Board of Directors

ITI's Board of Directors is comprised of industry experts from leading corporate and academic organizations throughout the United States. The ITI Board of Directors meet on a quarterly basis to counsel and govern the direction of ITI, ensuring ITI's position as leader in Product Data Interoperability, Reliability and New Product Development Productivity.

Michael Lemon
Chairman and CEO, International TechneGroup, Inc.

Having been with ITI since its inception in 1983, Mike has held several positions and has provided technical leadership to many ITI NPD and Data Integration projects. Working in the area of New Product Development Productivity and Technical Data Interchange over several years, he has been responsible for NPD Improvement as measured by Time to Cash and Cost Engineering Change.

Previous roles included leading ITI's Virtual Product Development Group, where Mike and team developed processes for producing "high tech" and high impact deliverables for major ITI Global clients and affiliates. This involved aligning engineering process with engineering collaboration technology to facilitate global product development teams . Today, as Chairman of the Board, Mike spends his time building strategic partnerships and global business development opportunities.

While majoring in Economics at University of Cincinnati,, Mike worked also for SDRC, Structural Dynamics Research Corporation in Marketing Services and then CAE Systems Management for SDRC/CAE International.

Robert Kiggans
Vice Chairman, ATI

Robert (Bob) Kiggans is Vice Chairman of the ATI Board of Directors.  ATI, an SCRA Affiliate, is a private, non-profit company and a world leader in distributed technology management.   SCRA is a non-stock, tax-exempt research and development corporation established in 1983. 

Mr. Kiggans has over thirty years experience in advanced computer and product data technologies, program and technical management, manufacturing technologies, and command and control systems.  Most recently, Mr. Kiggans was Chief Operating Officer of SCRA and President of its Federal Sector.  Appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, he serves as Head of the U.S. Delegation to the international Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) Steering Committee.

Mr. Kiggans was also Director for C3I Advanced Systems at Cincinnati Electronics, managing all international research and development and bid and proposal budgets, as well as the five-year business plan. Mr. Kiggans was Deputy Director, Information Science and Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) before joining Cincinnati Electronics. He was responsible for planning, budgeting, and organizing an office of senior program managers and scientists with a $200 million annual research budget. As Assistant for Program Integration with the DoD Joint Program Management Office, Mr. Kiggans supported the development of a multi-billion dollar computer/communications upgrade program. While with the Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC), he directed advanced computer technology initiatives, including development of a multi-million dollar automated executive information system. Earlier in his career, he was a software systems engineer for Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

Mr. Kiggans received a B.S. degree from The Citadel and an M.S. degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is a member of the ISG and ARDI Advisory Boards. Mr. Kiggans was also a Research Fellow with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a former senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and a Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer.

Dr. Mike Benzakein
Board Member

Dr. Benzakein received his Mechanical Engineering Degree in 1960. He received an MSME in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics in 1967. He joined General Electric in 1967 where he served in a number of positions in Advanced Technology, Project and Product Engineering. From 1995 up to his retirement in 2004 he had the responsibility for engineering leadership and technical oversight of GE Commercial and Military Aircraft Engines. In this capacity, he was responsible for leading the Technology Development efforts and new engines development programs. Under his leadership, the development time for commercial engine platforms have been reduced by a factor of 2 with associated improvements in performance, quality and reliability.

In 2001 Dr. Benzakein was elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. That year he also received the Gold Medal Award from the Royal Aeronautical Society. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2002 and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2004. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Poitiers in France in June 2006 and was elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in February 2007.

Dr. Benzakein was selected to receive the 2007 Reed Aeronautics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Named for Dr. Sylvanus A. Reed, the aeronautical engineer, designer, and founding member of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in 1932, the Reed Aeronautics Award is the highest award an individual can receive for achievements in the field of aeronautical science and engineering.

Today, as a Board Member of ITI, Dr. Benzakein continues to advance product development process and product improvement through the continued development and global implementation of Best Practices for New Product Development.

Dr. Al Klosterman
Board Member

Dr. Al Klosterman received his Bachelor’s, Masters and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1965, 1968, and 1971 respectively. Al was one of the early employees of SDRC in 1970 and soon became the Vice President / Chief Technical Officer for the corporation in charge of R&D and continued as Chief Scientist until retirement in 2000.  

The initial focus of SDRC was Structural Dynamics and the R&D group established procedures for vibration testing that set the standard for Computer Aided Testing (CAT) throughout the world.  The R&D group then developed software for analytically predicting vibration and stress at the design phase.  After this Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software became well accepted by industry, the group developed software for Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM). This software was unique in that it was the first system to utilized a formulation for geometric modeling called NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) to perform 3D Solids Modeling.  This mathematical representation is now used in virtually every CAD/CAM system in the industry.  These CAD/CAM/CAE/CAT systems led to the need for a Product Data Management (PDM) System to manage and control the data produced.  The R&D group then started the development of a PDM system that has subsequently evolved into one of the most widely used systems in the world.  By the time of retirement the R&D group had grown to over 400 employees. 

Dr. Klosterman is now an Angel Investor in new companies and serving on their Board of Directors as well as serving on the Board of Advisors to Universities.

Dr. Thomas R. Kurfess, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor and BMW Chair of Manufacturing
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering, Clemson University

Thomas R. Kurfess received his S.B., S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively. He also received an S.M. degree from M.I.T. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988. Following graduation, he joined Carnegie Mellon University where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor. In 1994 he moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he rose to the rank of Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. In 2005 he was named Professor and BMW Chair of Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research.

Dr. Kurfess has served as a special consultant of the United Nations to the Government of Malaysia in the area of applied mechatronics and manufacturing, and as a participating guest at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in their Precision Engineering Program. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.

Dr. Kurfess' research focuses on the design and development of advanced systems targeting the automotive sector (OEM and supplier) including vehicle and production systems. He has significant experience in high precision manufacturing and metrology systems. He has received numerous awards including a National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Investigator Award, an NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship Award, the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Award, SME Young Manufacturing Engineer of the Year Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, the ASME Gustus L. Larson Award, and the SME Education Award. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, the SME and the ASME.

Terry Theye
Board Member

Terry attended Indiana University, where he received a degree in business administration. Terry was the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Future Now, Inc. a $900 million national computer sales and consulting company, from 1978 to 1996.  The Future Now, Inc. was named by Fortune magazine as one of the fastest growing companies for two consecutive years.  As a public company they completed and integrated 13 acquisitions in 7 years.  He left The Future Now, Inc. shortly after the company was sold to its largest shareholder and supplier.

Prior to starting The Future Now, Inc. Terry held various management positions during his 13 years with IBM.  He has served on numerous private and public company board of directors.  He also has served as CEO for several small technology companies in recent years.

Terry and his wife Karen, have 2 married children in Cincinnati, Ohio and 6 grandchildren. While Karen and Terry spend the majority of their time during the year at Harbour Ridge, they do spend summers in Cincinnati.