Freedom Motors Team
Freedom Motors Board of Directors & Executive Management:
Paul S. Moller
Subhash Paluru
David C. Sastry
George Stevens
Jim Toreson
John D'Alessandro
Kerry Bryant
Frank G. Verbeke
Executive Advisors
Mike Smith
Sudheer Kuppam
Adriann McCoy
Anjan Bose
Paul S. Moller, PhD, President—Dr. Moller founded the Company and has served as the Company’s President since its formation. In 1972 he founded Supertrapp Industries and was Chief Executive Officer as Supertrapp became the most recognized international name in high-performance engine silencing systems. In 1983 he founded Moller International to develop powered lift aircraft. Supertrapp Industries was sold in 1988. Under Dr. Moller’s direction, Moller International completed contracts with NASA, NOSC, DARPA, NRL, Harry Diamond Labs, Hughes Aircraft Company, California Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. These contracts included the development and deployment of numerous unmanned aerial vehicles and Wankel based engines. Dr. Moller has received 43 patents including the first U.S. patent on a fundamentally new form of powered lift aircraft. He holds a Masters in Engineering and Ph.D. from McGill University. Dr. Moller was a professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of California, Davis, from 1963 to 1975, where he developed the Aeronautical Engineering program.
Subhash Paluru, PhD, Chief Executive Officer—Dr. Paluru has over two decades of experience in the utility industry with extensive knowledge and expertise in Power Systems Engineering, Power Operations, Power Marketing, SCADA Operations, Information Technology, Substation Automation, Reliability Compliance, Physical and Cyber Security. Dr. Paluru is a former Department of Energy Senior Executive. Dr. Paluru oversaw and managed the Sierra Nevada Regional Office of Western Area Power Administration in Northern California. He has also served in several leadership roles in Information Technology, Power Operations, Critical Infrastructure, Reliability Compliance, Physical and Cyber Security. Dr. Paluru has also advised several large utilities in the area of Technology and Innovation in the power industry for improving the operation and modernization of North America’s power transmission grid. Dr. Paluru holds a PhD in Physics in the field of High Temperature Superconductors and its applications.
David C. Sastry, Chief Operating Officer—David has many years of experience as a senior engineer at Intel Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor Inc, and Marvell Semiconductors Inc. More recently he has been a Principle Engineering Consultant for Infosys in their IoT Practice. David holds BSc and MSc degrees from Ohio State University in electrical engineering, with an emphasis on computer architecture and digital design. David is responsible for Freedom Motors and Moller International IT systems, managing our social media presence, and assisting in future business development. He developed the current FM and MI websites two years ago and has been maintaining them for us ever since.
George L. Stevens, Chief Engineer—Mr. Stevens has over 25 years of technical and managerial experience in developing rotary (Wankel) and two-stroke piston engines. Mr. Stevens’ background includes development and application of closed loop control methods for various direct, indirect, and port fuel injection systems, hybrid engine integration and control, and other various automotive/aircraft control systems. Furthermore, Mr. Stevens brings invaluable engine testing experience including data acquisition and dynamometer equipment. His work with Moller International and Freedom Motors is focused on further improving the rotary engine power density, endurance, fuel efficiency, and emission performance. Mr. Stevens holds a BSEET from Brigham Young University and BSME from California State University.
Jim Toreson, PhD, Director-Dr. Toreson has over 16 years experience as a chief executive, and over 20 years experience in manufacturing, including quality control, materials management, JIT production, process control, and manufacturing engineering. Eight years of experience in flexible automation, statistical process control (SPC), and quality system including ISO 9000 and Six Sigma programs. More recently as the founder of ONSHORE, a management consulting firm specializing in technology-intensive products and services he has acted as the CEO of Chineseinvestors.com, an Internet portal serving the world-wide ethnic Chinese marketplace for financial services; VP of Marketing and Sales of APPIANT Technology, Inc., a NASDAQ company providing ASP services for speech recognition; and VP of Business Development for eSpaces, a company providing physically secure and cyber-secure work spaces. Dr. Toreson has a BSEE and MSEE from the University of Michigan, a Dr. of Science from the University of Nevada, and has completed coursework for his PhD EE at the University of Pennsylvania.
John D'Alessandro, Director -Mr. D’Alessandro has over 40 years’ experience with design and management of engineering projects in the oil and gas industries. Mr. D’Alessandro started his career at FLUOR Corporation as a Pressure piping Designer. John possesses experience in many types of projects, both large and small in the waste water, landfill gas, oil production, and power sectors. Mr. D’Alessandro spent the last 25 years at SPEC Services, Inc. primarily as a Principal Project Manager and as the Process Systems Division Manager where he was responsible leading multiple discipline Refinery projects. Many were very complicated, critical or of high value.
Kerry K. Bryant, Director—Mr. Bryant has more than 25 years of successful experience in manufacturing, distribution, dealer, and retail businesses. His background in the powersports industry includes motorcycle, automotive, marine and industrial markets. Background based upon practical application and proven results of concept, design, research & development, manufacturing, marketing, accounting and sales. While working with Paul as SuperTrapp Industry’s Director of Sales and Marketing (1982-1993), Mr. Bryant helped position the company as one of the leading and most recognized performance exhaust system/muffler providers in the market. Mr. Bryant is a graduate of MTI Western Business College with a degree in Accounting and Business Mathematics and was a professional motorcycle roadracer for 13 years, winning many championships and track records – Grand National Circuit & World Championship. He has traveled extensively across the USA, Europe and Japan and is still active in the sport, as well as Motocross, Dirt track, SuperMotard. He is an “A” rated Racquet Ball player. President of Area P, Inc. (www.areapnolimits.com) , a design, engineering, R&D, and manufacturing facility serving the motorcycle and automotive industry.
Frank G. Verbeke, Director—Mr. Verbeke is the president and founder of Alturdyne, a company that designs and manufactures engine systems for commercial, industrial, and governmental applications using gas turbine, reciprocating, and rotary engines. His professional experience includes starting Verbeke and Associates, a consulting engineering firm supporting such firms as Solar, Lear Motors, Sun Electric, Universal Electric, etc., in the application of gas turbines within industry. Mr. Verbeke has a BSME from the University of Michigan, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, and Virginia. He is a member of several professional organizations as well as an author of various technical papers and pending patents.
Mike Smith, Executive Advisor—Mike is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Acacia Security, providing consulting services to enhance the security and resilience of Energy Sector industrial control systems (ICS). Prior to founding Acacia Security, Mike was the Senior Cyber Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He was responsible for coordinating all ICS cybersecurity activities that could impact the Energy Sector, to include legislation, policies, threat information sharing, best practices, and research and development.
Prior to becoming Senior Cyber Policy Advisor, Mike established the Global Initiatives Directorate in the Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration (ISER) Division at DOE. As the first Director, he managed a team of nationally recognized subject matter experts with a multi-million-dollar budget, focused on improving the security of critical energy infrastructure. He led the DOE effort with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to provide technical support to enhance the security of its critical energy infrastructure. He also co-led and/or supported U.S. energy security delegations to Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Colombia.
Mike holds a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University and a Master of Laws in International and Operational Law from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's School. Mike earned his JD and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oklahoma.
Sudheer Kuppam, Strategic Advisor—Sudheer Kuppam is the founder and Managing Partner of Epsilon Venture Partners, a Hong Kong based venture capital firm, that makes investments across the APAC region in the technology sector. He currently sits on the boards of Pi Datacenters, INCX, FarmTaaza, Ubiix, and Zebi. Over his career, Sudheer has been a strategic advisor or board member for many companies across Asia. Before founding Epsilon Venture Partners, he spent over 18 years at Intel Corporation, most recently, as a Vice President and Managing Director of Intel Capital for the Asia Pacific (ex China) region. Under his leadership, his 13 member investment team made over 90+ investments, deploying over $590 million capital in technology companies over the past decade. Sudheer has multiple exits across Asia spanning both IPOs and M&A. Sudheer is also a cofounder of Pi Datacenters, Zebi, INCX and Exatron. In the past few years, Sudheer also assisted Zebi and INCX to complete their ICOs and raise funds in the Blockchain space.
Sudheer has a Bachelors degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a Masters degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Adriann "Andee" McCoy, Strategic Advisor—Andee has worked in the electric Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Industry for a number of years, recently working for Smart Wires, a transmission technology company based in Silicon Valley, as Vice President of the Western Region leading all technical, sales, and customer relationship efforts across Western North America. Prior to that, she worked at Burns & McDonnell where she started her tenure as a substation design engineer and project manager and ultimately became the T&D market strategy manager, leading strategic pursuits and helping expand to the European market.
Most recently Andee has started her own utility consulting practice, working hand-in-hand with electric utilities and stakeholders to meet their organizational goals and address the rapidly-evolving challenges facing the energy industry.
Anjan Bose, PhD, Strategic Advisor—Anjan Bose is a Regents Professor and the Distinguished Professor of Electric Power Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where he also served as the Dean of the College of Engineering & Architecture from 1998 to 2005. He served the US Department of Energy as a Senior Advisor on the electric power grid in the Obama administration. He is a leading researcher on the operation and control of the electric power grid. He has worked in the electric power industry as well as academe for over 40 years. He received his BS, MS and PhD, all in Electrical Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur, University of California – Berkeley and Iowa State University, respectively.
Dr. Bose is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He was the recipient of the Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the Third Millennium Medal, and the Herman Halperin Electric Transmission & Distribution Award from the IEEE. He has been recognized by both Iowa State University and the Indian Institute of Technology with their distinguished alumnus awards. He has served on several editorial boards and on many national and international technical committees. He was appointed by the governor to the board of directors of the Washington Technology Center, and by the US Secretary of Energy on the committee to study the 1999 and 2003 power blackouts. He has served on several committees of the US National Academies including those for Engineering Education, Cybersecurity Research, Power Grid Security and America’s Energy Future. He has consulted for many electric power companies and advised government agencies throughout the world.
