Management Team
Gary Simon, President and Chief Executive Officer
Gary Simon has a broad-ranging 33-year career that includes Fortune 500 companies, small start-up businesses, and consulting to major energy companies.
Prior to Acumentrics, Gary was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Northeast Utilities, where he had responsibility for corporate R&D as well as for business planning and strategic M&A transactions. In that position, Gary had a major role in over $2.5 billion of transactions, was the head of corporate venture investing, and was a member of the senior management committee. He was responsible for analysis of markets, competitors, new business ventures, acquisition targets and business unit performance. Previously, Gary was Senior Director and head of the Global Power Practice for Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) for nine years, where he provided advice on the future directions of the industry and the sources of strategic advantage, including the emergence of new technologies. Earlier, Gary was Vice President of sales and marketing for El Paso Natural Gas Company. Gary also served four years as the head of forecasting and planning for the California Energy Commission and five years as senior consultant to the energy committees of the California State Assembly. Gary has a master’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.
Gary also serves as President of Sigma Energy Group, a clean technology investment and advisory firm. He is a board member of Capstone Turbine, SmartPower, and Rentricity, as well as the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance, and the McCllellan Technology Incubator.
John Cerulli, Chief Financial Officer
John Cerulli has over ten years experience of financial management expertise in both the public and private sectors. John has held several senior level financial roles including Treasurer and CFO of SABAL Investors, LLC. In addition, John has acted as consultant to a variety of companies in need of financial analysis, business development, restructuring, cash procurement as well as merger and acquisition services. During his career, Mr. Cerulli has developed a variety of financial models for companies with market capitalizations in excess of $650 million. Mr. Cerulli has also been instrumental in securing a variety of transactions totaling more than $100 million each. He has negotiated several multi-million dollar deals for the real estate, professional athletics, tribal casinos, technology and medical industries. John holds a B.S. in Accounting from Bentley College and serves on the Board of Directors for several not-for-profit charitable organizations.
Norman Bessette, PhD, CTO & Senior VP of Engineering
Norman Bessette is responsible for the engineering and manufacturing of the fuel cell products, the engineering of the UPS products, and the R&D for government grants and corporate partnerships. Dr. Bessette joined Acumentrics Corporation in August 2001 as the director of ceramic technology and processing, and lead SOFC material, design, and manufacturing development. In February 2002 he was named the Director of Fuel Cell Engineering with responsibility for all aspects of fuel cell product development and introduction to manufacturing. In 2003 he was named Vice President of Product Development responsible for all engineering aspects of both the UPS and fuel cell product lines.
Prior to joining Acumentrics, Dr. Bessette spent seven years at Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation in a wide range of duties, including managing a $13M fuel cell facility and $3.4M in DOE contracts. Dr. Bessette is well known in the SOFC community and has published over 10 journal papers. In addition, Dr. Bessette has over 5 patents either issued or under review related to SOFC technology. Dr. Bessette obtained his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 1990 and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1994.
Ersson Zapata, Vice President of Operations
Mr. Zapata has over 13 years of experience in the power electronics and service industries specifically in the role of operations and supply chain management, and brings a wealth of experience in managing worldwide operations, supply chain, process reengineering and lean manufacturing methods. He has worked for prominent companies like American Power Conversion and SynQor, setting up both domestic and international factories and new business acquisitions and integrations. Mr. Zapata also has experience interfacing with customers at all levels and establishing product development roadmaps and product implementation plans to deliver market needs on a timely basis. Prior to joining Acumentrics, Mr. Zapata was the Director of Supply Chain and Business Transformation for The Robbins Company. Mr. Zapata earned his B.S.E.E. and a minor degree in Spanish from the University of Rhode Island. He also holds certifications in Oracle, ISO, TQM and APICS.