Management Team

Cryptite is guided in visionary management and engineering by a talented and experienced team of executives, engineering consultants, and advisors.

Kerry Brown, CEO/CTO and Founder

Kerry Brown was Chief Technology Officer, founder, and angel investor of QSecure, a leader in the card-based payment industry until 2010. During his five year tenure, he built a team of renowned scientists and engineers, forged alliances with the payment card infrastructure, secured partnerships with card associations and other financial institutions, initiated development of a novel MEMS device for magnetic stripe payment card with in-situ programming that was demonstrated on a real-world transaction network in 2007, raised over $32MM, and brought the company to investment-to-acquisition discussions with a major institution that valued "the team, IP, and business model" of QSecure.

Mr. Brown is an inventor in materials science and MEMS device structures, cryptography, and business models/enabling methodologies. He is an inventor on over 50 patents issued or in prosecution in the MEMS, electronic payment card systems and manufacturing technologies, mobile and contactless/RFID financial transaction devices and software, fraud detection and analysis methodologies, novel mobile and payment card device cryptography, and business models for secure data transfer between entities, payment card user data intelligence, among others.

In 2001-2003, Mr. Brown was the Chief Technology Officer, co-founder, and angel investor for ViVOtech, a provider of NFC proximity payment solutions, enabling more than 1 million merchant point-of-sale (POS) systems with rapid, scalable and cost-effective deployment of secure contactless cards and cell phone payment capabilities. Over 1 million ViVOtech products are currently in use in over 40 countries and have been recognized with several industry awards. Mr. Brown's ViVOtech contributions won the Electronics Transaction Association Innovative Technology Award in March 2005, and the Frost and Sullivan Electronic Payment Enabling Technology Award in May 2005. ViVOtech was acquired by Sequent and ID Tech in late 2012.

Prior to founding ViVOtech, Mr. Brown was founder and CTO of I-Borg, an augmented reality wearable computer systems company, from 1999-2001. The I-Borg ViVOwallet division assets and technology were spun off in a new partnership with two other founders, and named ViVOtech. Prior to I-Borg, Mr. Brown served as Vice President and founder of TEMAC, a multi-million dollar elemental analysis laboratory, acquired by Kawasaki. This independent research and analysis laboratory was the first such company in Southeast Asia; it provided quality testing, materials research, and failure analysis services for such clients as Coca-Cola, Seagate, AMD, Hana Microelectronics Group, and other prominent companies. TEMAC was acquired by Kawasaki in 1997.

Prior to founding TEMAC, Mr. Brown served as Vice President of Hana Microelectronics (EASDAQ: HTL) and co-founder of the engineering and marketing division. Mr. Brown's team provided the geographic diversification that was pivotal during his position as corporate liaison for Patyra-Thanakit, the sponsor for listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, with an IPO in 1995.

Mr. Brown worked as a Member of the Research Staff at Xerox-PARC, receiving the Special Achievement Award. Mr. Brown attended educational programs in electronic engineering and information systems at Stanford University and University of San Francisco.

Edgar M. Williams, Magnetician

Edgar M. Williams has 46 years of experience in magnetic recording and in xerographic technologies, of which 19 years were with IBM Corporation in San Jose where he developed recording materials, media, heads, and laser printers. In 1983 he co-founded Gemini Magnetics, Inc. and developed thin film recording media, and in 1985 he joined ReadRite as Director of Technology where he established thin film head design and applications engineering activities for the corporation. He was promoted to Vice President in 1989, appointed to Chief Technical Officer in 1993 and became ReadRite's first Fellow in 1997. He has published the books “Design and Analysis of Magnetoresistive Recording Heads” and “The Physics and Technology of Xerographic Processes”, as well as papers, monographs and book chapters, and has taught over the many years in his profession. He holds four U.S. patents in recording head technologies.

Mr. Williams has degrees in electrical engineering and in physics, is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the American Physical Society, was an adjunct faculty member of the I.I.S.T. at Santa Clara University, and is a past Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics

Joyce Thompson, PhD, Director of Materials Research

Dr. Joyce Thompson is highly experienced in the magnetic and optical sciences, and was a major contributor to the QSecure magnetic science MEMS device during her four years tenure. During her seven years at ReadRite, the world's largest independent magnetic head manufacturer, she excelled as Director of FA Engineering, responsible for magnetic science and recording technology. Dr. Thompson co-authored patents and numerous technical papers on magnetic media and optical recording technology.

Dr. Thompson was managing director and co-founder of TEMAC, a $3+ million joint-venture elemental analysis laboratory sold to Kawasaki. This independent research and analysis laboratory was the first such company in Southeast Asia; it provided quality testing, materials research and characterization, and failure analysis services for such clients as Coca-Cola, Seagate, AMD, Hana Microelectronics Group, and other prominent companies. Prior to TEMAC, Dr. Thompson was a 3-5 materials research scientist at the Watkins-Johnson Palo Alto facility. Dr. Thompson graduated from MIT with a BS in Materials Science and an MS in Metallurgy. Dr. Thompson completed her doctoral thesis on magnetic recording materials and received her PhD in Materials Science from Stanford University.

Kamran Abadi, PhD, Electronic Engineering

Dr. Kamran Abadi is highly experienced in the analog and wireless system design and circuit implementation technologies. During his 25 years with his consulting company, Radian Associates, he has worked on cell-phones, cordless phones, GPS (aided and autonomous), and wireless LAN chipsets, among other product designs. Dr. Abadi holds over 5 patents, and is a significant contributor to the Cryptite InterPOSer Card technology. Dr. Abadi often participates in due-diligence of complex technologies for Venture Capitalist and Institutional Funding groups. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Weidong Li, PhD, Magnetic Modeling and Design

Dr. Weidong Li is very experienced in magnetic materials and magnetic devices. He was a major contributor to the QSecure magnetic MEMS device during his four year tenure with the company. Prior to joining QSecure, Dr. Li worked extensively investigating magnetic materials and devices as a research scientist at Dartmouth and MIT and also worked on MEMS device R&D at NEC. He has co-authored 15 patents and more than 20 technical papers on magnetic materials and MEMS devices. He received his PhD in Applied Physics from Tohoku University.

Dan Cvrcek, PhD, Mobile Device Applications Development

Dr. Dan Cvrcek is highly experienced in the Information and Cryptography fields through his consulting company, SmartArchitects. He provides analysis of security systems implementation, from high-level architectural overview to code inspection of critical parts of their security systems. His expertise stems from strong academic research and research projects undertaken for his clients, to filling the gaps between large consulting companies that deliver reports and product companies that deliver software. These activities are often coupled with internal product development. Dr. Cvrcek enjoyed three years as a post-doctoral researcher at University of Cambridge after he received his M.Sc and PhD degrees from the Brno University of Technology, and is an Associate Professor.

Steven Ray, Systems Engineering

Steven Ray is highly experienced in the field of emissive radiation technologies for payment card emulation at the POS. He provided electronic designs, analysis, and testing programs during his six years at QSecure as VP Hardware Engineering and system architect. Prior to QSecure, he performed duties as Systems Engineering Manager at Rambus. Steven received his B.S Computer Science from Cal-State Pomona.

Paul Tsao, Mechanical Engineering consultant

Paul is highly experienced in the field of ISO standard card body integration and lamination, from reactive molding, casting, and hot/warm temperature classic lamination technologies. He researched existing methods of payment card lamination technologies around the world and designed/developed an in-house reaction-injection molding system for rapid prototyping of electronic payment cards during his nearly 4 years at QSecure. He assisted in the use of high-powered lasers for submicron geometry cutting and integration of complex MEMS devices. Paul received his MSME at San Jose State University.

Daniel Chatelain, Strategic Alliances and Business Development

Daniel Chatelain is a highly experienced and entrepreneurial professional in the Operations and Strategic Alliances, Business Development, and Marketing fields of the payments industry. He provided such services during his nearly 7 years at QSecure, developing relationships with the card associations and securing program funding. Daniel founded the BayPay Forum in 2005 with a present membership of over 3,000 payments professionals. Daniel received an ESIEE Master of Physics and Mathematics.

Carr and Ferrell, Corporate Representation

Cryptite is represented by Carr and Ferrell of Palo Alto, who specialize in serving innovative technology and science start-ups in the areas of corporate formation, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and complex licensing transactions. Their technical, business and legal expertise helps emerging companies and investors transform business concepts into industry leading enterprises.

Richard Main, Esq., IP Representation

Patent Attorney Richard Main was originally an electronics and computer engineer for 12 years. Mr. Main has worked in patent law exclusively for 20 years, prosecuting more than 700 cases. He has a strong background in networking, electronic circuit design, digital and computer hardware, software, wireless, GPS, and Internet. He received his law degree from Santa Clara University; he also earned master's degrees in Computer/Information Engineering and Business Administration from San Jose State University.

Alison Wong, Administration

Alison Wong has 15 years experience as an office manager and supporting senior management. She has worked in start-up companies in a variety of industries: high-tech, consulting, pharmaceutical, medical device, and the securities industries including positions at Keane, PowerMarket, Kagoor Networks, Arginox Pharmaceuticals, and InteKrin Therapeutics.