Dr. Lonnie G. Johnson
Founder & Chairman
Dr. Lonnie Johnson is the CEO and Founder of Johnson R&D, where he invented the first JTEC device. JTEC Energy was spun out of Johnson R&D in 2020, and Dr. Johnson remains the Founder and Chairman of the new company. He is also CEO of Johnson Battery Technologies, which has developed a next-generation battery technology. Johnson is an engineer and inventor who holds more than 100 patents and whose technologies have been listed as world-class by media such as CNN, Popular Mechanics and TIME.
Dr. Johnson began his career as a research engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He joined the U.S. Air Force, where he was awarded multiple medals and helped develop components in the stealth bomber program. While in the Air Force, Johnson served as: Acting Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory; Advanced Space Systems Requirements Officer at Strategic Air Command (SAC) HQ; Chief of the Data Management Branch, SAC Test and Evaluation Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base. Dr. Johnson then joined NASA. He served as Senior Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where one of his inventions was incorporated in the Galileo mission to Jupiter. He also contributed to the Mars Observer project and the early stages of the Cassini (Saturn) project. While at NASA, he received multiple achievement awards for his work in spacecraft system design.
In 2011, Johnson was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.
Johnson is most well known as the inventor of the Super Soaker squirt gun, which became one of the most popular toys in the world and has generated billions of dollars in retail revenue under the license. Super Soaker has received multiple industry awards, including Outdoor Toy of the Year.
Propelled by the success of the Super Soaker, Johnson founded Johnson R&D, where he spearheads development of technological advances in clean energy and batteries.
In 2008, Johnson was awarded the Breakthrough Award from science magazine Popular Mechanics for his work related to JTEC.
Dr. Johnson also hosts and sponsors the national FIRST® Robotics Competition, a program that inspires young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.
Johnson holds a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and an honorary doctorate in science.
Michael McQuary ("McQ")
President & CEO
McQ began his career with nearly a decade at Mobil Corporation. He was the President & COO of startup MindSpring Enterprises, which grew to be the second largest ISP in the world. After MindSpring merged with EarthLink, McQ continued as President and COO. He is the founder of Brash Music, a forerunner of digital music distribution. McQ bought UNS (Usenetserver), an Internet Usenet News Service, and acted as CEO. In 2008, he founded Wheego, an affordable electric car company, and began selling cars through 22 dealers. After an unsuccessful partnership with Foxconn to build Electric Cars in China, the company pivoted to utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to develop software for self-driving autonomous cars.
McQ holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Devin Brand
Research Engineer
Devin handles much of the mechanical design and testing/diagnostic procedures for one of the main JTEC demo units while also managing the in-house machine shop. He has several years of experience in prototype development and rapid CNC manufacturing.
B.S. Mechanical Engineering – Georgia Institute of Technology
Ian Campbell
Lab Manager
Ian spent six years in the Air Force maintaining technological and cryptographic material. He spent 17 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Senior Technician, and 11 years as an Engineer at nGimat. Ian worked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory for 5 years providing engineering and process control/data acquisition support to research physicists. Most recently, he worked as a Battery Engineer for Johnson Energy Storage. Ian manages the shared laboratory for JTEC Energy and JES. He holds a AAS EE, Electrical Engineering Technology degree from Alfred State College – SUNY College of Technology.
Tedric Campbell
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
Since 2011, Ted has lead the R&D team responsible for the JTEC heat engine development. Prior to JTEC he was responsible for early exploration and development of “Next Gen” Lithium batteries. development. He has 9 publications and patents. Ted has a Ph.D. in Physical/Polymer Chemistry, from Florida State University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Tougaloo College, MS.
David K. Johnson
Chief Technical Officer
David has very specialized skills in solid-state electrochemistry and is responsible for the JTEC design development. Prior to this he was a Research intern at Johnson R&D (2012-2016) developing battery materials, cathodes, electrolytes and electrochemical characterization. He is proficient with solid-state materials synthesis techniques, including wet chemical methods and is proficient in a variety of film deposition techniques, including PVD, CVD, wet chemical methods and casting. He has a BS degree from North Carolina A&T.
Palani Jothi
Senior Scientist
Palani is responsible for making solid-state ceramic membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for high-temperature JTEC device. Prior to JTEC, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at JIAM, University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He has broad experience in design, synthesis, characterization and structure-property relationships of various inorganic nanostructured materials and thin films. In his previous work, he discovered new synthetic methods to produce various inorganic nanostructured materials and 2D materials with novel properties. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Anna University, Chennai, India.
Ron Keeton
CPA
Ron has over 35 years’ experience and manages our accounting on a part-time basis. He is a practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with over thirty years tax, accounting and auditing experience. Earlier in his career, he was a small business auditor with Price Waterhouse (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers). He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Georgia and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
Aditya Kuntamukkula
Materials Engineer
Aditya holds a BS in Material Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He works as an intern at JTEC prior to his graduation.
Mica Landwermeyer
Materials Engineer
Mica is responsible for the development and testing of membrane electrode assemblies and JTEC units. She also serves as a junior project manager overseeing JTEC production schedules. Prior to joining JTEC Energy, Mica was an undergraduate researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology studying new materials for perovskite solar cells. Mica holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Devon Lyman
Vice President of Business Development
Devon manages relationships with current and prospective customers and partners while also evaluating potential markets and projects for JTEC integration. Prior to JTEC Energy, Devon worked on solid-state batteries at Johnson Battery Technologies for 6 years developing new materials, overseeing quality control, and leading patent and government grant writing before taking over managing all external development efforts, client interactions, and performing economic analysis for scale up. Before that he spent 3 years at nGimat developing materials for supercapacitors, assisting with government proposals and commercial projects, and leading scale-up efforts for material production. Devon holds a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Jeet Maniktala
Materials Engineer
Jeet is responsible for research and development of PEMFCs for polymer-based JTEC devices. He also facilitates materials selection, characterization, and sourcing for future iterations of the technology. He holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining JTEC, Jeet conducted undergraduate research in rheology and soft-matter science of thermoplastic polymers at Penn State.
Amoni McNair
Research Engineer
Amoni McNair is a Research Engineer at Jtec Energy focusing on scaling and commercialization. She has a background in engineering, marketing, management and mentoring. She ran a small business during the pandemic, acted as president of a student organization, and mentors students in NSBE and 100 Scholars Robotic Alliance. Amoni has a BS in Chemical Engineering with minors in chemistry and communication studies from Louisiana State University.
Susan Nicholson
Chief Operating Officer
Susan is responsible for Project Management of the JTEC, as well as company communications. Prior to JTEC, Susan worked in Corporate Communications, PR and Project Management for several startup technology firms in Atlanta. She holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
Andre Woodard
Senior Engineer
Andre Woodard is an aerospace engineer with a background in the design of aerothermal propulsion systems. He worked with NASA Kennedy Space Center as a graduate researcher while earning his masters degree from the University of Central Florida. Prior to JTEC, he was a propulsion engineer at Generation Orbit and helped develop the propellant pressurization system for the X-60A, an experimental hypersonic research vehicle, in collaboration with the Airforce Research Laboratory.
Yardlyne Smalley (Lynne)
Senior Scientist
Lynne is responsible for materials engineering and development related to membrane electrode assemblies for the JTEC heat engine. She defines raw materials performance parameters and construction processes. Prior to JTEC, she served as an R&D chemist at nGimat in the field of fuel cells (focused on nanomaterials, thin film coatings, and nanopowders) from 1999-2012. Prior to that she was researcher in the field of zinc air batteries at AER Energy Resources. She has a long and varied history in raw materials design & reengineering, materials characterization, and construction processes. She holds a B.S. In Biochemistry from Sacred Heart.
