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.

Lonnie Johnson

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 a 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.

Mike McQuary (McQ)

Emmanuel Balogun

Research Scientist

Emmanuel is responsible for developing electrodes for the JTEC membrane electrode assemblies (MEA’s). He holds a B.S in Chemistry from Georgia State University. While at Georgia State, Emmanuel performed undergraduate research on the PH effect on membranes.

Julian Bell

Senior Engineer

Julian is a mechanical engineer with more than a decade's experience in advanced technology development across robotics, additive manufacturing, and precision engineering. Before coming to JTEC, he directed the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory for the UPS Advanced Technology Group; developed novel metal additive manufacturing technologies at Desktop Metal; and designed robotic platforms for neuromuscular rehabilitation therapy at Barrett Medical. He holds a S.M. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College.

Julian Bell

Lily Berz

Engineer

Lily is a chemical engineer with specialization in system design and construction. Prior to joining JTEC Energy, she interned with Oak Ridge National Lab, researching the creation of ideal amorphous materials using novel rapid sintering and quenching methods. Lily graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Chemical Engineering.

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

Devin Brand

George Burnett

Senior Machinist

George posseses a plethora of knowledge in R&D and Manufacturing.  His 39 plus years of experience has spanned over several companies varying from Aerospace, Medical devices and Automotive: Delta Flight Product as Senior CNC programmer, Paces MedEquip LLC as Senior Machinist, Heico as Manufacturing Manager,  Becton Dickinson (BD) as Shop Lead, CNC programmer and Machinist III, Halyard Health as Machinist, Hitachi Automotives Systems Americas, Inc as a Manufacturing Engineer, Dexter Magnetics Material Division as Machinist and Quality Control Supervisor and Cibavision as Engineer, Machinist and Toolmaker.  George has 2 patents for System and Method for Curing Polymeric Molds and System and Method for Curing Polymeric Molds having a masking collar. He holds an AS in Electronics Technology from Dekalb Technical College.

George Burnett

Tedric Campbell

PhD, Director of R&D; JTEC Project Leader

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.

Ted Campbell

Chase Casher

Engineer

Chase is a mechanical engineer specializing in the mechanical and thermal design and simulations of the JTEC unit. In college, as part of his senior capstone project, he designed a system to transport lunar ice across the moon's surface. This project was published with ASME and was presented at the International Mechanical Engineering Conference in 2020. Chase also has presented his research on nuclear reactor simulations at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in 2019.
Chase holds a BS in Mechanical  Engineering from Kennesaw State University. Prior to JTEC, Chase worked at Home Depot corporate as a Laboratory Technician testing their products.

Chase

Brianna Howell

Mechanical Engineer

Brianna is responsible for: developing procedures for bonding the membrane to various substrates, catalyst coded membranes, performing and analyzing mechanical current & tensile tests, and understanding the mechanical properties of the membrane for JTEC. She is a small business owner, and while in college served as a representative for the Society of Women Engineers and mentored NSBE undergraduates. Brianna is originally from Thomaston, Georgia, and graduated from Tuskegee University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to joining JTEC, Brianna researched the benefits of biodegradable plastic and the manufacturing process using PLA at Tuskegee University.

Brianna Howell

David K. Johnson

Chief Technical Officer

David has very specialized skills in solid-state electrochemistry and he is responsible for the JTEC ceramic membrane electrode assembly research and 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.

Palani Jothi

Pawan Kathayat

Materials Engineer

Pawan is a materials engineer with a specialization in physical metallurgy. In graduate school, his research focused on developing new alloys for hydrogen storage and delivery. The Department of Energy funded the project. He collaborated with Sandia and Los Alamos National Lab for this project. Pawan holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an M.S. in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines (ASPPRC).

Pawan Kathayat

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).

Ron Keeton

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.

Mica Landwermeyer

Dorcelle Lotemo

Engineer

Dorcelle is responsible for fabrication and quality control of JTEC membrane electrode assemblies, JTEC cell assemblies and JTEC module assemblies. Her research focuses on innovating, fabricating and stress testing of membrane electrode assembly support components. Prior to joining JTEC Energy, Dorcelle worked on solid state batteries at Johnson Battery Technologies where she was responsible for fabrication of solid state lithium battery cells. Dorcelle holds an AAS in Engineering from Georgia State University and is pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree from Mercer University.

Dorcelle Lotemo

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.

Devon Lyman

Jeet Maniktala

Research and Development

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.

Jeet Maniktala

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. 

Amoni McNair

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.

Susan Nicholson

Zack Siegel

Senior Engineer

Zack is responsible for the design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of mechanical components and assemblies for the JTEC. He was previously a research engineer at the University of Chicago, where he designed and built scientific apparatus for high energy physics and cosmology applications, including two NASA high-altitude balloon payloads and instrumentation upgrades for the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. He also managed a mechanical design and fabrication lab on campus, where he provided assistance and mentorship to undergraduate and graduate physics students. Zack is originally from northeast Atlanta and holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Zack Siegel

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.

Lynne Smalley

Chris Smith

Senior Engineer

Chris joins JTEC after working as a coatings chemist for almost twenty years.  Besides formulating coatings, he developed test methods to reproduce modes of failure observed in the field by designing experiments to narrow down root causes. Much of his formula work was driven by material characterization testing ranging from rheological behavior to coating film properties.  Additionally, Chris mentored other chemists as they grew into their role. Prior to working as a coatings chemist, Chris worked in the medical devices market and consumer goods, where he used material characterization techniques and process engineering tools to improve quality and productivity.

Chris

Wilford Smith

Senior Engineer

With over 40 years of experience in the engineering field and a strong network within Atlanta’s academic community, Mr. Smith is a skilled practitioner with the ability to bring to completion complex design and engineering challenges. Mr. Smith is well-versed in the design, analysis, and system engineering and integration of multidisciplinary systems such as automotive power trains, robotic systems, and electrical power distribution systems. He holds subject matter expertise in all phases of automotive design engineering ranging from life cycle structural design, through structural design for crash survivability, control system design and testing of power train components. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is a member of ASME, SAE, and NDIA.

Wilford Smith

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.

Andre Woodard