, Manufacturing Systems Implementation, Inventory Control and Production/Operations Management. Recent involvement with Silicon Valley leader’s in Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing practices and ISO include Cisco, Infineon, Sunrise Telecom, PerkinElmer, Philips Semi-conductor and SanDisk. He has traveled to Germany to train operational personnel at Lufthansa Air Cargo. Mr. Gozzo has been associated with Lean practices: pull systems, quick change, 5-S, VMI, cell design and others. He has traveled and worked extensively in Canada, England, Hong Kong, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa and Taiwan. He has an Executive Program Masters Degree from the University of New Haven, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Connecticut. He is certified as CPIM & CSCP by the Association of Operations Management (APICS). Mr. Gozzo is the co-author of “Made In America - The Total Business Concept” and several other books and numerous published articles. Back to Top
	Aaron W. Joseph Senior Consultant Aaron Joseph is a Systems Engineer / Validation Engineer with over 15 years of experience in medical device development over a wide range of technologies, from capital equipment to disposable devices. Mr. Joseph’s product development experience includes the following projects: digital x-ray fluoroscopy system, heart-lung bypass machine, robotic catheter system, drug inhaler device, laser eye surgery instrument, x-ray catheter for brachytherapy, endoscopy instrument with R/F ablation, automated blood separation system, CAD/CAM system for custom prosthetics, and portable gait monitor. Mr. Joseph specializes in software and hardware verification and validation testing of medical devices. He works with his clients’ product development teams in designing test plans, developing new test methods, writing and executing test protocols, performing risk analyses, and refining product requirements. He also helps his clients in providing training to engineers in design controls and aiding in quality system development. Mr. Joseph has broad experience implementing and managing design controls, from work at small startup companies to large corporations. He is an ASQ certified quality engineer (CQE). Mr. Joseph received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and a MS degree in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. Back to Top
	Walt Maclay Senior Consultant Walt Maclay is currently the President and Chief Engineer of Voler Systems and Strawberry Tree Inc, Walt has over 35 years of engineering management and design experience. He has led Voler to develop an outstanding reputation for quality, on-time delivery, and great customer service by working closely with its customers. He has managed over 200 development projects. Walt has run Strawberry Tree / Voler since 1979 when he founded it. Since 1999 Walt has been President and Chief Engineer directing the development of products using electrical engineering and software. A wide range of products and test systems have been developed including: Medical devices, Aerospace, Industrial and Consumer. Prior to founding Strawberry Tree / Voler, Walt worked at Interdesign, Fairchild, and Texas Instruments as an electronic design engineer. Walt is a senior member of IEEE and has a BSEE from Syracuse University. Back to Top
	Geetha Rao Senior Consultant Dr. Geetha Rao’s personal focus is on establishing effective and cost effective quality management processes, as well as regulatory and legal problem-solving for medical technology approvals, FDA and notified body inspections and audits, adverse events, and liability. She has over 20 years of experience in medical and other high-risk technologies with a focus on emerging business challenges and operational excellence that meets best-in-class, international standards. She is an internationally recognized expert in risk management and liability and has served on several international policy making bodies, and as an invited expert to regulatory agencies, including the FDA, ISO Technical Committees, GHTF, and European Notified Bodies. She has addressed numerous industry forums and the press on issues of management of product and process quality and business risks. Dr. Rao currently chairs the ASQ Biomedical Division Northern California Discussion Group, has previously chaired the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab’s Emerging Business Forum for Life Sciences, and has been guest faculty on Stanford University’s Biodesign Innovation Program, Dr. Rao holds a doctorate from MIT and a master’s degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She is a Vice President at Triple Ring Technologies, an innovative contract research and medical product development company that supports clients from conceptual design through development and product launch. Back to Top
	Mike Silverman Senior Consultant Mike is founder and managing partner at Ops A La Carte, a Professional Consulting Company that has an intense focus on helping customers with end-to-end reliability. Mike has over 25 years experience in reliability engineering, reliability management and reliability training. He is an experienced leader in reliability improvement through analysis and testing. Through Ops A La Carte, Mike has had extensive experience as a consultant to high-tech companies, and has consulted for over 500 companies in 90 different industries in most of the United States and 13 countries around the world. A few of the main industries are telecommunications, networking, medical, semiconductor equipment, consumer electronics, power, energy, and defense electronics. Mike is an expert in accelerated reliability techniques and owns HALT and HASS Labs, one of the oldest and most experienced reliability labs in the world. Mike has recently completed his first book on reliability entitled “50 Ways to Improve Your Product Reliability”. The book is scheduled to be published Spring, 2010. Mike has authored and published 25 papers on reliability techniques and has presented these around the world including China, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Germany, Canada, and the USA. He has also developed and currently teaches over 30 courses on reliability techniques. Mike has a BS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is a Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) through American Society for Quality (ASQ). Mike is a member of ASQ, IEEE, Stanford PRN, PRG, SME, ASME, PATCA, and IEEE Consulting Society. Mike is currently the IEEE Reliability Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter Chair. Back to Top