The Team

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Barbara A. Paldus, Ph.D.
CEO
Barb was most recently the CTO of Picarro, a company she founded in 1998. At Picarro, she was responsible for technology strategy, research, and business development, which led to a solid-state Cyan laser product in 2003 and cavity ring-down spectroscopy products in 2004. Barb is currently a partner at Skymoon Ventures. Barb received both her Ph.D. (1998) and M.S.E.E. (1994) degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and her BS (1993) in electrical engineering/applied mathematics from the University of Waterloo.

Mark Selker, Ph.D.
Chief Technical Officer
Mark has worked and published in various areas within the optics industry including space based and commercial lasers/nonlinear optics, analog and digital optical communication, near field optics/plasmonics and bio-optical systems. He has worked for NASA, Coherent Laser Group, Harmonic, and most recently has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Mark received his Sc.B. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Brown University in 1986 and 1990 respectively.

Basil Zimmo
VP Software
Basil brings over 19 years of international program and senior management experience, with a focus on implementing high efficiency engineering, resource optimization, and global performance metrics. Basil was most recently the Senior Program Manager for handheld products at Research in Motion (RIM) where he successfully led the end-to-end development of several handheld products. Prior to joining RIM, Basil held senior management roles at Picarro Canada, Inc. and telecommunications companies such as Nortel Networks and JDS Uniphase, and has held positions at semiconductor chip companies such as Mitel Semiconductor, Phillips Semiconductor, GEC Plessey and Hughes Aircraft Company. Basil received his B. Sc. in Electronics and Microcomputer Systems from the University of Dundee at Dundee, Scotland, in 1988.

Mark A. Enright
VP Manufacturing
Mark brings Finesse Solutions a wide range of experience in operations, engineering, and marketing. Mark was most recently the Director of Instrument Manufacturing at Pacific Biosciences where he was responsible for building the manufacturing organization and facilities for their RS DNA sequencing system. Prior to Pacific Biosciences, Mark was VP of Operations at Continuum, a world recognized leader in high energy laser systems. Before Continuum, he was VP of Engineering and VP of Operations at Arcturus Engineering, a biotechnology startup specializing in tissue microdissection instruments and consumables. He also held product management positions at New Focus and at Spectra Physics, where he was the worldwide marketing manager for the high energy pulsed laser group. Mark received his BSEE from The Ohio State University in 1983 and his MSME from Stanford University in 1990.

Board of Directors

Barbara Paldus
Chairman

Mike Farmwald
Director, Skymoon Ventures
Mike Farmwald is a serial entrepreneur who founded six companies to date, five of which were financed in part by Benchmark Capital, where he is a Venture Partner. Most recently, Mike co-founded Matrix, which was acquired by SanDisk. Mike is probably best known for co-founding Rambus. Prior to Rambus, Mike founded FTL in 1986. FTL, an ECL supercomputing company, merged with MIPS in the same year. At MIPS, Mike served as Chief Scientist for High End Systems. Following his experience at MIPS, Mike was an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. Mike holds a BS degree in Mathematics from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Fernando Fuenzalida
Fernando Fuenzalida is currently a member of the Executive of Endress+Hauser, AG (www.endress.com), a Swiss process automation provider, and served as the CFO of Endress+Hauser, AG, for the past 13 years. Previously, Fernando was the President of Foxboro Europe from 1994 to 1998, and an Executive Vice President at Hiross Management AG in Geneva from 1987 to 1993. He has also been responsible for business development and planning at UTC-Carrier, PepsiCo Inc, and Accenture. Fernando received a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University. Fernando brings a wide array of international corporate and financial experience to the Finesse Board of Directors, and oversees both the Audit and Compensation Committees as Chairman.

Michael Ziesemer
Starting out as a telecommunications engineer, Michael Ziesemer soon began a career as R+D Engineer for flow and level measurement systems. In 1981 he joined Endress+Hauser as head of Product Management. In 1992 he became Managing Director of Endress+Hauser GmbH+Co. KG, Maulburg, and 4 years later of Endress+Hauser Messtechnik GmbH+Co. KG. In 1999 he joined Endress+Hauser Consult AG, Reinach/CH, as Corporate Director Sales + Marketing. Since 2002 Michael Ziesemer has been a member of the Executive Board of the Endress+Hauser Group. In 2008, he became Chief Operating Officer (COO). Michael Ziesemer takes an active part in a number of professional organizations like ZVEI, VDI, HART, ISA. Michael brings a deep understanding automation, sales, and service, as well as international operations experience to the Finesse Board of Directors.