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Corporate | Executive Staff

Executive Staff

Board of Directors

  • Paul G. Casner Jr., Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Atair Aerospace, Inc.
  • Tuvia Barak, CEO, Crossways Consulting Group, Inc.
  • Daniel Preston, Chief Technical Officer, Atair Aerospace, Inc.

Board of Advisors

  • Arie Mientkavich, Former CEO, Bank of Israel
  • Jonathan Reiter, Broder and Reiter
  • Richard Kelly; Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.

Paul G. Casner Jr., Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Paul G. Casner, Jr., Retired as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of DRS Technologies on April 30, 2005. He joined DRS in 1993 as President of DRS Electronic Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of the company, and in 1994, was appointed to the additional position of President of the company's Electronic Systems Group. Under his leadership, this Group posted record revenues and operating income each year. In 1998, he was named Executive Vice President, Operations for the corporation, and in 2000, became Chief Operating Officer. In this position, he provided oversight of all of the Company's domestic and international operations.

Mr. Casner has more than 35 years of defense industry experience, which includes several senior Positions in business management, technical management, strategic planning and business development. Prior to joining DRS, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Technology Applications and Service Company, a successor business unit of Norden Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. Earlier at Norden Systems, he was employed in various senior positions, including Vice President and General Manager of the Marine Systems Division, Senior Vice President of Engineering, and Vice President and General Manager of its Maryland Operations, and President and Chief Executive Officer of its Norden Service Company, Inc. unit. Prior to that, he co-founded American Computer and Electronic Corporation and served as Executive Vice President of its Federal Systems Division. Earlier, he served in system engineering and management positions at the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University.

Mr. Casner earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University and a Master of Science degree in management science from John Hopkins University. He is a member of the Naval Reserve Association and is a Commodore of the Navy League of the United States, in addition to other professional affiliations.

Daniel Preston, Chief Technical Officer

Daniel Preston is a professional inventor and founder of Atair Aerospace, Inc. Mr. Preston holds more than eighty patents and pending patent applications for a diverse body of inventions. Mr. Preston's work includes extensive developments in guidance and sensing technologies, materials science, composite fabric technology, and ram-air inflated wings. These inventions have resulted in contracts with military and government agencies including the U.S. Army, Navy, NASA, DARPA on products ranging from satellite-guided parachute systems to unmanned aerial vehicles. Mr. Preston is an experienced parachutist and pilot with over 2500 test jumps. Prior to Atair, he founded Preston Glass Industries which specialized in the design and construction of high speed automation machinery for glass products, such as light bulbs and cathode ray tubes. His products and enabling technologies appear in applications ranging from medical treatments to spacecraft, and have been used on the International Space Station and NASA's Cassini spacecraft as well as displayed in the Smithsonian museum.

Daniel Preston is joined at Atair by a core team of creative, skilled, and experienced members, each of who contribute to Atair's mission to develop and produce critical life protecting technologies, from satellite-guided parachute systems to next-generation protective armor solutions.

Steve Chelminski, VP, Mechanical Engineering

Steve Chelminski is a highly skilled and accomplished ME and Machinist with 52 years of daily hands on experience.  Mr. Chelminski began building prototypes of his own mechanical inventions in 1954. At this time, he designed a controllable-thrust rocket motor for which patent Morton Thiokol asked for a license. He attended Columbia University, School of General Studies, concentrating on engineering.

Mr. Chelminski founded Bolt Technology Corporation to produce exploration equipment, and has kept it in operation for the past forty years. At Lamont, Mr. Chelminski had invented and built a propane and compressed air sound source for sub-bottom seismic studies, and also two core-taking machines that utilized the ocean bottom pressure itself to force the core pipe into sediments. One of these machines set a record for longest deep ocean core samples. These cores were important in filling in a geological information gap, as detailed in the book "The Deep and the Past" by David Erickson.

Although Bolt started with oceanographic equipment, they were soon busy with other products, including chemical plant equipment, (water) well drills, and pile drivers. Their most important product, the "air gun" sonic source, evolved from Mr. Chelminski's interest in building a rapid energy release device without using explosives. This invention is used worldwide in petroleum exploration. It not only replaced explosives, but also allowed use of precisely timed arrays in mapping studies.  Mr. Chelminski was honored with the Virgil Kaufman Gold Medal in 1975, the highest award given by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

One of Mr. Chelminski's more dramatic products of the last 20 years was one of the world's largest pile drivers, an imposing device used under license by Raymond International to drive pilings for offshore oil drilling platforms, primarily in the Indian Ocean. He also designed and engineered a “quiet” pile driver for use in difficult projects, such as those near hospitals.

Ganter Ludwig, VP, Project Management

Ganter Ludwig primarily manages product design and development for many new and existing products, including the Onyx program. He works closely with key technical resources, including software and hardware development, testing, documentation, technical support, and more.  Mr. Ludwig is a key participant in the organization’s general business planning designs; manages the day-to-day operational aspects of numerous projects and team members; and administers, designs, and implements Atair’s internet web site. Mr. Ludwig attended Brown University, where he studied electronic media, computer music, and programming.

Rick Zaccari, VP, Business Development

Rick Zaccari joined the Atair Aerospace team in 2005 to lead the development and management of the Business Development and Marketing Department.  Mr. Zaccari is an established marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the defense, financial services and health care industries.  A veteran of the United States Navy, Mr. Zaccari served aboard the fleet ballistic missile submarine USS Lewis & Clark (SSBN-644), and the destroyer USS Moosbrugger (DD-980).  He is a recipient of the Navy Good Conduct Medal.  Mr. Zaccari earned his MBA from Louisiana State University's E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration, and his BA in Marketing from Southeastern Louisiana University.

Sue Williams, Comptroller

Sue Williams brings over fives years of administrative management experience to Atair Aerospace. Ms. Williams’ focus is overseeing Atair’s administrative and financial planning, Government contracting, personnel management and vendor relations. She also assists Atair’s Business Development Department in managing customer relationships. Prior to joining Atair, Ms. Williams was contracted by Amorphic Robot Works as Project Manager to oversee the process and delivery of international robotic sculpture exhibitions. She also worked as a Design Lecturer and Program Developer at Griffith College in Dublin, Ireland.  Ms. Williams has Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Art & Design Education and Visual Communications from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, IRL.

Kathleen Graffunder, Office Administrator

Kathleen Graffunder administers office operations and assists with ad hoc business development and marketing projects.