Our Leadership Team
Scott Kruger, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Scott Kruger, CEO, is a distinguished physicist and project manager with Tech-x since 2004. He has a PH.D. in fusion research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and before joining Tech-X, he worked for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in San Diego.
At Tech-X, Dr. Kruger managed a group of physicists and mathematicians as the former VP of the fusion group. Additionally, his list of accomplishments includes being a former project manager for FACETS, a large (> 5M lines of code) fusion application that integrated legacy Fortran codes with a C++ framework, a former project manager for NIMROD magnetohydrodynamic code, working with the PETSc team, and being a project manager for the EFIT-AI project. In his time at Tech-X, Dr. Kruger has developed new company procedures for improving the communication between research scientists and the support groups within Tech-X to more efficiently deliver cutting-edge research codes to the commercial marketplace.
John R. Cary, PhD
Chief technology Officer
Dr. John R. Cary, CTO, co-founded Tech-X in 1994. The company’s products help in the design and prediction of systems involving electromagnetics and plasmas. Tech-X has contracts from industry and the government, with multiple lines of software products.
Dr. Cary has a strong background in computational research and development, with more than 150 publications. His background helps ensure that Tech-X products are based on the most recent and advanced algorithms and computing developments, make use of the most advanced computing platforms and are easily used by Tech-X customers.
Dr. Cary received his degrees at the University of California at Irvine and at Berkeley. He has worked for government labs (Los Alamos), in the private sector (Tech-X), and in academia (he retains his position as Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he continues to be involved in the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers).
David Alexander, PhD
VP of User Experience
Dr. Alexander received a B.S. in Physics from the University of Washington in 1990 and his PH.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado in 1996. Dr. Alexander continued at the University of Colorado as a post-doctoral researcher developing an interactive web-based visual learning interface in the academic area of planetary science for the Solar System Collaboratory Project.
Joining Tech-X Corporation in 1997, he initially developed interactive educational software and produced a commercial package published in this area. With further work at Tech-X, he has become an expert in graphical user interfaces for scientific codes and usability of associated workflows and is the original developer of the Composer Toolkit. He also has experience in client-server systems, distributed technologies, and automated building and testing systems for quality assurance.
Larry Nelson
Controller
Mr. Nelson received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder in 1969. After a one-year position at a bank in Denver, he became employed at CU, initially in the Accounting Department, and soon thereafter in the Office of Contracts and Grants (OCG). OCG is responsible for processing and administering all of the sponsored research proposals and awards at CU (more than $250 million annually). In 2001, Mr. Nelson was a recipient of the University of Colorado’s Robert L. Stearns Award for Exceptional Service, the highest honor bestowed upon CU faculty and staff for exceptional teaching, research, or service.
In 1981, Mr. Nelson became the Director of OCG and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2004. In February 2005, Mr. Nelson joined Tech-X as its first Controller. He brings to Tech-X his 34 years of experience with sponsored research, federal funding, and contract management.
Advisory Board
Morgan Dehnel PhD, P.Eng.
Buckley Systems
Chief Science & Innovation Officer, D-Pace Founder
Dr. Morgan Dehnel is a physicist with over 25 years of experience in designing and manufacturing particle accelerators and their associated equipment. He is the founder of D-Pace, Inc., and has been the Chief Science and Innovation Officer since 2014. D-Pace has designed, commercialized, and manufactured equipment for sale to the particle accelerator industry since its inception. Morgan has also been Adjunct Professor in Physics at UBCO since 2018.
Mark J. Kushner, PhD
University of Michigan
Dr. Mark J. Kushner is the George I. Haddad Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Michigan Institute for Plasma Science and Engineering. Prof. Kushner’s research area is computational low temperature plasmas, their fundamental properties and technological applications, ranging from lasers to material processing. His research group has worked extensively with industry and national laboratories. Prof. Kushner was recently co-chair of the National Academies Plasma 2020 Decadal Study.
Clem Meas
quickSTART Consulting
Clem Meas is the founder of quickSTART, a company that helps electronics companies get their products to market quickly and efficiently. Clem has years of experience in electronic design, marketing, and sales. He has educated CEOs, marketing, and sales executives on the carefulness of market development tasks. Clem received his BSEE from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Mark Nicholson, PhD
CEO Zemax (retired)
Dr. Mark Nicholson is a Senior CEO with a 25-year history of success in business growth and profitability in optics and software companies. His areas of expertise include top-level corporate strategic planning and decision-making, growth planning and infrastructure scaling, domestic and international, private equity, M&A, and corporate finance. In his previous role, he was responsible for leading-edge applications of optical technology. Now retired from full-time work, he focuses on helping people design optics using 21st-century methods.
Tony Taylor, PhD
Fellow, Energy Group, General Atomics
Dr. Tony Taylor has Over 40 years of experience in fusion energy research and development, including executive leadership. Tony was responsible for the DIII-D National Fusion Program, GA Theory and Computation Program, the MFE Technologies program, and the GA ITER Program.
