Robert A. Burmeister has a broad background in technology management with extensive experience in both industrial and academic research environments. His industrial research experience spans more than 20 years at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California, where he held a number of technical and management positions of increasing responsibility including Director of the Materials Research Laboratory in Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. In the latter position he was responsible for advanced research and development of a broad range of electronic and optoelectronic materials and devices, including LEDs, semiconductor lasers, fiber optic devices, and their subsequent commercialization. He was also the founding Director of the US-Japan Technology Management Center at Stanford University, established as a center of excellence in technology management research and education related to Japan. Dr. Burmeister has a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science from Stanford University.

Michael Kampfe has over 25 years experience in building value through product development, strategic planning and general management. He held several positions at GSI Lumonics from 1984 to 2001 including Corporate VP of Operations. In his last position he was responsible for a $300M laser systems business staffed by 2000 employees in North America and Europe. During his tenure, Mr. Kampfe directed the development of the ScanArray product line into an independent, life-sciences business unit. Prior to GSI Lumonics, Mr. Kampfe was with Polaroid where he was responsible for product development and for setting up joint venture manufacturing plants in Mexico and Brazil. Mr. Kampfe holds a BSME from University of Arizona.

Patrick McCann, Ph.D. founded the Company and has been the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company since October 1997. He received his B.S. in Engineering Physics from UC Berkeley in 1981 and his Ph.D. in Electronic Materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1990. From 1981 through 1984 he worked for IBM in Burlington, Vermont, where he was on the team that developed the world’s first 1 megabit memory chip (DRAM). He has been a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Oklahoma since 1990. Dr. McCann has published over 100 articles in the fields of semiconductor crystal growth, laser fabrication, and chemical sensing using laser spectroscopy.
pmccann@ekipstech.com

William Paiva, Ph.D. has been a Director of the Company since 2000. Since 2000, he has been a principal of Chisholm Management, LLC, a venture capital firm headquartered in Oklahoma City which manages Chisholm Private Capital Partners III., and Chisholm SBIC, LP, and of OLSF Management, LLC, the manager of the Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund. He received a B.S. degree from The University of Oklahoma in 1987, his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1994, and his MBA degree from Dartmouth College – Amos Tuck School of Business Administration in 1996.

Shannon T. Self  is a shareholder and co-founder of Commercial Law Group, P.C., formerly Self, Giddens & Lees, Inc., a professional corporation, in Oklahoma City. Commercial Law Group represents select clients in complex commercial transactions with an emphasis in venture capital and private equity transactions. Mr. Self was an associate and shareholder in the law firm of Hastie and Kirschner, Oklahoma City, from 1984 to 1991 and was employed by Arthur Young & Co. from 1979 to 1980. Mr. Self is a member of the Law Board of Northwestern University School of Law and a director for Critical Technologies, Inc., a computer software company in Edmond, Oklahoma.  He is also a co-founder and manager of Infinity Resources, L.L.C., an exploration and production company with interests in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.  From February 1991 to June 2005 Mr. Self was a director for Chesapeake Energy Corporation, an NYSE exploration and production company with an enterprise value of $16 billion.   Mr. Self is a Certified Public Accountant. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1979 and from Northwestern University Law School in 1984.