Why We Are Here

We believe in the dignity and value of work. We are in business to make workers’ lives better.

How We Do It

We reduce drudgery and risk in work. We believe in workers and believe that by reducing drudgery and eliminating risk we can elevate their role.

What We Do

We build worker integrated robotics and automation. We learn the work and build the robotics that perform the dangerous, mundane and awful tasks.

Our Team

Chris Ziomek, CEO

Chris brings more than 30 years in high-tech – as an entrepreneur, investor, manager, engineer, and electronics designer. He was Senior VP at LitePoint, a division of Teradyne (TER). Chris was President and Founder of ZTEC Instruments, a high-tech startup acquired by Teradyne in 2013. Previous experience includes work as a Section Leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Microwave Engineer, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Professional:
BS, UC-Davis & MS in Electrical Engineering, UNM.
Licensed Professional Engineer in New Mexico.
Board Member – ABQid & Kane Robotics.

Fun Fact: At age 14 while riding my bike, I barely survived a head-on collision with a pickup truck. Carpe Diem!

Matthew Ennis, CSO

Seasoned business leader who relentlessly seeks to create value across all stakeholder groups. Passion is building high functioning teams to solve tough problems.

Professional:
VP of Business Development at Lumidigm.
CEO and Investor in NTxBio.
VP of Open Source Intelligence & Media Analytics.
Graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bowdoin College.
PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University.

Fun Fact: Spent a year hitch-hiking and working around the South Pacific and Asia during which he was snow-bound in the Chandra Valley (Himalayas) for 6 weeks before he hiked out over 14,039’ Hamta Pass during a whiteout.

Kimberly Corbitt, Head of Customer Engagement

I’ve been fascinated with work, and the people who do it my entire life. My first business employed over 200 people providing services for people with developmental disabilities. Learning to serve that community, and support those critical workers, taught me the importance of listening to and learning from the people whose hands and hearts keep us all going.

Professional:
BS in Education from Indiana University.
Founder and Director – Santa Lucia.
National Sales Trainer – Forest Pharmaceuticals.
Regional Director – Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
Board of Directors – Girls Inc of Santa Fe.

Fun Fact: I just bought my first motorcycle so my job might be open soon.

Nathaniel Matter, Head of Engineering

Nathaniel has 15 years of industry experience in both startup and corporate environments as an electrical engineer and data scientist. He worked in product R&D at VeraLight, Inc. Lumidigm, Inc. and HID Global, typically involving system integration and the design of both hardware and machine learning algorithms. He is a native of Albuquerque, NM and frequents the nearby trails in the Sandia mountains.

Professional:
BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Medical Imaging Systems, Stanford University, Phi Beta Kappa.

Fun Fact: Nate is working on his US Soccer Federation Coaching D License.

Shane Davis, Head of Operations

Shane brings 15 years of experience at start-ups and public companies in the medical and technical field as an accountant, manager, and director. He was an accountant, supply chain manager, and operations manager at a start-up called ZTEC that was acquired by LitePoint, a division of Teradyne in 2013. Shane was the Director of Operations at a start-up called SAVSU, a high-tech medical transport company acquired by BioLife Solutions in 2019.

Professional:
BBA UNM in Accounting.

Fun Fact: Has an Australian cattle dog named Addie that runs his life.

Drew Tulchin, VP-Biz Dev

Drew brings 25+ years growing start-ups. He was the first CFO, then VP-Investments, at Meow Wolf, facilitated company expansion to 500 employees, grew revenues to $9 million/year, and raised more than $100 million. He Founded UpSpring, a certified B Corp. Previously, he worked in banking, international development, technology, and wireless. He is an investor and advisor to several New Mexico companies.

Professional:
BA, cum laude, Washington University & MBA, University of Washington.
Board Member, WESST; Member, Acoma Pueblo Business Council.

Fun Fact: Drew has worked in nearly 50 countries world-wide.

Karl Haack, Engineer

More than 33 years of industry experience in start-ups, R&D, and energy development. Has worked as a Mechanical Engineer, Systems Engineer, Experimentalist, Petroleum Engineer, and Program Manager. Played key roles in multiple R&D prototype development efforts at Northrop Grumman.

Professional:
BSME from Rice University (Cum Laude).
MSME from University of Texas at Austin.
Registered Professional Engineer in the State of New Mexico.

Fun Fact: A Burqueno for 34 years, Karl’s passion, beyond working on multidisciplinary teams developing new and useful things, is to explore the NM mountains on foot and mountain bike with family and good friends.

Simon Jensen-Fellows, Head of Software Engineering

Simon has more than 25 years experience in software engineering in developer and leadership roles. He began his career working on educational CD-ROMs in London and is proud to have written one of the first natural language chat bots for an in-game character. Since then, his career focused on developing software for purpose built hardware, with Avid Technologies, NVIDIA, EMC and DELL EMC. Simon is a hacker/maker in his spare time and coached an FLL Robotics team.

Professional: MA in Linguistics from University of Edinburgh.
MSC in Cognitive Science (with a focus on Natural Language Processing) from University of Edinburgh.

Fun Fact: As a child I loved the theatre. I recently rediscovered this love and began acting again (just in time for the pandemic!).

Sara Magaletta, People Operations

Sara has served up essential structure and support to local businesses and nonprofits in New Mexico for over a decade. She has a strong background in community service along with broad professional experience in administration, development, and event management. Through her previous work with the City of Santa Fe’s Economic Development Department, as well as various roles with local start-ups, Sara has utilized her skills to empower new businesses to succeed. She is currently pursuing her MA in Counseling at NM Highlands University.

Professional:
B.A. in Art History from Boston University.

Fun Fact: Sara loves traveling, candy, dancing, movies and art.

Cherif Sy, Engineer

My name is Cheikhna Ahmed Tidiane boodnooma Chérif Sy. I go by Chérif. I am from Burkina Faso, in West Africa. Having been fascinated by technology from an early age, the house DVD players, Super Nintendo, and other electronics paid the price of my curiosity. Encouraged by my mother, I studied electronics at a technical high school.

Professional:
Moroccan Engineering School, master’s degree in “Informatique Industrielle”.
Second degree in Electrical Engineering.
MARSHES Lab at University of New Mexico.

Fun Fact: I am an avid, fanatical soccer player.

Edwin Ochoa, Engineer

Edwin brings six years of experience working at Southwest Sciences assembling, designing and fabricating laser systems. Previously, he served as Research Engineer for Gryphon Technologies doing critical design and feasibility for the Air Force.

Professional:
BS in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Robotics.

Fun Fact: Started building robots at a young age, from using plastic cups, forks and scotch tape at birthday parties, to building a quadcopter from scratch in high school to now working at Build with Robots.

Jared Cannon, Engineer

Worked last summer with the Air Force Research Laboratory on robotic assembly for spacecraft. Has served for many years at Be Greater Than Average – teaching students about STEM from building robots / drones to 3D printing and CAD. Jared has won multiple state championships in both BEST Robotics and VEX Robotics.

Professional: Student at New Mexico Tech in Mechanical Engineering.

Fun Fact: Jared loves to race drones with the local group in NM.

Michael Freisinger, Engineer

Michael is a mechanical and design engineer who brings four years of education and experience studying Mechanical Engineering. Michael develops conceptual and detailed designs that ensure BWR prototypes function properly and look beautiful. He believes that it is important to share the skills he has to make the lives of others better.

Professional: Michael is currently obtaining his Mechanical Engineering degree at Colorado School of Mines.

Fun fact: Michael enjoys playing the guitar, soccer, and rugby.

Clint Wolf, Applications Engineer

Clint is fascinated by automated processes. Having automated several back-office applications at the world’s largest microprocessor manufacturer, and automated processes for the city’s school system, he was able to see firsthand the difference it made. Clint is currently focused on hardware automation and believes that cobots work WITH humans and that we will all achieve more because of it. Bottom line – He loves automation.

Professional: BS in Computer Science, Masters in Information Systems Management, Deep-Dive IoT program at CNM

Fun Fact: Clint enjoys teaching too! Whether offering instruction on computer applications or working with people and their dogs, he believes that teaching is a great way to connect with people.

Manwinder Singh, Manufacturing Engineer

Experienced Process Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in a variety of industries including HDPE Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Medical Specialties, and Space/Defense. Professionally skilled in Automation, Chemical Engineering, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Operational Management, and Process Simulation. Played key roles in multiple facility expansions and process improvement projects.

Professional:
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering – Texas Tech University.
Master of Science in Operational Management – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Member of American Chemical Society & AlChE – American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Fun Fact: I love to travel and enjoy being outdoors.

Pablo Aranda, Mechatronics Engineer

Pablo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering. He has 6 Years of experience in servicing office and network technologies. He has worked as a New Product Introduction Engineer, Mechanical Engineer and Production Planner. For his final college project, he developed an Artificial Neural Network for facial recognition.

Professional: BS in Mechatronics Engineering, University of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Fun Fact: Pablo plays chess for fun. He enjoys it so much, that – along with a group of friends – founded the United Chess Club.

Marlene Trujillo, Applications Engineering Intern

Marlene brings years of automotive repair and restoration experience to the team, as well as over 15 years of experience as a customer service professional. She is experienced and skilled in welding, woodworking, and construction. Marlene has been involved launching numerous start-up ventures: including a food truck, landscaping company and S.T.E.M. educational enrichment program.

Professional: CNM, Certificate of Automotive Technology. CNM Ignite Community Business Accelerator Program. CNM Ingenuity Deep Dive Coding IOT Bootcamp.

Fun Fact: Marlene played the trumpet in Mariachi bands from high school and professionally.

Board Members & Advisors

Phil Lowit, Advisor

Philip Lowit is a business leader, entrepreneur and investor with over three decades of experience building technology companies committed to advancing innovation. He is co-founder and Chairman of Tsymmetry, an IT solutions provider delivering mission critical support for U.S. National Security and Public Safety.

Mr. Lowit is committed to philanthropy and social impact, and has mentored young entrepreneurs and start ups. Throughout the last 12 years, he has been an active member and Board Member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) – a group that empowers the next generation of business executives. Mr. Lowit holds an MBA from Fordham University, has a strong interest in collector cars and especially enjoys off-roading with his wife and three daughters.

Professional:
BS in Business and Accounting from Rider University and an MBA from Fordham.

Charles E Mendez Jr., Board Member

Charles has a diverse background in real estate, banking, education, race promotion, business start-ups and regulated-waste management. He serves as Chairman of the Board and President of C. E. Mendez Foundation and founded the Too Good For Drugs and Violence prevention education programs in 1975. He is Board Member and CEO of Enthentica in New Mexico, a hardware embedded cyber bio-metric security solutions company. Prior business affiliations include MCF Systems, TECO Energy, Merchant Bank of Tampa, and Sebring Motor Sports International.

Professional:
Holds a degree in Finance from University of South Florida.

Fun Fact: Charles is an award-winning race car driver.

Bill Shank, Advisor

Bill began his career at the age of 14 as a Fuller brush man doing door to door sales.

Professional:
In 1971, he started Shank Painting with $1,000, which he grew and eventually sold in 2007 to the employees’ through their ESOP. He has owned and grown multiple businesses, real estate projects and renewable energy installations.

Walter J. Scheirer, Advisor

Walter J. Scheirer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, with affiliations in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Center for Brain Science, and the director of research & development at Securics, Inc., an early stage company producing innovative computer vision-based solutions. Dr. Scheirer has extensive experience in the areas of computer vision, machine learning and robotics. His overarching research interest is the fundamental problem of recognition, including the representations and algorithms supporting solutions to it.

Professional: He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Steve Walsh, Board Member

Dr. Walsh has been a professor at the University of New Mexico since 1998. Professor Walsh has published in a number of Management and Engineering journals, such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Technovation, Creativity and Innovation Management, Journal of IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management, Journal of Small Business Management, among other publications.

He is a serial entrepreneur and teaches a number of entrepreneurship courses, including Technology Forecasting and Assessment, Projects in Technology Management, Technology Commercialization and the Global Environment, among others.

Professional: PHD in Strategic Management from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Fun Fact: I once took people on White Water guided canoe trips on rivers like the “Dead river” ( appropriately named) when I worked in New Hampshire.

Chris Ziomek, CEO & Board Member

Matthew Ennis, CSO & Board Member