Mr. Michael ‘Mick’ Maher founded Maher & Associates LLC in September 2016 after 5 years as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He provides consultation services to provide his clients with key insights, analysis, and evaluations to assist in making better, critical, strategic, and tactical decisions, as well as developing transition paths in areas concerning new material and manufacturing technologies.

Mr. Maher joined DARPA as a program manager in September 2011. He managed a portfolio of programs specializing in advanced materials and manufacturing that included the Tailorable Feedstock and Forming, Materials Development for Platforms, and Open Manufacturing programs. While at DARPA his programs developed new technologies that enabled rapid qualification of new manufacturing technologies and developed revolutionary new composite technologies, novel lightweight multifunctional and specialty material systems.

Mr. Maher came to DARPA from the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) where he was Chief of the Composite and Hybrid Materials Branch and Materials Applications Branch. While at ARL, Mr. Maher oversaw the research and development programs in the areas of armor material, coatings, composite technologies, failure analysis, hybrid material systems, processing and material transitions.

Prior to his work at ARL, Mr. Maher served in various technology and management positions over a 20-year span at companies such as Martin Marietta, AAI, and DuPont. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Loyola College in Maryland.

Mr. Michael ‘Mike’ Maher, IV joined Maher & Associates in September 2016.

Mr. Maher came to Maher & Associates from Southern Design & Mechanical, where he worked as a reliability engineer specializing in the design and failure analysis of mechanical systems. He also used his industrial engineering background to improve inventory management and logistics to enhance operational efficiency.

He has also worked with the Greenville Health System’s Memorial Hospital in Greenville, SC to implement changes to system processes that would increase efficiency, while transitioning seamlessly. During his time at GHS and Southern Design, Mr. Maher gained expertise with failure analysis, root cause analysis, time/motion studies, process design, continuous improvement, human factors and ergonomic engineering, and project management.

Additionally, he has worked with the Army Research Laboratory, designing and developing manufacturing processes for the creation of micro-aerial vehicles and other robotics.Mr. Maher has also worked at the University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials, where he designed tooling to test recreational composite components. In these environments, he gained expertise in product design, modeling and simulation, additive manufacturing, and tooling design.

Mr. Maher has also worked on several projects involving operations research, data analytics,, Lean Six Sigma, and production planning.

Mr. Maher holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering (BSIE) from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

Corbin Chamberlain is serving as Senior Advisor to Maher & Associates and provides services in the following areas:

• Business and Manufacturing Strategy
• Technology Transfer
• Composites Technologies (Aerospace and DoD)

Corbin currently supports various technology companies both worldwide and US based in or relating to composites manufacturing.

Previously he served as Vice-Chairman of ATC Manufacturing, responsible for the oversight and direction of facilities, capital expendituresand strategic process technologies in the thermoplastic composites space. Additionally, Corbin was instrumental in the growth of ATC during his time there in which he acted in various roles from tool design to VP of Engineering and eventually President before taking the role as vice-chairman during a period of significant growth. As a previous owner of ATC Manufacturing, Corbin was key in helping to catalyze the adoption of thermoplastic composites in the aerospace industry by supporting customers to include Boeing and others by maturing the technology for current and future programs.

Corbin earned a Manufacturing Engineering Technology degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, UT followed by an MBA from Eastern Washington University (EWU) Cheney, WA. He is also currently enrolled in Harvard’s Owners/Presidents Management Program (OPM) expecting to finish soon. Corbin has been in the composites and electronics industry for over 20yrs primarily in Thermoplastic Composites for Aerospace applications. He has several published papers that have been presented in both public and private settings.

Les Cohen, Ph.D. has had a long and proven track record of strategic planning, systems engineering, program management, and implementation to name a few.  He has worked with the US NAVY, USARL, MDA, The Boeing Company, Northrup Grumman, and Airbus.  Les is recognized worldwide as an expert in advanced composite and high temperature application designs (hypersonics), manufacturing, integration, assembly for both tactical and civil aerospace systems.

Previous roles over his 50+ years in DoD and industry have been with McDonnell Douglas; Director technical operations, Director Advanced Launch Systems, Vice President Advanced Programs; Cytec Fiberite& AMT as Director of Advanced Program Development, and most recently as Senior Vice President of New Business Development and Strategic Technology with Hitco Carbon Composites.

Les has published or coauthored over 50 technical papers to include topics ranging from composites to strategy and manufacturing technologies.  He also received many awards and honors in service to the US and various technology advancement groups such as SAMPE (Mort Kushner Lifetime Achievement and George Lubin Memorial Awards).  In addition, Les holds several patents and licenses for his work in composites.

Neal Orringer provides a range of executive consulting services to Maher & Associates clients, including:

• Strategy development on federal agency contact and contract/grant capture
• Aerospace/defense business-to-business engagement
• Supply chain development and planning
• Coalition-building among research institutions and industry partners

His client-list is composed of research organizations, higher education institutions, and several manufacturing technology companies. He draws on 25 years of experience building research & development operations in corporations of all sizes, and serving as a political appointee, as Director of Manufacturing at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), senior manufacturing
advisor to two U.S. Secretaries of Commerce, and national security aide to three U.S. Senators. For his public service, he has received such commendations as the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Medal and Secretary of Defense Excellence Award.

Today, Neal is also president and co-founder of ASTRO America, a research institute and think tank focused onmanufacturing technology/policy formulation. Over the last decade, heworked in private industry as an executive at both the General Electric Company and 3D Systems, overseeing those companies’ additive manufacturing research &development collaborations with the U.S. government.

He currently serves as the Board Secretary of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing institute.

Bill Nickerson has recently joined Maher & Associates LLC as Senior Executive Advisor for Materials, Processes and Manufacturing after 29-years within the Department of Defense RDT&E functions. At Maher & Associates LLC, he provides subject matter expertise for engineering project development, R&D program execution, industry & federal engagement, technology transition, and strategic planning operations.

Mr. Nickerson was previously the Program Officer for basic & applied research and advanced concept development in Aerospace Structures and Materials at the Office of Naval Research. Additional roles of note include a rotation as the Science Director for aviation, structural & electronic materials, and manufacturing science at the Office of Naval Research Global in Tokyo, Japan. Bill began his DoD career by enlisting in the US Marine Corps Reserve after high school; followed by transition to his US Navy civilian scientific career as a research team lead and primary investigator for various materials and process RDT&E projects at the Naval Air Warfare Center – Aircraft Division.

He holds a B.A. (Chemistry) from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a G.Cert. (Sustainable Power Generation) from Stanford University, a M.Eng. (Materials Engineering) from the University of Maryland, an Executive MBA (Global Business) from George Mason University, and a G.Cert. (Polymer Science & Engineering) from Lehigh University. Mr. Nickerson has 10+ US patents/pending and 20+ international patents for metal finishing, polymeric coatings, and composite manufacturing technology inventions. He is the recipient of several awards for scientific achievement, such as the NACE Corrosion Innovation of the Year 2017, the 2009 DoD Dr. Dolores M. Etter Top Scientist/Engineer of the Year, the 2009 ASNE RADM Solberg Top Researcher, and a 2007 R&D Top 100 award.