A Customer-Centric Approach That Drives Success.

Members of the management team of Materials Innovation Technologies have all been successfully involved in moving products from the idea stage to commercialization, and have extensive experience and success in working with Fortune 100 companies, national labs, university consortiums and securing government grants. We offer a totally “customer-centric” operating approach and management style that truly benefits our clients. While our end products may be items developed to advance emerging technologies, it is our critical thinking and relationships that drive our success.

Key management members of MIT include:

Jim Stike, Founder and President
Jim Stike provides the strategic direction for Materials Innovation Technologies and is responsible for building collaborative partners, sales, marketing, grant writing, customer service and general management. Throughout his career, Stike has amassed extensive knowledge of emerging technologies and acquired more than 28 years of business experience, including valuable expertise with managing companies and licensing technology, writing and obtaining government grants, negotiating joint development agreements, and earning long-term business contracts with Fortune 100 companies (Alcoa, GM, Ford, United Technologies). He was previously founder and president of J.E. Stike Business Development Solutions. He has also held positions as founder and president of Porvair Advanced Materials; founder and president of Porvair Fuel Cell Technology; and vice president of sales with Selee Corporation. He served three years as the Treasurer of the U.S. Fuel Cell Council and was educated at West Virginia University.

Bill Austin, Finance Director
As finance director, Austin is responsible for all treasury and accounting functions for the company. He has developed extensive knowledge and experience in multiple industries within the areas of finance, treasury functions, and cash management — nationally and internationally — and has had direct, integral involvement in the development and commercialization of new products. Holding the positions of Treasurer and CFO for numerous companies, Austin has also been an incorporator and principal, and has provided long-term strategic planning for the growth and success of the entities established.

Mike Henthorn, Technical Director
Henthorn serves as an invaluable resource in the coordination of technical functions and providing engineering support to our collaborative partners. With more than 30 years experience in engineering and production management for large, integrated aluminum companies, he has previously held positions as operations manager at Alcan/Pechiney; director of casting operations at Valco (in Ghana, Africa); and business manager for Kaiser Center for Technology, serving six years at Kaiser’s Micromill which provided him with valuable international business experience. Henthorn was educated at West Virginia University with a degree in industrial engineering.

Ed Stike, Outside Director
Stike, Vice President of Ferris, Baker Watts investments, is an articulate, enterprising financial advisor and serves as an outside director to assist in areas of investments. He has over 18 years of successful experience managing over $100M in assets. He currently leads a private investment team that manages 22 institutional accounts with over $25M in assets. Stike received his education at Appalachian State University.

Mark Janney, Chief Scientist
Dr. Mark Janney is the primary resource at MIT for the company’s technology development efforts in materials and process development, materials characterization, and commercial applications. During his 30 year career, he has made cutting edge contributions in the areas of ceramic and metal powder fabrication, microwave processing of materials, and carbon-carbon composites for fuel cells. Before joining MIT, Janney served as senior research engineer with Porvair Advanced Materials. Prior to that, he spent 19 years as a senior staff member at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Janney received his Ph.D. and M.S. in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida. He holds 15 U.S. patents and has authored 40 peer-reviewed papers. Janney is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and has received the R&D 100 Award and the ORNL Inventor of the Year Award.

David Haack, Chief Engineer
Mr. Haack leads the engineering activities at MIT. His background includes more than 10 years of product and process development, including the lead role in the ground-up development of an all-carbon bipolar plate product and process for use in polymer electrolyte fuel cells while at Porviar Advanced Materials. The end product is commercially available and sales have exceeded $6MM to date in this still emerging market. Prior to joining MIT, Haack was the Director of Research and Development at SELEE Corporation. In this position, Mr. Haack defined the product development direction for SELEE, and managed a team of scientists and engineers focused on developing next generation products and processes. He is the author several patents (awarded and pending) and technical publications.