Management Team

President and CEO

Prior to joining Crystal IS Steven was at FEI Company, a manufacturer of electron microscopes, where he held a variety of roles over a 10 year period including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer.  During his time at FEI he was part of the executive management team that grew the company from $150M to $600M.  His key focus was bringing new products to market profitably.

Before FEI, Steven was a Technical Manager at AT&T's Bell Labs. He also taught at Cambridge University. He holds a BSc degree in physics from the University of Salford and his PhD from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. He holds a dozen US patents and is widely published in the fields of electron beam lithography, microscopy, and analysis.

Chief Technology Officer

After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Dr. Schowalter was employed by the GE Research and Development Center in Schenectady, NY. He joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1987 and was chair of the Physics Department from 1997 to 2000 at which time he resigned to work with Crystal IS and is currently on a leave of absence from RPI. He has over 25 years experience in crystal growth and nano-probe technologies for which he has received international recognition and has focused his efforts on AlN crystal growth for the last eight years. He has published over 140 articles, co-edited four proceedings volumes, given over 50 invited talks, and holds three US patents (with 5 pending). He has co-chaired several international symposia in the areas of thin film crystal growth and nano-probe technologies. He was a co-instructor for the 1999 and 2000 Fall MRS Tutorials on nitride semiconductors and a tutorial instructor on nitride semiconductor substrates at the Gorham Compound Semiconductor Outlook Meetings of 2000 (San Diego) and 2002 (Taiwan). Dr. Schowalter also won the Tech Valley Business Plan competition for Crystal IS in 2003.

Controller

Kathryn Good's experience spans 25 years, much of which she spent in a local, Albany, NY public accounting practice, where she was a partner for several years. There she was manager in charge of the firm's quality control system, as well as being responsible for the planning and supervision of accounting and auditing engagements and tax planning and tax return preparation for business and not-for-profit clients in many industries. After having been responsible for the independent audit of Molecular OptoElectronics Corporation (MOEC) from its inception, she was employed by MOEC for over five years as its controller. She has over 10 years of experience working with high tech, start up companies.

Kathryn holds a BS in accounting from SUNY Buffalo. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the AICPA and NYSSCPAs.

VP Engineering