Email requests to: info@flybackenergy.com
Officers & Board Members
Phillip Smith, Board Member, President psmith@flybackenergy.com
Phillip began his career in the U.S. Navy where he served as a fire control technician for guided missile systems. For the past 32 years he has worked with large-scale DC power and electronics as a project supervisor, field engineer, detail engineer, and applications engineer. In the business environment he has owned and operated two telecommunications companies and held various positions in sales, marketing, and management.
David Babcock, Board Member, Vice President - Product Development dbabcock@flybackenergy.com
David holds a Master Technician Degree in electronics and has spent the last 20 years in the electronics industry, working from a senior level technician up through his current position as a development engineer. His experience includes the design, maintenance, and repair of power-conversion systems, communications and commercial/consumer electronics. He has designed and built a wide variety of test equipment and authored technical manuals for various companies in the electronics industry.
Paul Babcock, Board Member, Vice President - Technology pbabcock@flybackenergy.com
Paul holds a technical degree in Electronics and has twenty-nine years of experience in industrial electronic applications, as a technician, lead technician, training specialist, service manager, project manager and applications and design engineer. Paul has worked with numerous companies and corporations as well as governments and municipalities in many fields ranging from radio communications to aviation, power generation, and telephone and alternative energy. He possesses a high level of technical knowledge in the field of electronics with extensive experience in designing, building and troubleshooting complex electrical systems.
Jim Osborne, Board Member, President - Osborne Transformer josborne@flybackenergy.com
Jim was inspired to become an engineer by his father, Robert Osborne who founded Osborne Transformer Corporation in 1932. As a young man, Jim was involved in many aspects of the growing business and later earned an electrical engineering degree at Michigan State University. Jim’s expertise in electromagnetic components has enabled him to design a variety of specialty AC & DC electromagnets. He is also the lead consulting engineer on the Osborne team, and his clients have included many local and multi-national organizations. Most notably, Jim spearheaded his company’s quality management system. Osborne Transformer is proudly certified to the ISO 9001:2000 quality standard.
Dave Hensel, Board Member dhensel@flybackenergy.com
Dave has a long and prosperous history in mechanical engineering that began with the Ford Motor Company (Crash & Safety Division), Boeing (Bomark & Minuteman Missile programs), then on to private practice in architectural design and construction of commercial / government facilities both in the USA and South America. In 2005 he designed, built, and operates the largest privately owned hyperbaric oxygen chamber in the USA, which is licensed to treat approximately 75 medical disorders. Dave holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Walla Walla University. He has also taken a number of electronic courses at the University of Washington.
PROFESSIONAL TEAM
Bill Thurman, Sr. Electrical Engineer bthurman@flybackenergy.com
Bill’s professional background includes Project Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Electrical Designer, and Electronics Instructor for several prestigious companies such as Key Tronic Corp., Telect Inc., Volt Services Group, and Spraycool. His more recent work surrounds R&D of various telecommunication projects and the design and development of embedded firmware for environmental control systems. He was responsible for 2 patents relating to such. Mr. Thurman brings 35+ years of electrical engineering know-how and work experience to Flyback Energy. He holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA.
Art Rocco, Sr. Electrical Engineer arocco@flybackenergy.com
Art has 40+ years work experience in project and design engineering covering motor controls, power supplies, embedded microprocessors, microcomputers, and network systems. Some of the products he designed include flight control and display systems, inertial navigation systems, blood analyzers, power supplies, battery chargers, fuelcell power systems, and microwave communication links. In addition to his contributions to a number of Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Rocco has taught math, physics, and computer science courses at RCA Institute – New York City, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and Whitworth College – the latter 3 all located in Spokane, WA. Art earned both BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from City College of New York.
Mark Stewart, Business Operations mstewart@flybackenergy.com
Mark has over 30 years experience in business and administrative management. Since 2001 he has specialized in professional business consulting and has helped over 175 companies throughout the U.S. and Canada with cost controls and improved profitability. His programs involve the design, development, and implementation of accounting systems, financial controls, job costing, inventory management, process controls, business plans, customer support programs, Human Resource management, incentive and training programs. Mark has a Bachelors degree in Business Economics from the University of California.
Carl Loeffler, Corporate & Securities Attorney cloeffler@flybackenergy.com
Carl graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1998. Prior to joining a software start-up company, HBN, Inc., as Chief Legal Officer in 2003, he worked for the law firms of Pillsbury Winthrop and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Silicon Valley as a corporate & securities attorney specializing in early-stage technology companies.
Stephen Schaefer, Patent Attorney, Partner, Fish & Richardson PC sschaefer@flybackenergy.com
Steve’s legal practice is focused on devising intellectual property strategies for clients, including obtaining patent protection in the United States and abroad, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of intellectual property assets. His practice includes working with emerging companies to develop a comprehensive intellectual property strategy, and also includes intellectual property litigation (primarily patent and trade secret litigation).
Craige Thompson, Patent Attorney, Associate, Fish & Richardson PC cthompson@flybackenergy.com
Craige is an associate of Fish & Richardson who specializes in patent prosecution in the area of electrical engineering. Craige also has technical experience as a design engineer as a member of the product development team for Plexus Technology Group (1993-2000).