Board of Directors

Matthew Putman

Matthew has a Ph.D. in Applied Physics. He is now a Professor and Researcher at Columbia University. He was an owner and Vice President of Development for Tech Pro, Inc., which was acquired by Roper Industries in March of 2008. During his time at Tech Pro, Matthew lead two acquisitions, and the transformation of the instrument manufacturer into new global markets, having formed partnerships or subsidiaries in 15 nations. Matthew holds 5 patents, and has published over 20 technical papers, and in 2002 he won the ACS Best Paper Award. In addition to Columbia, Matthew has lectured at The University of Paris, USC, University of Michigan, and The Technical University of Sao Paulo.

Matthew has also produced several plays and films, and is an accomplished composer. He is a founding member of the World Science Festival. He is on the Executive Board of the Montauk Observatory, and is an Artist in Residence for Imagine Science Films.

View an Interview with Co-Founder, Matthew Putman.

John Putman

Throughout his 40 year career, John has been both a successful entrepreneur and inventor. At the age of 16 he was the second employee at an independent polymer testing Lab, ARDL, which remains an industry leader. While at ARDL, he earned his BS in mathematics from the University of Akron. In his early twenties he started the company Polymerics, for which he invented the rubber chemical dispersion, PolyGel, which is a common component in rubber compounds. During John’s time at Monsanto, he was the engineering specialist for ROW (Rest of World) training customers throughout the world.

In 1982 John, along with his wife, Kay, formed Tech Pro, Inc. for which John was able to provide the first data acquisition systems in his industry. John continued to lead the development team, and co-authored numerous patents. Tech Pro was acquired by Roper Industries in 2008. John has remained focused on research, having authored technical papers, and presented educational symposia. John was the director of the American Chemical Society Rubber Division Educational Committee. He has been profiled for the book “Wheel of Fortune”, Rubber and Plastics News and the Washington Post. John is also an accomplished Banjoist, who collects vintage banjos from the 1910’s and 1920’s.

Click to View an Interview with John

David Larkin, Executive Chairman

David Larkin is Managing Director of the Loft Group and has extensive experience in both new media and "old" media. The Loft Group portfolio companies are involved with travel, entertainment, consumer good, and business to business marketing and logistics services.

David worked in every role throughout the film and video industry from production manager to producer in New York and Hollywood. Memorable films include The Flamingo Kid, Kane and Abel, and late night cable staple Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, better known as CHUD.

David was Vice President of the Larkin Group, the world’s largest producer of fashion tradeshows, and founded the Tradeshow News Network, www.tsnn.com, the tradeshow industry’s leading site on the internet which was sold to the Tarsus Group in 2001, bought back by David in 2004, and resold to Tarsus in 2007.

David's business also extends to philanthropy. He is on the Board of Directors of Trickle Up, an innovative group that helps the world’s poorest people start businesses thorough micro grants and business training. In the last 30 years, Trickle Up has started over 125,000 businesses in more than 90 countries.

He is also a director of the Montauk Observatory, the mission of which is to build a public astronomical observatory for the education and enjoyment of students, astronomy buffs and families on the East End of Long Island.

In October 1996 David was part of a team that be made the first descent of an unexplored river in Tibet, the Shilo Hi, accompanied by a National Geographic writer/photographer and film crew.  http://www.earthriver.com/Library/shuiluo.php

View an Interview with Executive Chairman, David Larkin.

Thomas Campbell Jackson

Thomas Campbell Jackson is President of the Brandt Jackson Foundation and heads other entities engaged in strategic planning and support for organizations promoting human health, lifelong humanistic science education, economic literacy, rational inquiry, and the arts and sciences broadly.

He has over two decades of experience in health policy, and was director of the City of New York’s Employee Health Benefits Program, which arranges health coverage for over a million city employees, retirees, and their families. His consulting firm, Zeitblom Analytics, has advised businesses and nonprofits on health policy and insurance matters.

Jackson received a BA in economics and German from Tufts University, and a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University. Thomas Campbell Jackson serves on the Board of Overseers of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the Board of Directors of the Galen Institute, the Board of Advisors of the Bellevue Literary Press, and the Boards of Directors of Imagine Science Films, and Music for Life International. Jackson is a member of the Rockefeller University Council. He has also published works of nonfiction for children.

Click Here for More on a Nanotronics View of Thomas and the Board of Directors

Gerry Ohrstrom

Gerry Ohrstrom is a private investor in New York City. He is former vice chairman of G.L. Ohrstrom & Co., a private equity firm founded by his grandfather the 1940s, and former chairman of the Ohrstrom Foundation, established by his grandfather in the 1950s. He is currently chairman of Vistan Corporation, a family holding company. He has served as chairman or director of numerous private companies and was a director of Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE) in the 1990s. In the 1980s he worked in corporate finance at Bear Stearns & Co., and prior to that he worked at manufacturing companies in Michigan and Germany.

In recent years Gerry has spent much of his time in the nonprofit sector, principally in scientific research, science education, and public policy. He serves or has served as a director of Reason Foundation, the Property and Environment Research Center, Africa Fighting Malaria, the International Policy Network, the Gruter Institute, the American Council on Science and Health, the Museum of the Rockies, the Booker T. Washington Learning Center, and the Yellowstone Park Foundation. He is also a member of the Intelligence Squared U.S. Foundation board and the virtual advisory board of its debate series. From 2008-2010 he served as co-chairman of the President's Council at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

For more on the the founders see: www.matthewcputman.com, www.towpathproductions.com and www.loftgroup.net.