Management Team

Joseph A. Grzyb
Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Grzyb joined RNT as Chief Executive Officer in November 2004 bringing over twenty years of experience in leading, managing, and growing leading-edge semiconductor organizations. Prior to joining RNT, Mr. Grzyb spent eight years with RF Micro Devices in a variety of positions, most recently as General Manager of their largest division. His experience includes senior operating and executive positions with responsibility for overall P&L, strategy, marketing, engineering, product management and business development. He has also held senior positions at ITT Gallium Arsenide Technology Center, AmeriTech Exports, Inc. and the US Air Force's Avionics Laboratory. Mr. Grzyb received his BS in Engineering and Masters in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.

Timothy P. Weihs, Ph.D.
Co-Founder / Chief Technical Officer

Dr. Weihs co-founded RNT in 2001 and currently serves as Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Weihs brings over twelve years of experience with materials joining and industrial research to the organization. Prior to co-founding RNT, Dr. Weihs worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he co-discovered the benefits of using multilayer foils for joining materials. Dr. Weihs is a full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in Engineering from Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. In 2002, he was honored by the Daily Record with the "Innovator of the Year" award. Dr. Weihs has published more than fifty-five technical papers, obtained eight U.S. patents and has twelve patents pending.

Omar M. Knio, Ph.D.
Co-Founder / Senior Vice President

Dr. Knio co-founded RNT in 2001 and has served as Senior Vice President since its inception. He brings over twelve years of computer modeling and industry consulting experience to the company. Dr. Knio is the chief architect responsible for developing modeling software enabling RNT engineers to optimize its multilayer foil and produce a range of recipes for different joining and reaction initiation applications. Dr. Knio is also a full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He received his B.E. in mechanical engineering from the American University of Beirut, and his S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has published more than sixty technical papers, obtained one U.S. patent and has twelve Patents pending.

John J. Hannafin
Vice President Business Development and Marketing

Mr. Hannafin joined RNT in 2005, bringing nearly twenty years of experience in the high-tech materials industry, including thermal interface materials and semiconductor manufacturing and packaging. Prior to joining RNT, Mr. Hannafin spent eight years with high-performance materials manufacturer Chomerics, a division of Parker Hannifin, in roles of increasing responsibility in global marketing and business development. In 2004 he received a Parker Hannifin 2004 Innovative Product of Year award for his work as program manager developing next generation semiconductor process consumables. Mr. Hannafin also held management positions with start-up venture Nexus Adhesive Corporation and Epoxy Technology, Inc. He has a BS in Electronic Engineering from the Wentworth Institute of Technology and an MBA from Babson College.

Michael P. O'Neill
Global Vice President of Sales

Mr. O'Neill joined RNT in 2007 as Global Vice President of Sales, bringing over twenty sales years experience and a solid track record of market development in the electronic materials, microelectronics and packaging industries. Prior to joining RNT, Mr. O'Neill served in Sales and Global Business Management roles for Heraeus Inc., Circuit Materials Division, a leading supplier of traditional and advanced thick film materials for hybrid circuit and passive component applications, where he significantly increased sales year over year. Mr. O'Neill previously served in Business Development and Territory Management roles at DuPont, where he also was successful in developing new sales for the company's electronic materials market segment. Mr. O'Neill currently serves as Vice President of Membership for IMAPS, the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society, where he has successfully increased membership and IMAPS sponsorship program participation.

Frank T. Zimone
Vice President Operations

Mr. Zimone joined RNT in 2007 as VP of Operations. He is responsible for all NanoFoil® production activities, implementing industrial-scale solutions of NanoBond® technology, and overseeing the expansion of capital equipment to support RNT's capacity/growth requirements. Mr. Zimone brings a solid track record in product development, project management, process control, industrial scale-up, and multi-party licensing / collaborations from the thin film, capital equipment industry. Prior to joining RNT, Mr. Zimone served as President-CEO of Denton Vacuum LLC, an international provider of vacuum deposition equipment. As President-CEO, Zimone expanded Denton's international presence (opening offices in Beijing and Europe), oversaw numerous technical/management initiatives in sputtering, ion beam assisted deposition, in-situ process control, vacuum technology, lean manufacturing, international outsourcing, and operational excellence. An acknowledged expert in the field of vacuum deposition and system design, Mr. Zimone was elected in 2008 as VP / President-elect of the Society of Vacuum Coaters.

David Peter Van Heerden, Ph.D.
Director of Development Engineering

Dr. David Van Heerden had previously served as RNT's Vice President of Research & Development in charge of multilayer foil development since 2002. He brings over ten years of experience in materials manufacturing and exothermic reactions research to the company. Prior to joining RNT, Dr. Van Heerden was an Associate Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University. Previously he was a research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST). In this role, he worked on the fabrication of multilayer structures for aerospace applications as well as the production and manipulation of metastable microstructures for enhanced mechanical properties. Dr. Van Heerden received his B.S. degree in chemistry and physics, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Engineering all at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Van Heerden has spoken at numerous engineering conferences and has published more than thirty technical papers.

Greg Caswell
Vice President of Engineering

Mr. Caswell joined RNT as the Vice President of Engineering in July 2008 bringing over 35 years of experience in engineering, technical management, electronic packaging and SMT manufacturing to the organization. Prior to joining RNT, Mr. Caswell was the VP of Sales/Marketing/Operations for Newport Enterprises, an NPI design development and manufacturing company. His experience includes engineering and management roles in the development of surface mount technology manufacturing; IC design, fabrication and packaging; and Lead-Free assembly. He has held management and engineering positions with VirTex Assembly Services, Silicon Hills Design, XeTel, Galaxy Microsystems, Tracor Aerospace, RCA and Burroughs. Mr. Caswell has a BSEE from Rutgers University and a BA in Management from St. Edwards University. He has over 225 technical publications, is a past president of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) and served as the society's chair for Advanced Technology Workshops for the decade of the 1990's. He received the Tracor "Technical Innovator Award", the ISHM (now IMAPS) "Technical Achievement Award", "Fellow of the Society" and "Daniel C. Hughes Memorial Award" for advancing the state of the art in surface mount technology and microelectronics.