Leadership

John McKenna is the Chief Executive Officer of TASI Group. Beginning in August of 2012, John led the TASI Flow Segment, then comprised of six instrumentation companies in North America, Europe and Asia. In July of 2015, John became the CEO of TASI Group and has strengthened TASI’s focus on its four strategic business segments through acquisition, adding many businesses to TASI’s portfolio.

John has extensive senior leadership experience driving strategic and organizational excellence at industrial technology companies including Ashcroft and Invensys / Foxboro. He has in-depth experience in verticals that matter to TASI, such as chemical, oil and gas, pulp and paper, food, pharmaceuticals and power generation. John has vast global experiences covering China, Brazil, India, Japan and other diverse geographies, including setting up factories in China and Brazil and JVs in India.

John is a dynamic CEO/general manager with significant experience managing full P&Ls of global manufacturing and software development operations, in both turnaround and growth situations. He is a strong leader with a proven ability to recruit and develop high-performing executive teams. Specific experience in industrial products and automation industries, include software, hardware, and systems process control technologies and products.

Jim Schauer is the Chief Financial Officer at TASI Group, joining the company in September 2015. Jim brings with him over 25 years of international experience in various finance roles in manufacturing, engineering and service environments. Jim joined TASI Group from TAS Energy where he held the position of CFO. Prior to this Jim worked for General Electric, Flow & Process Technologies (formerly Dresser Inc.) where he last held the position General Manager for the Americas Region and was previously Vice President Finance for Flow Technologies. Prior to General Electric, Jim spent a large portion of his career at Invensys Process Systems Inc. in various manufacturing and finance roles including an overseas assignment.

Jim has a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Finance as well as a Master of Business Administration, all from Bryant College, and is a Certified Management Accountant. Jim is married with two children, a dog and three cats and likes to spend his free time at Newfound Lake in New Hampshire.

Ethan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology with a Minor in Business Management from Tennessee Technological University.  He has been employed by ATC Automation since 2001, working his first 6 years as a machine designer, over a decade as a Business Unit Manager and Director of Operations.

Since his graduation from TTU in 2000, Ethan has proven through his continuous actions that he has a great passion for giving back to TTU, the local community, and his highly technical profession. He takes pride in seeing the success of others and playing an instrumental role in that success.

Ethan resides in Cookeville, TN with his wife of 20 years, Julie and their children Lily and Landon.  He is an active member of First Baptist Church in Cookeville.  In his free time, Ethan enjoys spending time with his family, competitive fishing, woodworking, hunting, and golf.

Kevin Hansell is the President of the Product Integrity Segment and the interim General Manager for CTS & Sciemetric. Kevin joined the TASI team in 2006, and since 2011 has led Cincinnati Test Systems through a period of rapid growth by gaining market share and expanding into new vertical and international markets. Kevin believes that great products and great people are the core of any successful company and has built a strong team who continuously develop products that advance the state of the art and solve critical problems for customers.

Prior to working at TASI, Kevin’s experience includes leadership roles in product development, systems engineering and sales at Cincinnati Incorporated and GE Aviation.

Kris Fairfield is the President of the Package Integrity segment of TASI Group. The Package Integrity segment consists of four businesses: ALPS – located in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; Sepha – located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Bonfiglioli Engineering – located in Ferrara, Italy, and Cassel Inspection – located in Dransfeld, Germany. Kris has been part of TASI Group since July of 2018.

Kris brings extensive international experience to TASI Group, with a strong commercial and general management background. Before joining TASI Group, Kris spent over a decade working for Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he held various commercial and management roles including managing a business in Shanghai China, and more recently managing the global product inspection business that included sites in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Parma, Italy.

Kris is a passionate proven global business leader with experience leading large multinational teams including commercial, product management, R&D and field service, and managing full P&L responsibilities. He is a proven leader that leads by example, and believes employees are the most valued asset within an organization.

In his free time, Kris enjoys travelling the globe with his wife and experiencing different cultures. He is looking to hit the century mark for countries visited by 2020.

John Norris is President of the Measurement Segment of TASI Group.  Prior to joining TASI Group, John was the President of ONICON Incorporated; a flow and energy measurement business acquired by TASI Group in April 2019.  The TASI  Measurement Segment includes the following businesses: AW-Lake, Air Monitor, EXACT Dispensing, Fox Thermal, KEM, Litre Meter, Mission Communications, ONICON, Pulsar, Pyromation, Seametrics,  Sierra Instruments, SignalFire, and Vogtlin Instruments.

John has spent more than 30 years in industrial businesses and held roles in materials, operations, sales, and general management. He is motivated by a desire to build high performing customer-focused operations.

John is excited by the challenge of leading and integrating the TASI Measurement business into the future. He is passionate and committed to delivering quality engineered measurement products and services to our customers and providing a positive and encouraging environment the promotes continuing staff development.

Jill Shearer is the General Manager of ALPS Inspection. The world leader in leak detection of injection blow-molded plastics, ALPS manufactures, sells, and services solutions for in-line leak inspection of containers.

Jill re-joined ALPS in 2018 as Project Manager, building on her 15 years of previous experience with ALPS. Jill’s passion for customer relationship building is the guiding force that drives all aspects of the ALPS business, from new machine development to field service. Jill is excited to lead the talented ALPS team on its journey toward sustainable and strategic global growth.

In her free time, Jill enjoys performing in Milwaukee’s premier classical, choral music ensemble and German folk dancing at local festivals.

Mark Iverson is the General Manager at the AW-Lake Company. Together with our European Sister Companies, AW-Lake’s products offer the most complete line of flow meters, monitors, sensors, and controllers available in the industry.

Mark joined the TASI team in 2007 and has held numerous roles at AW-Lake as Product Line Manager, Director of Engineering, and Sales Engineer. Since 2014 Mark has lead the AW-Lake team as General Manager with a vision to provide the right technology for the right application, develop niche products for niche applications, and to bring yesterday’s mechanical flow meters into today’s IIoT.

Since attending Marquette University, Mark has been a resident of Wisconsin after growing up in California and Arizona. His wife, two kids, and Marquette basketball bring him happiness through the long winters.

Andrea’s previous experience is mainly related to the pharmaceutical market, where he has been active for almost 15 years working for different manufacturing companies, all devoted to the production of top quality equipment for this industry. The most important previous experience has been with Stilmas, an Italian company specialized in the production of pharma water generation systems.

Andrea has a strong commercial background that, coupled with international business experience and with know-how in lean manufacturing processes and methods, supports him in the management of a fast evolving and dynamic company like Bonfiglioli Engineering. A strong trust in team work guides Andrea’s actions in the life of the Company.

Thanks to Andrea, Bonfiglioli Engineering scaled its knowledge, power and influence in the Pharma sector, that is now definitely the reference market.

Cord Cassel is the Managing Director of CASSEL Inspection, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of metal detection and X-ray inspection systems for industrial applications. Cord founded the business 25 years ago as a small business operating out of a garage. His engineering expertise and ability to attract and assemble a high-performing design team, helped grow CASSEL into a multi-million dollar business. With a manufacturing site in Dransfeld, Germany and over 70 employees, CASSEL provides customizable inspection systems to a number of industries including food & beverage, timber, nonwovens, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemicals, and more.

CASSEL Inspection is motivated by quality and driven to provide solutions that enable their customers to provide products of the highest integrity. Like other TASI Group Packaging Integrity businesses, CASSEL has earned its long-standing reputation by protecting the reputations of their customers.

Eric Kersting is the General Manager of Cincinnati Test Systems. He started his career at CTS in 2007 and has held several roles in engineering, project management, general management, and as the head of the company’s custom engineered solutions business. Through his extensive experience with leak testing, the manufacturing test environment and with a focus on customer requirements, he continues to lead the growth and innovation that have made CTS a top brand in leak testing.

Eric has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. He enjoys spending time with his wife Julie and three sons, golfing and cheering on the Bengals, Reds, and Cincinnati Bearcats.

Amanda Deng is General Manager of Cincinnati Test Systems Shanghai. Amanda joined the CTS team in 2006 as the first employee of CTS China, and managed to grow CTS Shanghai into a market leader in all scales. She also helped CTS established a highly efficient, self-functioning team which gained CTS China a promising rapid growth for the next coming 10 years.

For the past 12 years, Amanda expanded CTS Shanghai from one location to a five location branched offices company, setup a sales/service network to have China fully covered to meet all kinds of sales opportunities and challenges. Amanda believes that great products and great people are the core of any successful company – people above all, matter. She will keep working on building the team and forming the company culture to ensure a bright future for CTS China.

Amanda is a passionate new learner of golf who still struggles to beat her personal goal. She is a foodie too; and European cheese and wine are her favorite.

Marc Freedman is the General Manager of Dynamic Automation & Robotics. Marc has over 36 years of manufacturing experience, including 22 years of ownership of Dynamic.

Marc previously founded and sold a number of businesses in the action sporting goods industry, with a particular focus on snowboarding.

Previously, Marc worked for Southern California Edison for 12 years, where he began as a Compliance Engineer at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) and ascended to become the Supervisor of Refueling Operations for SONGS 2 and 3, which included supervising a composite crew of over 150 union workers in various trades.

Marc holds a degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Eric Scherer has been with EXACT Dispensing since 1995. Starting at an entry level, Eric has moved through manufacturing, tech support, engineering, sales, operations management, and currently, shifted into the General Manager position.

EXACT provides dispensing solutions around the world for a vast array of industries, including filter, motor, solar, and aerospace. The endless arrays of applications present the challenges that, along with his exceptional team, drive his passion to develop new and improved solutions.

He has been married for over 33 years and very proud to have raised two successful boys who currently hold Occupational Therapist and Nuclear Engineering positions.

Eric has lived in several locations on both coasts and currently resides in Maine.

Living in Maine provides the quiet atmosphere and outdoor activities he enjoys such as boating/fishing, hunting and is currently building a new home on a lake to continue his dreams.

Pascal Schröer is the General Manager of innomatec Leak Test Solutions. Since joining innomatec in 2007 he has held several roles, ranging from mechanical design, product management, R&D, and sales. In support of the company’s growth, he helped set up a sales and manufacturing operation in India and lived in China for two years to build what is now a successful business. Later he focused on sales, using his in-depth expertise to further expand the company’s business in the European market and beyond.

Pascal has a BA Mechanical Engineering degree from HSRM. He enjoys spending time in nature with his family and dogs and competitive cycling and motorcycle racing.

Silke Afzalian Mand is Vice President TASI Industrial Liquid Flow and leads international operations, with responsibility for businesses in Europe, Asia, and North America. Since 2019, Silke is also the Managing Director of KEM, the German flow measurement business among the TASI Flow group of companies. Silke originally joined KEM as Head of Finance and Human Resources in 2006, and since then she has been successfully supporting ongoing organic growth strategies as well as TASI M&A initiatives.

Before working for KEM Silke gained experience in finance, accounting, and HR. In her twenties she took on her first leadership role for an international pharmaceutical company, but has also worked in other industries, including IT and Logistics.

Silke is passionate about building and leading mission-driven teams to exceed customer expectations with sophisticated products and services. Silke is deeply grateful for having the opportunity to work for TASI where she can develop on both a professional and personal level, combining her career and family life.

When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and she likes cooking and traveling.

Charles Wemyss is CEO of Litre Meter Limited, based in the United Kingdom. Charles has been with Litre Meter since 1982 and purchased the business outright in 2001. Charles sold to TASI in 2011 and has remained in the same role. Since it’s founding in 1975, the company has been dedicated to Specialist Flow Measurement Engineering.

Litre Meter won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2016. Litre Meter’s reputation in the measurement market for the design of low flow, high pressure flow meters suitable for aggressive fluids and for installation in hazardous areas, has not wavered and still stands strong today. Charles is proud of Litre Meter’s ability to design and manufacture high quality devices for flow measurement, including bespoke products for handling custom requirements.

Charles lives locally and enjoys his ancient Land Rover, more modern Aston Martin and supports Arsenal and Formula One.

Bill Valentine is General Manager of ONICON, Inc. a market leader in flow and energy measurement products used primarily in hydronic heating and cooling systems. Bill joined ONICON in 2016 as VP of Engineering responsible for leading engineering teams at ONICON’s family of flow measurement companies including Greyline, Air Monitor, Fox Thermal, Seametrics and Pulsar.

Bill has 30+ years of experience developing precision instrumentation used in a wide variety of industries including semi-conductor, biomedical, agriculture, oil & gas and aerospace. Prior to joining ONICON, he held VP and CTO roles at Brooks Instrument and Celerity.

Bill has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, SLO and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Eric Sawyer is General Manager of Pyromation, one of the leading manufacturers of temperature sensors in North America.  Producing a wide variety of thermocouples, RTDs, and thermowells in both standard and custom designs, Pyromation is focused on delivering value to the company’s customers and living up to the organization’s tagline: “Speed, Service, Solutions… Beyond Measure”.

Eric joined Pyromation in 2004 as a Manufacturing Engineer during the early days of the company’s Lean transformation.  He then moved into a Project Manager function before eventually stepping into the Engineering Manager role in 2007.  He served in that capacity for 15 years until ascending to the General Manager position in 2022.  Eric has a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and is certified in project management (PMP), Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Manufacturing, and quality… but has learned mostly by doing.  He is passionate about leadership, integrity, accountability, and building meaningful partnerships with Pyromation’s team members, customers, suppliers, and local community.

Shankar is a customer-focused business leader with domestic & international experience in growing sales, managing operations, and developing new products for new markets. His passion is to deliver consistently high-quality service to customers across the entire buying experience from pre-sales to post-sales service & support.

Shankar was previously General Manager of Sciemetric and VP & General Manager for Asia Pacific for the TASI Product Integrity Segment. Prior to joining TASI in 2015, Shankar spent 15+ years at Emerson Electric Company where he rose through the ranks of the engineering organization, and devoted most of his efforts working on product development and project management. Shankar has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from India and a Master of Electrical Engineering from Lamar University in Texas.

Jesse Correia is General Manager of SEAMETRICS, a market leader in flow meters and sensors used primarily in agriculture and industrial applications. Jesse joined SEAMETRICS in early 2020 and has responsibility for the site located in Kent, Washington.

Jesse has 15+ years of experience in sales, operations, and financial leadership roles.  Prior to joining Seametrics Jesse spent 17 years at Carlisle Interconnect Technologies where he held several positions including as a Business Unit General Manager and as a Vice President of Asia Pacific.

Jesse has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from Western Washington University and an MBA from Seattle University.

Paul Smith is the Managing Director at Sepha Ltd. For over 40 years Sepha has been at the forefront of providing packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical and medical device markets. Throughout these years Sepha’s core purpose has remained the same: ensuring the quality and safety of products for patients and their families.

Paul brings extensive international and commercial experience to Sepha having worked previously in a medical device company producing defibrillators and for 14 years in Sepha. During his time in Sepha Paul has worked out of different global locations at various levels in both Operations and Sales including: Engineer, Customer Service Manager, Area Sales Manager and Head of Sales and Marketing.

Paul’s passion for customer satisfaction coupled with product innovation will be the driving force behind Sepha’s longer term strategic goals and he is excited and humbled by the talent of the Sepha team who share this vision.

A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin with a Master’s in Business Administration and a BSc Hons Biomedical Engineering from the University of Ulster.

In his spare time Paul enjoys spending time with his family, walking the dog, watching sports, and visiting as many new countries as possible. His goal is to visit all 50 US states with 38 already ticked off the list.

Martin Hird is the Managing Director of Sierra-CP Engineering; he has served in this role since 2011 having joined the company which was formally known as CP Engineering in 2004 as Commercial Director.

Having more than 30 years’ experience in providing system solutions in field of Engine & Vehicle testing for both Production and Research market sectors, Martin has overseen the growth of Sierra-CP into a provider of class leading products & systems, while developing Sierra-CP’s capability and reputation in providing large, multi-disciplined turn key test solutions on an international basis, supported by his expert team, based on the shared commitment of Innovation and Flexibility in Sierra CP’s approach to assisting clients in meeting the ever-changing testing challenges.

Josh  serves as the General Manager and CTO at SignalFire Wireless Telemetry. With more than 18 years of experience in high tech instrumentation, he has a strong background in product development, embedded systems, and low-power wireless sensor networks.

He joined SignalFire in 2008, when it was a small start-up company, and was instrumental in the development of SignalFire’s successful product line and technology while serving as Director of Engineering.

Josh holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

In addition to spending time with his wife and daughter he enjoys working on and racing cars.

James Earle is General Manager of TASI Gas Flow, which comprises of Sierra Instruments and Fox Thermal, the leading manufacturers of thermal mass flow technology. James joined TASI in early 2022, with responsibility for two sites in California, as well as overseas operations in the Netherlands and China.

Before joining TASI, James held multiple engineering, sales, marketing and general management positions at Henkel KGaA, Fluke (a Danaher company) and Bruker, a leading supplier of scientific and industrial instrumentation, with global P&L responsibility for multiple sites in the US and Europe.

James is focused on building strong teams that share his passion to remove waste from every aspect of the business, in the pursuit of improved business performance and a better customer experience.

Originally from Ireland, James has Associate Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology and a B. Sc. In Production Engineering from Trinity College Dublin. He is also fluent in Japanese, having spent five years there early in his career, and completed FANFE certification at Stanford Graduate Business School.

Fabian V. Waltz is CEO of Vögtlin Instruments GmbH – flow technology in Switzerland. In June 1999 Fabian started working for Vögtlin Instruments and took over the Managing Director from his father in 2007. He sold the company in July 2011 to the TASI Group and with this group in the back he has developed Vögtlin to a global brand and respected player in the Flow Meter Market with over 50 Distributors worldwide and a TASI Network in the US and China.

He brings a great general management background in developing and marketing of Sensors, Instruments and Solutions into a broad range of Scientific and Industrial applications such as Life Science, Coating, Pharma, Chemical, Environmental, and many other industrial markets. His experience and engagement has led the company to sustainable and double-digit growth, all made possible with a great team and innovative products.

Fabian believes in a culture of ownership, commitment, trust and teamwork.

He has a wife and a young daughter and loves to spend time with them and friends. His other passions are gardening, skiing and discovering and learning every day something new.

 Angela Vale is the Corporate Controller for TASI Group. Angela has been with TASI since 2012 when she joined as the Director of Finance and HR for Litre Meter after it was acquired by TASI. She is involved in financial and budgetary reporting, as well as audit and tax matters and also administers the group consolidation software tool.

Prior to joining TASI, Angela worked for the University of Oxford’s subsidiary companies team, providing accounting and operational support to a variety of companies, from a niche publishing house, to the asset management team, to the student union. Angela started her career as a software engineer before making the decision to retrain into accounting.

Angela is a Chartered Certified Accountant and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Manchester. She lives near Oxford, UK with her two teen girls and a menagerie of animals and is an avid theatre goer and mountain climber.

Kevin Mathews is the Vice President of Operations for the TASI Flow which includes AW-Lake, Air Monitor, Fox Thermal, Greyline, KEM, Litre Meter, ONICON, Pulsar Process Measurement, Seametrics, Sierra Instruments, SignalFire, and Vogtlin.

Kevin has over 28 years of global business experience in transformational leadership and has held roles in engineering, program management, operations, supply chain, quality, and general management. His background includes leadership of multi-national organizations in Industrial, Plastics and Automotive Markets including Nordson, Magna International General Motors and Chrysler Corporation.

With a strong background in Lean Manufacturing and Structured Problem Solving he helps guides organizations to achieve their goals through transforming their internal organizations and supply chains. He is motivated to help organizations achieve Operational Excellence through collaborative high performing work teams that are customer centric.

Kevin has participated in a nine-month Executive Leadership Program with Harvard Business School and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and MBA from WGU as well as an A.S. in Engineering Science from SUNY Canton.

Ian Pensom is the Vice President of IT and will be helping develop and transform the TASI IT strategy into actionable goals through a collaborative effort with business leadership.

Prior to working at TASI, Ian has experience in several IT leadership and ERP implementation roles for global companies such as VWR International, Chromalloy Gas and Turbine, and PrimeSource Building Products.

Eric Muhlen is the Human Resource Director at TASI Group. Eric has been supporting TASI companies since the very first TASI Group acquisitions. Starting as the Human Resource Manager at Cincinnati Test Systems in November of 1999, Eric quickly moved to manage the U.S. benefit package for all TASI employees. In January of 2004, Eric became the TASI Human Resource Director.

Eric is a skilled and knowledgeable human resource professional able to manage all functions of H.R. including talent development, employee relations, benefits, compensation, recruiting, training, safety, employee performance, and legal compliance. Eric is certified as a Global Human Resource Professional by SHRM and holds a Master’s Degree in Labor and Employment Relations from the University of Cincinnati.

Eric looks forward to his continued support of the TASI management team and TASI employees as he leads the human resource effort to create a top-quality, world-class workforce.