C-Motive employees come from different backgrounds, levels of education, and previous experiences. It takes a village to tackle the work that C-Motive is able to accomplish; meet the team that does it all (and then some).
Lisa Albinger
Operations Specialist II
Lisa began working in lab settings in 2018 at Exact Sciences, a biotech company that specializes in the detection of early-stage cancers. Additionally, Lisa has worked in a COVID-19 testing facility, administering and processing test samples during the pandemic. In her role as a Chemistry Lab Technician, Lisa works with the rest of the chemistry team in developing C-Motive’s proprietary dielectric fluid. Aside from chemistry, Lisa has received a BFA from UW-Milwaukee and has an extensive art portfolio, making and selling prints, cards, and magnets of her art.
Bill Butrymowicz
Principal Mechanical Engineer
Bill is responsible for the design, development and testing of the next generation of electrostatic machines. Bill has over 19 years of experience as a mechanical engineer in high-tech, fast-paced industries. Prior to arriving at C-Motive Technologies, he spent 9 years as a Senior Mechanical Engineer at Accuray, Inc. where he was focused on developing next-generation cancer treatment platforms in the field of image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT). In this role, Bill was the mechanical engineering design lead for the treatment gantry system, thermal management system, and the patient-facing gantry enclosure. Additionally, he has significant experience as a systems engineer responsible for developing system requirements, defining architecture, validating designs, and creating test reports. Other roles include managing Accuray’s design documentation database and CAD software packages within the Quality Management System for a group of 10 engineers.
Prior, Bill was a lead mechanical engineer at Orbital Technologies Corporation (Orbitec) where he focused on the development of advanced environmental control systems for use in micro-gravity environments. With over 15 years of experience in the medical devices and aerospace industries, he has strong knowledge and experience with the design of complex electro-mechanical devices, requirements development, testing, and reporting for compliance with regulatory governing bodies.
Agnieszka Flores
Synthetic Chemist
Agnieszka is a highly experienced scientist with a background in both industry and academia focusing on synthetic organic chemistry. Over the course of her career, Agnieszka has demonstrated a unique ability to adapt her skills to medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, as well as catalysis – from milligram to kilogram scales in multistep synthesis and scale-up reaction research. Strong experience in analytical chemistry and testing methodologies (HPLC, GC, LCMS, NMR, etc.) is a strong complement to her synthesis research and development work.
Agnieszka has worked in laboratories spanning the United States, Spain, and Poland. She earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw before completing postdoctoral work at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. Her work has led and contributed to a number of scientific publications in her area of expertise.
Kevin Frankforter
Electrochemist
Kevin completed his undergraduate education (B.S.) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his graduate education (M.S. and Ph.D.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout his educational and professional career, Kevin has held a consistent focus on the technology and materials science related to energy conversion. His graduate research focused on hybrid battery/ultracapacitor energy storage devices, and as a post-doc Kevin developed high permittivity nano-suspensions for electrostatic force applications. An interdisciplinarian at heart, Kevin was affiliated with Environmental Chemistry and & Technology (EC&T) program and the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC) during his time at the UW-Madison. Kevin holds multiple patents in the areas of energy storage and conversion.
Katharine Geramita
Chief Operating Officer
Kath began her career working at a number of technology start-ups on products ranging from the electronic ink in e-books, to cement made from CO2, to new energy storage materials. She holds a B.Sc.E in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University in Canada and a Ph.D. in Synthetic Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.
Kath is actively directing the efforts of the C-Motive chemistry development, bringing her experience to focus the efforts of the research team and keep an eye towards large scale process development.
Aditya Ghule
Drive Control Engineer
Aditya has a decade of academic and industry experience in power electronics and electric machines with a specific focus on the design and development of variable frequency drive systems. Aditya earned a BS in electrical engineering from the College of Engineering Pune, India followed by MS in both electrical and mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Aditya joined Unico, Inc. as an expert in drive system development for several years before returning to UW-Madison to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.
Aditya’s master’s degree thesis work centered on permanent magnet motor control methodologies while his doctorate focused on control methodologies for electrostatic machines where he studied under Dr. Ludois and contributed to the advancement of electrostatic machine science and design.
Aditya has authored and co-authored two patents and eight academic publications.
Rachel Hoppe
Marketing and Partner Relations
Rachel has been active in pursuing a career in marketing since graduating high school in 2017. She began a marketing internship with iBeauthentic/The Style Garage before starting her studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she was able to obtain a position with University Recreation & Wellbeing as a graphic design intern as well as take courses in marketing, nonprofit studies, and graphic design. Rachel graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in spring 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Community and Nonprofit Leadership and a Certificate in Graphic Design.
Stewart Innes
Electrical Engineer
Stewart is one of the electrical engineers working on the design and validation of the power systems of the C-Motive motor. Despite being relatively early in his career, he has a wide background in electrical engineering and R&D. Prior to C-Motive, he spent some time at Navico Group, where he developed electrical systems for recreational boats. In the two years there, he helped build the processes that enabled the group to develop full turn-key systems on 3-month timelines before moving those systems to manufacturing and sustaining engineering. In addition, Stewart gained research lab experience in college as well as customer-facing project management and software development skills from his time at Epic Corporation. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.
Michael Keller
Operations Manager
Michael is well versed in all aspects of CAD, CAM, and operating CNC Machines. He has worked with Gammex RMI creating radiation phantoms as well as Albion Swords creating authentic swords for movie props and competitions. Additionally, Michael has designed and manufactured Hydrofoil wings. At C-Motive, he is responsible for the design and fabrication of motor components and test fixtures.
Peter Killeen
Principal Hardware Engineer
Peter is a power electronics hardware engineer with extensive experience in high-performance wide-band-gap converters and drives. He started his career at Arkansas Power Electronics (now part of Wolfspeed) which focused on the commercialization of multichip modules with wide-band-gap devices where he learned the ins and outs of high-performance power electronics. After 5 years in the industry, Peter returned to graduate school for a Ph.D. where he was introduced to the electrostatic machine. His Ph.D. research focused on the hardware development of medium voltage drives for electrostatic machines.
Peter earned his BS in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Joel Kinzalow
Purchasing Agent
Joel has experience in various industries including retail, warehouse work, service, animal care, and manufacturing. Before starting his work with C-Motive in mid-2022, Joel was a production manager at Meridian Laboratory. There, he managed inventory, purchased lab materials, identified bottlenecks, implemented new procedures, and received hands-on tooling and part development experience. At C-Motive, Joel is responsible for purchasing laboratory and testing equipment for C-Motive’s technical team, sourcing material suppliers, determining inspection criteria, and creating commercial documents and expense reports.
Ryan Knippel
Mechanical Engineer
Ryan is a Mechanical Engineer who joined C-Motive Technologies in 2019 after graduating with a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The primary focus of his doctoral work was the maintenance of narrow gaps between rotating surfaces through the application and optimization of passive hydrodynamic bearings. This work culminated in the creation of a rotating capacitive power transfer mechanism designed to replace brushed slipring assemblies in wound field machines, as well as the development of a composite-based 25krpm electrostatic induction machine.
Ryan’s additional professional experience includes the design and structural validation of an 80 kW wound field synchronous machine for electric vehicle traction applications. Structural performance of the machine was validated using FEA models developed via material testing on laminates steel structures and application of Voigt and Reuss composite material models.
Dan Ludois
Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder
Dan’s background in physics and engineering inspired the C-Motive team to develop the company’s core technology. He is an expert in both the theory and application of electromagnetics, electrostatics, and solid-state power converters. Also a professor at UW-Madison, Dan spearheads the theoretical development of electrostatic machinery through to the proof of concept stage, while working in close collaboration with the company on projects, government grants, and inventions. He has published over 70 research papers and is an inventor on more than 30 issued and pending patents. Dan’s work on electrostatic machines earned him a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2015. He was named a Gordon & Betty Moore Inventor Fellow in 2017.
Currently, Dan directs a research team of 7 Ph.D. students at UW-Madison and is an Associate Director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium. Dan and his team’s current focus at UW is based around fundamental research in capacitively (electrostatic) coupled power conversion systems.
Dan holds a BS in physics from Bradley University with MS and Ph.D. in electrical engineering earned at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Matt Maroon
Chief Executive Officer
Matt has held product management and leadership roles in a range of startup companies, with experiences that were both venture capital as well as blue-chip company backed. In total, Matt is a six-time veteran of cleantech startups focused on next-generation energy storage technology. His previous endeavors include Firefly Energy, a startup focused on advanced lead-acid batteries, EnerG2, a startup creating high purity carbons for batteries and ultra-capacitors, GE Energy Storage, a startup with high-temperature sodium nickel chloride batteries for utility-scale applications, Aquion Energy, a startup with the worlds only safe and sustainable aqueous hybrid ion battery for renewable integration, Watt-Learn, a startup creating artificial intelligence for grid-connected batteries, and Oriden, a startup centered around a renewable project developer with a 500 MW pipeline of solar and storage projects.
Since 2004, his career in product management has focused on bridging the gap between the lab and the market, developing and selling new technologies into the rapidly evolving cleantech marketplace. With experience in half of a dozen distinct battery chemistries, software, renewable project development, applications from mobile to grid-scale, and well over 100 MWh deployed energy storage across the world, Matt has a track record of defining products and go-to-market strategies that work.
Matt earned his BS in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and holds multiple patents in energy storage and advanced materials.
Marissa Peck
Office Administrator
Marissa started with C-Motive as a Lab Assistant in August 2020 and from there she was promoted to the Purchasing Agent in September 2021. In December 2022 she took over as the Office Administrator and is currently maintaining accounts receivables, accounts payables, end of month reconciliation, monthly/yearly tax filings, bookkeeping and maintaining the organization of files for the company and employees.
Justin Reed
President, Chief Technology Officer, and Co-Founder
Justin is a cofounder of C-Motive, an inventor of its core technology and patents, and a facilitator of guidance for the company’s engineering efforts through development of radically new electrostatic motor technology. This includes all aspects of the product technology, including interfacing with Dr. Ludois’ research team at UW-Madison as well as prospective customers for research and product development efforts.
Justin cofounded C-Motive Technologies in 2012 as a Ph.D. student and earned his Ph.D. two years later from the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC), a world-renowned power engineering research group at UW-Madison. Justin is a recognized authority in power engineering, power electronics, motor design, motor control, and motor drive system modeling. He has co-authored 16 technical papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and is an inventor on 5 different patents.
Justin holds a BS of electrical engineering from the University of Washington with MS and Ph.D. earned at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Bhavit Sunkara
Electrical Test Engineer
While pursuing a Computer Engineering B.S in UW-Madison, Bhavit focused on building foundations in PCB design and embedded programming. He previously worked for a research lab that focused on networking protocols for IoT devices. At C-Motive, Bhavit is responsible for improving the reliability and robustness of the current testing infrastructure. He is passionate about PCB design and tinkering around with different electrical components to build prototypes for cool applications, including an automated drink mixer.