|
Ralph Gifford is a co-founder and the President of Enventive. Ralph’s passion for mechanical engineering inspired him to
found Enventive in 2001.
From 1988 to 2001, Ralph’s engineering passion was channeled as Mechanical
Advantage Product Manager and VP of Marketing at Cognition Corporation. Striving to help mechanical engineers succeed in the areas of design, analysis, and optimization, Ralph recognized a vital need for a Windows-based,
easy-to-use yet powerful mechanical engineering tool. He envisioned a product with advanced abilities that would deliver quantum improvements in designing complex mechanical systems and improving product quality.
The Enventive software is the culmination of his vision.
The foundation of Ralph's career was established as a sales engineer at Dana Corporation, where he gained invaluable knowledge and experience in sales, field
troubleshooting, product design, and manufacturing across a broad range of industries.
Ralph is a 1982 Mechanical Engineering graduate of WPI.
An outdoor enthusiast, Ralph may be seen on the ski slopes or
cross-country skiing out his own backdoor during the winter season. When the snow melts, Ralph enjoys gardening, backpacking, waterskiing, and canoeing
the Allagash.
|
|
Vince Huffaker is a co-founder of Enventive Engineering and the Vice President of Product Development. Vince's primary responsibility is ensuring that new versions of Enventive are
released in a timely manner, while maintaining a high-quality product. This entails wearing many managerial hats, including software development, infrastructure support, release process and scheduling, and technical support. Vince has a long-time passion for mathematics and graphics and variational design. Before working for Enventive Engineering, Vince worked at Cognition Corporation, where he led the development of the Mechanical Advantage software product.
Vince received a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Math from University of Colorado, a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University. When he's not breaking typing speed records answering technical support requests and working out Enventive technical issues over chat, Vince's free time is typically filled with helping chauffeur his four children to various sporting events. And if there's any time left over, Vince and his wife enjoy keeping up with the latest movies.
|
|
Dr. Jim Hurt, one of the co-founders of Enventive Engineering, is Vice President of Core Technology. Jim headed up the group that provided
the mathematical core code for Cognition's Mechanical
Advantage, the predecessor to Enventive software, and he fulfills the same role for Enventive. Prior to founding Enventive, Dr. Hurt was Senior Vice President of
DigiLore, Inc., a company specializing in Learning Life Cycle
Management, the creation and management of on-line training. Dr. Hurt's past experience is diverse. As a Technical Fellow at Structural Dynamics Research
Corporation, he was the technical lead for teams developing code
for advanced geometry creation such as Variational Sweep. At Deere and Company (John Deere), Dr. Hurt was
responsible for enhancing product quality assurance,
including tolerance stack up analysis.
For the U.S. Army Weapons Laboratory, Dr. Hurt was
responsible for tactical battlefield simulations that
provided advice on which weapon characteristics (e.g. rate of fire
versus accuracy) to focus research and design efforts. Dr. Hurt also worked as a consultant for M. K. Ferguson
and other companies. With a special interest in standards compliance, Dr. Hurt served on the ANSI Y14.5.1 standards committee "Mathematical
Definition of Dimensioning and Tolerancing Principles." Dr. Hurt received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering
and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from the
University of Iowa, and a Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from Brown
University.
|
|
Don Luhring is a Senior Software Engineer at Enventive Engineering, responsible for user interface and the Excel COM link. Don is dedicated to quality software design, and is motivated to find new and enhanced ways to most effectively present user interface components to Enventive software users.
Don has 20 years of experience in software design and implementation, and has worked in the areas of GIS and CAD/CAM. Work in these areas has helped contribute to Don's understanding of Enventive software user's needs. Don has a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Math from University of Colorado. Don enjoys telemark and backcountry skiing, mountain biking, hiking, fishing and other outdoor activities.
|
Kurt Andersen is the Chief Architect of Enventive Engineering. His first challenge was to inspire enthusiasm by displaying Enventive's geometric data as graphics on the screen. Kurt created all the major subsystems Enventive needed to display the very first line and constraint, and continues to maintain and expand on these subsystems.
Prior to Enventive, Kurt was the Chief Architect and a co-founder of Immersive Design, where he wrote the initial code and designed the subsystems for a virtual reality assembly modeler that allows users to rapidly create assemblies, animations, and interactive websites from CAD programs such as SolidWorks.
Kurt began his career at ComputerVision (CV). By the end of Kurt's tenure, he was responsible for designing new products for CV. One of the core project themes that Kurt worked on was a “need for speed,” which in many cases meant faster graphics and rapid software development.
Kurt earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University. While at ISU, he worked on the graphics for displaying protein molecules.
Like many other Enventors, Kurt enjoys downhill skiing and road biking when he isn’t at the keyboard.
|
Kristin Dawson is Enventive Engineering's Customer Success Manager. In this role,
she is responsible for enabling our customers to achieve optimal
business results with Enventive. Kristin develops and delivers both
standard and custom-tailored training to get users up and running
quickly, and provides personal, expert guidance and technical support
to ensure each user's success. Kristin has
10 years of experience working in the medical device industry. She has worked in roles across the entire product lifecycle for endoscopic surgical instruments: Product Design Engineer, Component Development Engineer, and Manufacturing Engineer. Because of this experience, she is passionate about
robust product design, and is excited to have the opportunity to
help other engineers in this area. Kristin
achieved Six Sigma Black Belt certification from Johnson & Johnson
in 2001, and she also served as an instructor for Green Belt and Design
for Six Sigma training modules. She earned her M.S. and B.S. degrees
in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, and her
thesis involved modeling the forces and moments generated at the
shoulder due to arm movements. Kristin also works as a volunteer National Ski Patrol at her local ski area, where she treats the symptoms that result from forces and moments acting on shoulders, knees, and various other parts.
|
|
Tracy McCurdy is the Documentation Manager for Enventive
Engineering. In this role, Tracy has responsibility for the development
and
implementation of a variety of written communication including online help, training
materials, and website content.
Passionate about software usability, Tracy also contributes her
talents to user interface elements such as graphical components,
workflow, and other aspects that enhance Enventive's ease of use.
Tracy has over 21 years of experience in technical writing
and software usability, working in a number of industries such as GIS,
CAD/CAM, and telecommunications. Drawing on this background, Tracy provides Enventive software users with quality materials that help ensure their
success learning and using the Enventive software. Throughout the winter season, Tracy teaches alpine and telemark skiing at Powderhorn Resort in Colorado. During warmer weather, mountain biking, gardening, fishing and hiking fill the recreational time while waiting for the snow to fall again.
|
|
|
Home