Feb 14, 2023
Best of Arizona Tech Council Guests on BRT
- BRT S04 EP05 (169) 2-12-2023
Clips of past Guests from the AZ Tech Council talking Tech on BRT
What We Learned This Week
- AZ Tech Council w/ Steve Zylstra
- Solar Power of Array Tech w/ Erica Brinker
- Satellites w/ Marti McCurdy of Spirit Electronics
- AZ Bio & Tech Incubators w/ Russ Yelton
- Cybersecurity w/ Vince Matteo of Seven Layers
- AI & the Algorithm w/ Naru of Inventives
- Tech Launch Arizona w/ Doug Hockstad
- 3D Printing w/ Eric Miller of PADT
Guest: Steve Zylstra, President / CEO AZ Tech Council
https://www.aztechcouncil.org/
https://www.aztechcouncil.org/kfnx_july2021/
Steve Zylstra of AZ Tech Council joins BRT to talk all things technology in the Valley. The Arizona Technology Council is one of the largest technology-driven trade associations in North America, with over 850 members and growing, the only organization specifically serving technology companies statewide. They protect innovators and truly believe that technology moves all of us forward; and are dedicated to the future of Arizona.
Steve Zylstra advocates for AZ tech, as well as his recurring writing about the industry. Steve, and the Council are a major source for updates on technology, business growth, and what legislation is being drafted.
Notes:
Seg 1
We talk about AZ as a great technology hub in the U.S., and how it compares to Silicon Valley, Boston, etc. Also the Future tech Co’s moving to the valley, influx of people moving to the valley from CA, NY, etc.
How high tech jobs help the valley, and surrounding business plus VC and Angel Investing. The importance of semiconductors and Aerospace, two of the most prominent industries in AZ.
Full Show: HERE
Steve knows the tech industry in Phoenix, the big companies to watch, the history of tech in the desert, military contractors, and new companies moving to the Valley. We also cover the Sci Tech Institute promoting STEM programs.
Full Show: HERE
Seg 2
Guest: Erica Brinker, Chief Commercial Officer, Array Technologies
https://arraytechinc.com/executive-team/
https://arraytechinc.com/team-member/erica-brinker/
erica.brinker@arraytechinc.com
Erica Brinker
Chief Commercial Officer
A technology and data-driven executive with over 20 years of diverse marketing, brand management, corporate communications and business development experience, Brinker joins Array from Honeywell International, where she served most recently as CMO, Vice President Marketing & Sales Excellence. Brinker also led business development for the Services, Software and Connectivity business of Honeywell Aerospace. Prior to joining Honeywell in 2011, Brinker held various leadership roles within software, technology, industrial, healthcare, aerospace, retail and hospitality companies with brands including Polo Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Company and Kate Spade. Brinker earned a Bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University and earned her MBA in International Business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
Who We Are
Array Technologies is a global leader advancing the future of clean energy. With over 30 years of innovations that have powered the solar industry, Array is uniquely positioned to deliver renewable energy solutions for customers seeking clean energy adoption in markets around the globe. While our strength lies in building the world’s most reliable and efficient utility-scale solar trackers, our expertise, capabilities, and resources position us to extend into additional renewable energy solutions. As pioneers, innovators, and visionaries, we are committed to generating energy with integrity for a sustainable world.
Full Show: HERE
Guest: Marti McCurdy - CEO of Spirit Electronics
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marti-mccurdy-1083a936/
https://www.spiritelectronics.com/about-us/
Marti McCurdy, owner and CEO of Spirit Electronics, is a veteran not only of the semiconductor business but also of the United States Air Force. Marti’s focus as CEO is to serve the aerospace and defense industry for high reliability components. She exercises her engineering knowledge of space qualified flows and sophisticated testing to deliver flight class devices. Throughout her career as a business owner and most recent position as VP, Marti’s goal is to bring her high standard of customer service and cultivated relationships to serve the aerospace sector she is so familiar with. Marti holds a current patent and is a published author in ultrasonic applications.
Spirit Electronics is a certified veteran-owned, woman-owned value-added distributor of electronic components. Our product lines and value-added services offer power, memory, FPGAs, ASICs–everything you need to build out a high-reliability board that can perform in even the harshest environments. Spirit builds components for satellites, used in the aerospace and defense industries.
Spirit Electronics is redefining distribution by bringing supply chain services under one roof. We are creating new approaches to service and delivery for our customers. With our team’s focus on unique aerospace and defense (A&D) requirements, chain of custody, and on-time-delivery, our services deliver components fully qualified and ready for assembly right when you need them. The facility is in Phoenix, AZ, includes 2,000 sq ft of warehouse space to house your inventory. We recently added a fully equipped test and qualification lab and a partner facility dedicated to contract manufacturing.
Full Show: HERE
Seg 3
Guest: Russ Yelton, Pres., Yelton & Associates
Immediate Past Chairman, AZBio Board of Directors
http://www.yeltonandassociates.com/
https://www.azbio.org/azbio-board-of-directors/russ-yelton
https://www.linkedin.com/in/russ-yelton-46a9412/
Russ Yelton Bio:
Russ Yelton served as Chairman of the AZBio Board of Directors from January 2015 to December 2017. He has been an active board members since being elected in 2009.
He is currently president of Yelton and Associates. The firm provides economic development services as well as early stage business solutions. Yelton and Associates has experience both domestically and internationally and has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs to raise funding and bring their products to a variety of markets. The firm also has a long history of assisting municipalities with the development of co-work, incubators and accelerators as well as loan funds, student focused entrepreneurial programming as well as shared facilities.
As a Board Member at Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, Inc., Yelton provides executive level leadership to a rapidly expanding tissue bank and medical device company. Yelton served as Pinnacle Transplant’s CEO from 2014 to 2017.
Pinnacle Transplant Technologies is a multi-service tissue bank dedicated to ethical participation in the donate life process. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) registered and American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited, Pinnacle only works with federally chartered Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and agencies accredited by AATB to help safeguard our employees, provide superior allografts for transplantation and assure reverence to our donor families.
Prior to joining Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, Yelton was President and CEO of the Northern Arizona Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology located in Flagstaff. NACET is a business incubation program that assists companies with commercializing their technologies in both domestic and international markets. NACET is supported by the City of Flagstaff and Northern Arizona University where it functions as the Technology Transfer Office for NAU. Clients in NACET’s program received individual business consulting, access to mentors, venture and angel capital and domestic and international student research teams.
AZBio: Supporting Arizona’s Life Science Industry for 19 Years (2003 – 2022)
Learn more about Arizona's bioindustry: www.azbio.org
| Facebook: AZBIO |Twitter: @AZBio @AZBioCEO
We’re part of a movement to create sustainable funding for life science innovation in Arizona.
Learn more at www.AZAdvances.org
Full Show: HERE
Guests: Vince Matteo, Seven Layer Networks, Inc.
There are many different types of cyber attacks from a password breach, website hack to email phishing scams. Vince Matteo of Seven Layers (.com) gives advice on what to be on the lookout for, tips for protection, and some reference sites for more info. We discuss Email Phishing scams, spearphishing attack, password breaches, website hacks, data breaches, ramsonware, software and VPNs.
Full Show: HERE
Seg 4
Guests: Naru, CEO / Founder of Inventives (formerly Aptus AI)
https://www.linkedin.com/company/inventivesai
https://www.linkedin.com/in/naru95/
Naru returns to BRT Show talking tech, software, and AI. His team is always developing new applications with AI in healthcare, finance, biotech, & aerospace. Naru shows how so many technologies are connected and what the future of business looks like.
Inventives is the new company, with the same core technology team, but focusing the business into a venture studio by creating new AI projects for companies not yet using AI. Inventives new projects can become spinoff companies with this new technology. They work with B2B clients and also Investors for these types of companies.
Radiology is a current project to enhance the patient experience using AI – called SKIP. This project is on the Operations side to make the patient process of paperwork, payments, etc. to be automated (& efficient) with AI working with the patient. This will be stand alone, but if adopted by other medical offices over the long term can streamline the healthcare industry.
Naru and his team are working on document management, where their AI program will be able to read documents and determine what the info is. Rising Cloud is another project they are building that manages a company cloud usage to improve costs.
Moore’s Law – Each year computing power grows 2x as fast, but cuts the cost in half
Full Show: HERE
Guests: Doug Hockstad, RTTP Assistant VP, Tech Launch Arizona
https://techlaunch.arizona.edu/person/doug-hockstad
Doug Hockstad is TLA's Assistant Vice President. TLA helps to accomplish the broader University of Arizona mission by providing a variety of services to faculty that protect intellectual property, streamline the technology commercialization process, support the creation of startups based on University technology, and find commercial applications for university research.
Doug joined the UA with 25 years’ of experience in high tech markets, primarily in the software market, including both established company and startup experience, and most recently having served as Associate Director, Software & Engineering Licensing in the University of Michigan's Office of Technology Transfer.
The University of Arizona is a place of learning, invention, discovery, and a leading public research university. Tech Launch Arizona started in 2012 to help bring those discoveries to the world through commercial pathways (laboratory and into the marketplace). Their primary focus is ensuring that innovations originating with UArizona faculty, researchers, staff and students find meaningful applications.
Tech Launch is an incubator for StartUps with Angel Investors and VC connections. They also team with alumni, in concert with the technology and business community, to maximize the impact of UArizona research, intellectual property (IP), Licensing, patents, and technological innovation.
The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) is a startup incubator network with locations across the Southern Arizona region. Half of UA Tech Launch is bio science, and there are 2 medical schools located in Tucson and Phoenix.
Full Show: HERE
Guest: Eric Miller, Co-Owner & Principal of PADT, Inc.
Eric Miller is the co-founder and Principal for a 3D printing, consulting and design company called PADT (started in 1994). They hold engineering patents for design. Their main location is in AZ, but have offices around the SWest. They have all areas of the industry covered, as well as servicing, and selling the 3D equipment. PADT also does modeling and simulation for clients.
Eric is very involved in the AZ Tech Industry for more than 30 years, as an Executive, Entrepreneur and an Investor. He serves on the AZ Tech Council, and in some prominent Angel Investor funds groups. He has dealt with Startups, and also AZ Commerce Authority in promoting tech in AZ.
The tech sector is covered is covered in a wide range, from investing and seed funding to regulations Government involvement in luring new firms to the valley. The uses of 3D technology affects so many fields from healthcare, to Aerospace, engineering design, building, and even robotics.
Full Show: HERE
Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech
More - BRT Best of Tech 2021:
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BRT S02 EP52 (99) 12-26-2021 – Tech for the Holidays – BRT Best of Tech 2021
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