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Allan Carswell, Chairman of the Board
Dr. Carswell is a senior and internationally recognized leader in the field of lidar (laser radar) applications, in which he has been working since its very beginning in the early 1960s. He founded Optech in 1974 to develop commercial systems based on lidar technology. He has led and managed the growth of Optech, expanding the company to its current position as a leading developer and manufacturer of commercial lidar systems for a wide and growing range of applications. Formerly a professor at York University in Toronto, Dr. Carswell has maintained his original research interests in atmospheric lidar measurements. This expertise led to his recruitment as Canadian Co-Investigator on the Science Team of NASA’s 2007 Mars PHOENIX mission that placed the first lidar on Mars as part of the meteorological station MET provided by the Canadian Space Agency. Dr. Carswell has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Toronto. He has been awarded the Order of Canada and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. He has held a variety of senior positions of responsibility, including President of the Canadian Association of Physicists, Vice-President of the Canadian Academy of Science, and member of the Boards of Directors of a number of industrial corporations and public institutions. He has received awards for his achievements in R&D, Innovation, Photonics and Space Science. In 2009 Dr Carswell was named Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year and was inducted into the University Of Toronto Engineering Alumni Hall Of Distinction. |
Donald Carswell, CEO
Mr. Carswell provides the strategic direction for Optech, basing his leadership on his dual background in internal project management and in the worldwide business development of one of Optech's most successful current products. Since joining Optech in 1981, Mr. Carswell has moved from his initial software background to the technical and program management of a range of Optech projects, culminating in the management of Optech's Hawk Eye lidar bathymeters program in the early 1990s. In recent years, Mr. Carswell led the corporate effort to develop Optech's Airborne Laser Terrain Mapper (ALTM), moving it from a promising technology to a finished, commercial, supported product that is the industry leader in its field. Mr. Carswell was appointed President in 2000 and is currently CEO. |
J. Douglas Houston, Vice President Operations
Dr. Houston steers the day-to-day operations of Optech, overseeing the management of all Optech products and projects. He has been largely responsible for the development of Optech's technical project control and reporting structures as the company has grown. Since joining Optech just after it was formed in 1974, as a project scientist specializing in lidar systems, Dr. Houston has been Managing Engineer and then General Manager, positions that reflected his increasing involvement in the oversight of technical programs and the development of a solid management infrastructure for a growing high-tech company. Dr. Houston has a doctorate in Physics from York University, Toronto. |
Elizabeth Carswell, Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Carswell has developed Optech's capabilities in corporate and project cost management, and is responsible for all of Optech's financial activities. Her early background was in sales and implementation of computer systems for the corporate and business clients of a major software company. Since joining Optech in 1988, Ms. Carswell has concentrated on developing Optech's corporate business systems, financing arrangements as well as other general management tasks.
Ms. Carswell has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. |
Joe Liadsky, Vice President Technology
Mr. Liadsky is responsible for developing and augmenting the technological expertise that enables Optech to develop new products at the leading edge of laser radar applications. Optech's success as a company is based on this expertise. Since joining Optech in 1980 as a senior engineer, Mr. Liadsky has designed and developed many of Optech's core electronics subsystems, spearheading the growth of Optech's capabilities in electronics and electro-optic systems. Mr. Liadsky has a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion in Israel. |
Maxime Elbaz, President, Optech, Inc.
Mr. Elbaz is President of Optech, Inc., based in Rochester, New York, and oversees all U.S. operations for Optech including sales and on-site client support. Mr. Elbaz has more than 20 years of senior management experience in survey and imaging technologies and operations. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Geospatial Systems, Inc. (GSI) before joining Optech. Previously he was the Chief Operating Officer of Earthdata International, Inc. (EDI), where he managed their operations including sales and worldwide business development initiatives. In this position he contributed to the acquisition of EDI by Fugro N.V., and he was subsequently appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fugro Earthdata, Inc. Mr. Elbaz also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of KGI, Inc., a Kodak subsidiary specializing in geospatial systems. He also served as General Manager of Underwriters Laboratories’ Environmental Business Unit, where he orchestrated the business expansion into Asian markets. Before that Mr. Elbaz spent several years at Eastman Kodak serving in a variety of international and U.S.-based leadership roles. Originally from France, he holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Rochester’s William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration (N.Y., USA) and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France.
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