About Us: Management Team

Dr. Michael O'Connor, CEO
While a graduate student at Stanford University, Dr. Michael O'Connor led the team that invented the first-ever farm tractor steering control system using GPS. The project, sponsored by John Deere, ultimately produced four Ph.D. dissertations and was the seed for the AutoFarm product line. Michael obtained his B.S. from M.I.T. in 1992, M.S. in 1993, and Ph.D. in 1997 from Stanford University. Dr. O'Connor was recently named to the 2003 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by Technology Review Magazine.

Seth Halio, CFO
Seth Halio joined Novariant in May 2008 as Chief Financial Officer. Most recently, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Diamond Foods, Inc., where he had worked since 2005. Prior to that, Seth served in various senior financial management positions including roles as Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller at Ocular Sciences, Inc., Spectra-Physics, Inc., Digital Video Systems, Inc. and California Microwave, Inc. Earlier in his career, Seth spent over eight years with Ernst & Young LLP. Seth graduated from Bucknell University.

Ken Johnson, Vice President of Human Resources
Ken joined Novariant in March 2009 as Vice President of Human Resources. Ken is an HR executive with over twenty years of experience that includes strategic planning, company culture development, acquisition integration, initial public offerings and employee development. He joins us from Avanex Corporation where he was the VP of HR. He previously served in an executive role with Placer Sierra Bancshares and Spectra-Physics after beginning his career as an HR professional with Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Ken has a B.S. degree in business administration and an MBA from Notre Dame de Namur University.

Ray Vallejo, Executive Vice President of Engineering & Operations
Ray Vallejo heads up the Engineering and Operations organizations which also includes Quality, and Program Management. Ray brings 25 years of diverse Engineering and Operations experience in start-up, turn-arounds, and billion dollar companies. Mr. Vallejo's product and service experience includes; medical diagnostic imaging, wireless, computing, broadcasting, networking, video serving, 3D graphics, storage, consumer electronics, and professional service. His billion dollar and public company experience includes; SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc.), Siemens, and Gould. Ray's previous positions include; COO for AccuImage Diagnostics (a public company), COO for Imedia Corp., VP of Operations for Malibu Networks, Sr. VP of Operations for BridgeWave Communications, VP & GM for Reply Corp., VP of Operations for Maxoptix, Vice President of Operations for Zapex Inc, Sr. Director for SGI. As employee #40 at SGI he helped build and lead a global Manufacturing organization for 7 years resulting in annual sales of $400M and a successful IPO.

Alex Cortez, Vice President and General Manager of Mining
Alex is the Vice President and General Manager of Novariant's mining business and is focused on building an impressive leadership team that will position the Novariant mining technology group for the future. Alex brings 15 years of direct mine design, operations and mine management experience, and over 15 years of experience in sales, marketing-after-sales-support and manufacturing of mining equipment throughout the world. Mr. Cortez's previous positions include; Mine Manager for The Anaconda Mining Company, General Manager for American Nuclear Corporation, Vice President with PACCAR's Mining Equipment Division, Vice President with Atlas Copco a $3 billion mining equipment company and Senior Vice President for MAN GHH a German Consortium of mining manufactures.

Peter Johnston, Vice President Global Sales & Marketing
Peter Johnston joined Novariant, Inc. as Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing in 2009. Prior to this, as acting Managing Director of gps-Ag, Peter built the largest independent distributorship of Precision Ag products in Australia, growing the business at an average rate of 40% per annum. Peter's experience covers both irrigated and dry land agricultural production systems throughout Australia and New Zealand and includes and is not limited to irrigated row crops, cereal and pulse production, vegetable production and viticultural enterprises. Peter is a graduate of Melbourne University.

Kurt Zimmerman, CTO
Kurt Zimmerman is a founder of Novariant and has been a key contributor to the Company's success by serving in a variety of roles over the history of the company. As a graduate student at Stanford university, Dr. Zimmerman researched application of GPS pseudolites for control of robotic vehicles. This research led to the development of Terralite™ XPS ground transmitters, the core technology platform for Novariant's Mining Business. Kurt is an inventor on over 20 Novariant patents, and most recently served as the lead product manager for the mining business. Kurt obtained his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989, and M.S. in 1990 and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1996.