Simon McElrea was named Chief Executive Officer and a director of SonicEnergy in December 2018. Before joining, McElrea served as CEO and a board director of Semblant Ltd., a UK and Silicon Valley based B2B nanotechnology company specializing in the protection of IoT, automotive and consumer electronic devices. Semblant was acquired in October 2018 by HZO, a US-based leader in electronic material technologies. Prior to Semblant, McElrea was Vice President of IP, Licensing and Marketing at Energous Corporation, a San Jose based wireless-charging company that completed its successful IPO in 2014 and was awarded “Best of CES” in 2015. In addition to marketing, McElrea was responsible for the patent and licensing strategy, as well as initiating FCC engagement and the formation of the “Uncoupled” wireless power standards committee within the AirFuel Alliance.

From 2010 to 2014, McElrea founded and served as President of Invensas Corp., a subsidiary of Xperi Corporation (Nasdaq: XPER), where he also held the role of group CTO, a publicly-traded Silicon Valley licensor of advanced semiconductor, data storage, mobile communication and computational imaging technologies. Simon joined Invensas having been CEO at Vertical Circuits Inc., a pioneer in 3D semiconductor and Solid State Drive IP, which was acquired by Xperi. Prior to Vertical Circuits, Simon held a series of technology commercialization leadership roles at Amkor Technology (Nasdaq: AMKR), Honeywell Inc. (NYSE: Hon) and Johnson Matthey Electronics (LON: JMAT). An author of over 30 US patents, McElrea holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, with honors, in Engineering Science from Oxford University.

Will Kain has spent the last 12+ years in leadership positions with early-stage energy and water technology companies. In addition to his duties as Board Director and Acting CFO of SonicEnergy, Will is currently Principal and CFO at Rusheen Capital Management, an early growth-stage private equity firm investing in energy and sustainability technologies. He is also the Founder and Board Chair of C4-MCP, LLC, a research-stage company focused on low-cost, low-emission hydrogen production technology. Will's prior experience includes his time as VP of Corporate Development at NanoH2O, a leading desalination technology start-up, where he was responsible for launching commercial and manufacturing operations in China, raising capital, strategic planning and analysis and led the transaction team in the Company's successful sale to LG Chem. Will started his career with UBS Investment Bank in New York, after taking his BA in Economics and Government from the University of Virginia.

Lawrence Starr is SonicEnergy’s VP of Engineering.

Most recently he served as VP of Engineering at Lumnese Corp a sensor startup company in Atlanta. In other past positions Lawrence was Sr. IP Engineering Manager for Intel’s Custom Foundry Division. He was the VP of Engineering at Qualtré Inc. from 2009 through 2011. Lawrence was also the Director of Engineering and Design Center Site Manager at Marvell Semiconductor in Colorado Springs from 2006 through 2008. Lawrence was previously at Intel Corporation and Ford Microelectronics in various lead engineering and management positions. Lawrence began his career at National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, CA.

Lawrence is a past chairman and executive steering committee member of the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) as well as the CICC representative to the Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS). He also has been a guest editor of the Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC). Lawrence received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Trevor Niblock, (PhD), is the VP of Advanced Technology at SonicEnergy and a co-founder of Magzor Corporation. He has expertise in R&D and system integration of MEMS, Meso scale devices, robotics and mechatronic systems. He has a background in physics and engineering with a PhD in MEMS, a joint MBA & M. Eng (M. Res) and B. Eng. Dr Niblock is well known in government and scientific circles and has written numerous proposals funded ($17 M+) by an array of government agencies in areas ranging from MEMS, Magnetics, specialized embedded systems to robotics. As the Principal Investigator on numerous projects Dr. Niblock has spent the last two decades developing and commercializing novel technologies from the research lab to the market place. Throughout his career Dr. Niblock has worked in academic, federal government, blue-chip and start-up environments. In addition to expertise in P&L and business strategy, Dr. Niblock has exceptional technical expertise in mechatronics: MEMS, CADCAM, CAE and 3D printing. Dr. Niblock’s R & D interests are in MEMS, robotics, IoT, wireless power and moving conceptual mechatronic system designs from the laboratory to the market place. Dr. Niblock is the author of numerous peer reviewed publications and holds multiple industry patents.

Mark Suster is a Partner at Upfront Ventures. He joined the firm in 2007 after having previously worked with Upfront Ventures for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Before joining Upfront Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com following its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, a European SaaS company that was acquired by SWORD Group. Earlier in his career, Mark spent nearly ten years working for Accenture in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Mark looks to invest in passionate entrepreneurs in early-stage technology businesses. His interests include Digital Content and Distribution, AdTech, Consumer Internet, and SaaS businesses and he has deep operating experience having started and sold his last two companies.

Katie McMahon is general manager at SoundHound Inc., where she is responsible for building the company's consumer businesses, strategic partnerships, and helping to shape the emerging voice-interface era, at large. A mobile tech industry pioneer, she has been at the forefront of emerging technologies, previously working at Shazam in London, before that as a founder of a mobile tech company in Tokyo. At SoundHound Inc., the Silicon Valley-based company creating and productizing Voice AI technologies, Katie has driven the launches of Hound, the voice search and assistant app, and the Houndify platform, which enables a natural, conversational voice interface for connected devices.

Chuck Davis brings more than 20 years of e-commerce experience to his position as CEO & Chairman of Prodege, LLC, parent of rewards community Swagbucks and cash-back shopping sites MyPoints.com and ShopAtHome.com which has awarded over $550 million to its members.

As prior CEO & Chairman of Fandango and CEO of Shopzilla.com, Davis successfully guided both brands to major market sales to Comcast Corporation and E.W. Scripps Co., respectively. Previously, Mr. Davis launched The Walt Disney Company’s e-commerce efforts and had earlier publishing stints at News Corporation’s TV Guide and Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated.

Mr. Davis is a venture partner with TCV and additionally serves as a director at wireless company Boingo Wireless, Inc (NASDAQ: WIFI). Previously, Mr. Davis served as a trustee for Brown University’s Corporation, was elected as the international chairman of The Young President’s Organization (YPO), and served for many years as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School.

Kenneth Hertz is a named Partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Hertz Lichtenstein & Young LLP. Ken and his partners specialize in representing talent and new media companies in the sports and entertainment industries. The firm’s clients include Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Idris Elba, The Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am, Sir Ken Robinson, Keith Richards, Herbie Hancock, Jason Mraz, David Blaine, Shaun White, Jamie Oliver, Calvin Harris, and Annie Leibovitz.

Ken is also a principal in memBrain – an entertainment marketing and strategy consulting firm. memBrain’s clients include UBS, Hasbro, McDonald’s, Intel, Logitech, and Boots/Walgreens. Ken is a frequent speaker and commentator on the subjects of entertainment, marketing and convergence; is often quoted in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal; has appeared on CNBC’s monthly newsmagazine “Business Nation;” has been an instructor at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management, and an adjunct professor of law at USC.

Ken is also the host of TEDxHollywood.

Following undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral training at Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. O’Donnell joined General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center in Schenectady, NY in 1980, where he worked on medical electronics, including MRI and ultrasound imaging systems. In 1990, he moved to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI where he held appointments in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and in Biomedical Engineering. In 1998, he was named the Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professor of Engineering. From 1999-2006 he also served as Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department. In 2006 he moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, WA where he was the Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering from 2006-2012. He is now Frank and Julie Jungers Dean Emeritus and a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. His most recent research has explored new imaging modalities, including elasticity imaging, in vivo microscopy, optoacoustic arrays, photoacoustic contrast agents for molecular imaging and therapy, thermal strain imaging, and catheter-based devices. He has won numerous awards, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Notre Dame, the Achievement Award from the IEEE-UFFC Society and the William J. Morlock Award for Excellence in Biomedical Technology from the IEEE-EMBS Society. He is a fellow of the IEEE and AIMBE and is a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Martine Rothblatt is Chairperson & Co-CEO of United Therapeutics (UTHR), and President & CEO of its Lung Biotechnology public benefit company. She previously created and led Sirius XM as its Chairman & CEO, after launching satellite navigation and international satellite television systems. She has JD and MBA degrees from UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Medical Ethics from the Royal London School of Medicine & Dentistry. Her patented inventions are in satellite communications, pharmaceuticals and cognitive software. Dr. Rothblatt’s recent books are on transplantable organs (Your Life or Mine, Ashgate) and cyber ethics (Virtually Human, St. Martin’s).

Dr. Rothblatt and her wife, Bina, live near their four grandchildren on the Space Coast of Florida, from where they enjoy watching rocket launches. They met at a disco dance in Hollywood in the late 1970s, and have been happily married (and dancing together) since shortly thereafter.