Meet The Team
Simeon Pieterkosky
CVO/Founder
Visionary; Inventor with 20 years practical experience in robotics, animatronics, HRI, biomimicry, zoology & product design; Water filtration & climate change expert; Wi-Fi LEDs record holder, laser builder; Cape Town College;
Son of a farmer; South African/Israeli
Liane Thompson
CEO/Founder
3x global entrepreneur; Small & large team, quick growth & P&L skilled; PR/branding savvy; Int'l reporter & staff executive for The New York Times; MA Journalism & Public Affairs American University; BA Int'l Relations & German CSUC / Johannes Gutenberg Universität; Californian/German; Traveler
Dr. Graeme Rae
Chief Scientist
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) navigation & control systems pioneer; 25 years in advanced computer modeling for marine data; Large-scale data mgmt., wave/weather modeling & computer vision; Former Royal Navy Midshipman; BSc. Ship Science / Naval Architecture, Univ. of Southampton, England; PhD Underwater Robotics -Florida Atlantic University; UK raised
Filipe Pinto
Robotics Engineer
Autonomous robotics developer. Good problem solving skills and fond of a difficult challenge. MSc. Electrical and Computer Engineering, specialization in Automation and Robotics at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Nature lover, born & raised in the Portuguese countryside.
Matteo Borri
Lead Hardware Engineer
Electrical & Computer Engineer, Developer. Autonomous Navigation Systems expert. NASA project incl. Mars Rover. Matteo Building autonomous vehicles since 2007 & 3D printer accessories since 2011. Matteo's main claim to fame is to have deployed at least one of his machines on land, sea, air, underwater and space.
Born & raised in Italy.
Rye Akervik
Head of Software Product
Entrepreneur, software development, & product concept expert specializing in complex technology builds. Expertise in strategy, operations, oversight, value creation, and scaling software systems. Skilled at creating efficiency within large and small technical teams. American born of Norwegian decent.
Michel Arditti
Head of Security
Competitive intelligence & IT expertise in securing cloud / big data solutions; Special analyst & advisor to executive groups & top energy, aerospace, transportation telecom companies. Vice President of the Circle for Strategic Security Studies - an international network of technology innovation experts promoting sustainable governance policies & key measures in the public & private sectors in Europe & Africa. French
Mickie Senften French, MBA
Marketing Director
Global Marketing & Sustainability Executive with 18+ years of driving growth & shifting brands to purpose-driven positioning throughout the food chain including the CPG, ingredient and agriculture sectors. Unique combination of B2C, B2B, digital, advertising and PR agency roles. Leading business transformations, driving cost agenda & building new markets. Multi-lingual, leading teams of 3 to 300 in 40 countries including living and working in 10 incl. Hungary, Singapore, Russia, Australia. American.