Meet the Pointwise Management Team

John R. Chawner	John P. Steinbrenner	Richard J. Matus

President

After starting his professional career doing applied CFD in the Propulsion Analysis Group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics - Fort Worth), co-founder John Chawner transferred into the CFD Group and began working as a Gridgen software developer in 1987. Since 1994, he has been involved in all facets of Pointwise's products - software development, projects, support, and training - leading to one of his current roles, product manager. He also oversees business operations and new business development. Mr. Chawner earned a B.S. in mechanical/aerospace engineering in 1984 from Syracuse University and an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1990. Follow John on Twitter at @jchawner.

Vice President, Research & Development

Co-founder John Steinbrenner initiated Gridgen's development in 1984 when he joined the nascent CFD Group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics - Fort Worth). Dr. Steinbrenner has been leading development of Gridgen and Pointwise ever since, including both internally funded and contractually funded development. Dr. Steinbrenner earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1982, an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University in 1984, and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1995.

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Rick Matus joined Pointwise during its first year of operation. He leads the sales and marketing activities. Previously, Dr. Matus was product manager for the RAMPANT CFD solver, predecessor of Fluent, at Fluent, Inc. and for several years supervised and performed applied CFD at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division. Dr. Matus earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in 1980, an M.S. in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M in 1981, and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1986.

Meet the Pointwise Staff

Andrea Alvarado

Marketing Assistant

Before joining Pointwise's sales and marketing team, Andrea Alvarado was an event planner and trade show coordinator for Levin Consulting. She also has experience in sales and marketing collateral development.

Pat Baker

Manager, Product Development

Pat Baker has 16 years experience in software design and development for both scientific and business applications, including consulting on the port of Gridgen to Windows and work at Sabre, Hewlett-Packard, and Convex. Immediately prior to joining Pointwise, he was the principal developer at Softsmiths of a suite of applications for the electric industry. Mr. Baker earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering with a minor in computer science from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1984.

Jan Batts

Administrative Assistant

Jan Batts has more than 20 years experience as a communications specialist, including work in copy writing, editing, design, and marketing strategy development and implementation. At Pointwise, she does marketing communications and customer relationship management.

Travis Carrigan

Technical Sales Engineer

Travis Carrigan works alongside Dr. Chris Sideroff on our Sales Team. He will receive his M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in May 2011, where his thesis subject is "Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine." Travis received his B.S. in aerospace engineering in 2009 from UTA and began working at Pointwise as an intern on our Technical Support Team in 2008.

Jim Colby

Senior Engineer, Product Development

Jim Colby brings 27 years of professional software development experience to our Product Development Team, which he joined in September 2010 as Senior Engineer. His most recent experience prior to Pointwise was with FEI Company, where he wrote software used for focused ion beam microscopes used in circuit edit applications. He also worked at Electroglas, Timepres, KLA-Tencor, and Lockheed Martin. Mr. Colby earned an M.S. in Computational Physics from San Jose State University in 1994 and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 1983.

Rose Mary Crager

Office Administrator

Rose Mary Crager handles bookkeeping and accounting for Pointwise, including accounts payable and accounts receivable. She has a B.S. in Technical Management and has been an office manager, legal secretary/paralegal and has taught adult education computer classes. With her unique skill set, she makes sure the office runs smoothly so the technical staff can remain focused on our customers.

Carolyn Dear

Manager, Support & Consulting

Carolyn Dear was a member of the Engineering Research Center's Computational Simulation and Design Center at Mississippi State University, where she earned a B.S. and M.S. in aerospace engineering in 2000 and 2004. Ms. Dear's research involved the CFD analysis and simulations of gas turbines. At Pointwise, she leads all aspects of providing customers with technical support, training, and documentation.

Mike Eggleston

Computer Systems Administrator

Mike Eggleston supports all Pointwise's information technology needs. He earned a B.S. in MIS with a mathematics minor from Tarleton State University in 1987.

Chris Fouts

Staff Specialist, Product Development

Chris Fouts was one of the three original Gridgen developers and worked in the CFD group at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics - Fort Worth). Prior to joining Pointwise, Mr. Fouts was a software developer at SGI, where he worked on Cosmo Player, Inventor, and related technology and a systems engineer in SGI's Dallas office. He earned a B.A.E. (Bachelors of Aerospace Engineering) and an M.S. in aerospace engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

Erick Gantt

Engineering Specialist, Support & Consulting

Erick Gantt is the senior meshing specialist on our Support Team. After earning a B.S. in aerospace engineering (cooperative plan) from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987, Mr. Gantt joined General Dynamics, Fort Worth Division (now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics - Fort Worth), where he worked for a short time on the National Aerospace Plane Project (NASP) program performing CFD analysis. He spent the remainder of his time at Lockheed Martin working in the CFD Group performing CFD analysis for advanced F-16 designs, the F-22 program, and finally the JSF program prior to joining Pointwise in 1997.

David Garlisch

Senior Engineer, Product Development

David Garlisch brings 23 years of software development experience to our product development team. Prior to joining Pointwise, he spent 10 years with CADSoft Solutions and Punch! Software, where he co-developed Concepts 3D, a cross-platform, ACIS-based, hybrid solid and surface modeling CAD system. He earned a B.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1984.

Heather McCoy

Manager, Sales & Marketing Programs

In addition to managing Pointwise's sales and marketing activities, Heather McCoy is the company's community relations coordinator. She joined Pointwise in January 1999. Ms. McCoy graduated from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, in 1991 with a B.A. in political science.

Allison Niemann

Engineer, Support & Consulting

Allison Niemann began work at Pointwise during her sophomore year as an intern on our Support Team. She continued her internship at Pointwise until she received her B.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington in December 2010. After graduation, Ms. Niemann began working for Pointwise's Support Team on quality assurance testing, documentation, and training videos.

Claudio Pita, Ph.D.

Senior Engineer, Applied Research

Dr. Pita joined Pointwise in September 2010 after completing a year-long term as Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. At Pointwise, Dr. Pita is a Senior Engineer on our Applied Research Team, developing and implementing advanced technologies for addition to our products. Dr. Pita earned a B.S. and an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the Instituto Balseiro in Argentina and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. His Ph.D. research involved "Modeling of oxide bifilms in aluminum castings using the Immersed Element-Free Galerkin Method."

Myranda Reeves

Engineer, Product Development

Myranda Reeves joined Pointwise in November 2007 after working on software for the JSF program at L-3 Communications. She also worked at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as a software engineer on the F-16, F-35, and F-22 cockpit display and communication software teams. Ms. Reeves earned a B.S. in math with a minor in computer science from Texas Tech University in 2001.

George Shrewsbury, Ph.D.

Senior Engineer, Support & Consulting

George Shrewsbury has more than 40 years experience in experimental aerodynamics and computational modeling for both aerodynamics and propulsion applications. He previously worked at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company as a CFD specialist, where he supported a variety of programs, including the X-35, YF-22, JASSM, and T-50. Dr. Shrewsbury earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Chris Sideroff, Ph.D.

Technical Sales Engineer

Chris Sideroff joined Pointwise in September 2007 after working as a petroleum engineer for the NATCO Group, a CAD engineer for ARV Development, and a computer technician for Harddata Ltd. Dr. Sideroff earned both a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta in 2000 and 2003. He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University in 2009, where his dissertation subject was "Detailed Examinations of the Human Micro-Environment by CFD".

Randy Spencer

Computer Systems Technician

Randy Spencer served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an electronic intelligence analyst, completing tours in Kuwait and Iraq. After being discharged, he earned an Associate of Arts degree and an Associate of Applied Science in Information Security Technology degree from Tarrant County College. Mr. Spencer is also CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Security+ certified. At Pointwise, Mr. Spencer helps maintain all the IT systems including hardware, software, and networks.

Xiaohang (Wenny) Wang, Ph.D.

Senior Engineer, Support & Consulting

Wenny Wang, who joined Pointwise in August 2006, earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a minor in applied mathematics from Iowa State University in 2006. Her research there involved CFD simulation of supercritical CO2 pipe flow. She earned B.S. and M.S degrees in heating, ventilation and air conditioning from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.

Nick Wyman

Director, Applied Research

Nick Wyman directs Pointwise's research efforts, focusing contracted software development on solving problems faced by our customers. He joined Pointwise in 1998 as a Gridgen developer and became manager of the entire Development Team. He received a B.S. in aerospace engineering and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1992 and 1994. Before joining Pointwise, he worked for Advanced Scientific Computing (later AEA Technology), performing CFD applications work and developing grid generation software for turbomachinery.