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Faces of Interface Featuring Dave Reardon

In today’s Faces of Interface series, we are talking to one of the newest members of our distinguished sales team, Dave Reardon, regional sales director. Dave grew up around the force measurement industry and has made his way to Interface after a distinguished career in the aerospace industry.

Dave Reardon has known the world of strain gages since he was young. His father was a long-time strain gage expert in the aerospace industry and Dave followed in his footsteps. He also took a liking to the industry at an early age, participating in CAD classes in high school followed by attending Cal State Long Beach in pursuit of an electrical engineering degree. He ended up finishing his bachelor’s degree, switching to information technologies at University of Phoenix, followed by a master’s degree in business administration from Kaplan.

His first role came as an assistant engineer for aerospace industry giant McDonnell Douglas. His role involved flight test engineering team as needed, until they learned about his CAD skills, at which time they had him primarily doing strain gage drawings.

Over the next 18 years, Dave took his talents across a wide variety of aerospace leaders including Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier, The Boeing Company, and more. His roles varied from instrumentation engineering in flight test, to test directing in avionics development labs, and eventually sales. On the sales side, he was working with systems very akin to Interface’s portfolio including data acquisition, telemetry products, and sensors. He even owned his own rep firm for a time that included a few sensor lines in addition to other testing equipment.

A few months ago, Dave was looking for a new opportunity. He was well acquainted with Interface’s products and when he saw an opportunity to work here, he jumped on it with the help of a referral from a friend. Dave came to Interface as our regional sales director in charge of the East Coast. His long-time work in aerospace industry, and specifically his knowledge of strain gages and sensors, made him a great fit in this role.

His responsibilities include managing sales across the region, working with customers daily to find a solution that is right for their specific needs, working with applications engineers, and managing rep firms across the large territory. Dave works across all industries; however, with his background in aerospace, in addition to automotive, he certainly knows what fits bests for those industries.

Dave has made an incredibly positive impact on our team at Interface. Dave mentioned what he enjoys the most is that he has never worked for a company with better communication internally and throughout our community. He specifically highlighted the marketing team’s ability to continue driving leads as critical benefit of working sales at Interface. He also loves collaborating with customers and seeing the incredible potential of the innovation landscape.

When he is not solving customer challenges with force systems, Dave is usually off traveling. He has visited 46 of the 50 states, as well as multiple countries. He lives in Daytona Beach, Florida, but still loves to vacation in other beach destinations. Italy is his favorite international get away so far, having spent two weeks there back in 2014. Dave also has five grown children, a grandchild, with another on the way.

We appreciate Dave taking the time to speak with us and look forward to watching him flourish here at Interface . To learn more about our incredible team members, check in each month for a new Face of Interface’s feature. You can see all our ForceLeaders here.

Faces of Interface Featuring Jeff White

In today’s Face of Interface, we are going global. We are sharing our recent interview with Interface’s International Sales Director, and one of the newest members of the sales leadership team, Jeff White.

Jeff took a non-traditional path into the force measurement world and has truly taken the lead ever since. We are extremely excited to share his story, which includes a long history working with Interface.

Jeff grew up in Chicago and attended Northern Illinois University where he received a bachelor’s degree in public health and a minor in business. After school, he was working at Target when one big sales event, known as Black Friday in the US, made him realize his time in retail was ending. Over that Thanksgiving period a friend talked about an opportunity with Rice Lake Weighing Systems and Jeff jumped at it.

Rice Lake manufactures and distributes weight-related products and supplies, so Jeff leapt headfirst into the force measurement industry. His first role with the company had him working in inside sales where he answered customer calls and got his first taste of real-world applications. As he learned more about solutions, products, and customer requirements, he moved into a position “on the road” in Rice Lake’s Mobile Marketing Unit (MMU) Bus.

This role had Jeff traveling the country showcasing Rice Lake systems and meeting customers, partners, and vendors. This is also where many people at Interface, and others around the country, came to recognize Jeff as the bus guy! His dynamic enthusiasm, passion for helping others, and product technical knowledge were a perfect mixture for this innovative way to bring solutions to the customer’s door.

Jeff loved the role in his younger years traveling and getting to know everything he could about the industry. Working with a network of hundreds of distributors, he was able to help solve all kinds of customer challenges. Some of his time was learning how to best help Interface with a range of products to satisfy all types of customer requirements. This experience helped Jeff quickly become an expert on all things force measurement, including Interface’s sensor technologies.

As Jeff managed different territories and distributors around the country, he realized living out of a suitcase (and a bus) did not align with goals he is aiming to achieve in his personal and professional life. At this point, he had lived in Arizona for a few years and became acquainted with the growth and opportunities at Interface. His vast technical, sales, and leadership experience across a wide range of industries and distributor groups, as well as collaborating with suppliers, made him a great fit for the International Sales Director role.

In this position, Jeff is responsible for growing international sales through our extensive global sales network. By focusing on building relationships based on trust and respect, Jeff brings tremendous value to Interface’s valued distributors and customers. He wants to ensure they are secure in sharing their business and product requirements in territory, by working together with their committed partner – Interface.

Jeff says that he has enjoyed meeting and learning from the team and learning all about Interface’s production area. He is also excited to have a home base and office that is close to engineering and production, being able to get answers quickly and communicate effectively, and build a relationship with co-workers, while he represents the interests of “rest of world” through our global network. He also understands that when he is in territory, he brings practical know-how and experience to support and train our representation throughout the world.

As for his free time, Jeff loves all things Chicago sports. Despite his travels around the country, he stays true to his hometown teams. He is also active in sports himself. He golfs, plays pickup basketball, and is part of a Friday night softball league.

Interface is thrilled to have Jeff on the team. His experience, force measurement expertise, and leadership aligned to an enthusiastic commitment to success is the perfect alignment to help us grow our international business.

To learn more about our excellent Interface team members, tune into our blog every month for a new Faces of Interface ForceLeaders posts.

Faces of Interface Featuring Justin Walker

Our Faces of Interface feature focuses on Regional Sales Director (RSD), Justin Walker. Justin is a United States Marine veteran who grew up in the Texas oil fields. He received his knowledge and experience in engineering while in the military. He has honed his skills in engineering and sales across a variety of roles and was recently promoted to the critical role of Interface RSD.

Growing up near the oil fields in Texas and having a father and friend work in the fields led Justin to develop an interest in the technical side of oil rigging and engineering in general. However, his goal was to remain out of the fields and instead work to optimize the process through technology. To do so, Justin opted for the Marines to serve his country and receive the training necessary to accomplish this goal.

He joined the Marines at age 17, and scored very high on the technical aspects of the entry exam. This enabled him to serve as an aviation mechanic with a unique and interesting specialty in cryogenics. The cryogenics aspect of his roles allowed him to work with the liquid nitrogen and oxygen involved in weapon systems and base support. He also got some kicks freezing stuff, as well as curing a hangover or two with the highly effective chemicals.

Justin served in the Marines for four and half years before jumping into the oil and gas industry with a company named Weatherford. In this role, he worked as a wire line operator where he helped to determine where oil could be found and then using explosives to access it. He stayed in this role until the oil market dropped, and then moved into sales.

His first role in sales was at West Texas Nissan and Justin found a ton of success in a sales position. Unfortunately, the market crashed and Justin decided it was time for a change. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, because he was familiar with the area due to his time being stationed in Yuma, Arizona, when he was a Marine.

Justin joined Interface in July 2016 as an applications engineer. He had a desire to get back into technology and engineering, while still maintaining a sales role due to his success in the automotive industry. He remained at Interface for two years before leaving to join one of our rep firms in Florida, where he still sold Interface products. After a year and a half with Interface’s rep firm, we welcomed Justin back with open arms. First, as applications engineer; however, Justin was recently promoted to Regional Sales Director covering the Central North America region. Justin has thrived in his roles at Interface.

Justin really enjoys the day-to-day interactions with customers and our rep firms. What he enjoys the most is the differences in who and what he is working with each day. One day he could be working with a customer that works in the oil field like he witnessed as a kid growing up, another day he could be selling solutions to a company responsible for putting satellites and even humans in space.

When he’s not helping customers solve their force measurement challenges, Justin can be found spending time with his wife and six-year-old stepson. He and the family enjoy getting outdoors as much as possible. Together, they hike in the mountains, camp, take a ride on their ATVs, and boat the Colorado River.

We appreciate having the opportunity to share Justin’s amazing story. He is passionate about what he does at Interface and in life. We are thrilled to have him on the Interface team and working hard for all his customers and rep firms at ensure the highest levels of satisfaction! To learn more about our outstanding team members, check in each month for a new Faces of Interface feature.

Interface Expands Sales Partnership with Elotek Systems

Interface is pleased to announce our expanded sales partnership with Elotek Systems to carry product lines and support in four additional regions. Elotek will now provide full sales representation of Interface’s force measurement products in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and all of Nevada.

Today, we announced the expansion of territory coverage by Elotek Systems, a professional, highly technical marketing organization structured to sell solutions in sensor, data acquisition, instrumentation, OEM, and telemetry markets. Elotek will now offer Interface’s extensive catalog of the industry’s most accurate and reliable sensors and instrumentation to customers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Interface is excited to expand our partnership with the experienced team at Elotek. We also are excited that Marcus Presar and Randy Fritz of Sentech Inc., will continue their sales and support of Interface in California as additions to the growing Elotek team.

For several years, Elotek Systems has represented Interface products and services in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, and most of Nevada. The expanded partnership increases the territorial coverage throughout the western regions of the U.S.

“Elotek is excited to add Interface force measurement solutions to the line of products we represent in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Nevada. With Interface, we are enhancing our offering in these states by bringing a complete line of precision load cells, load pins, torque transducers, multi-axis sensors, instrumentation and more. We have a staff of 19 team members ready to help resolve measurement issues and provide precision quality products.” Mike Elovitz, President and CEO, Elotek Systems

Elotek Systems, Inc. was founded in 1981. They have decades of experience selling a variety of engineering, manufacturing, and test solutions. Servicing both the engineers and purchasing managers, the organization provides technical assistance and demonstrations of the most complex products.

“Elotek Systems is an outstanding sales partner and has our complete confidence in its ability to serve Interface customers in these additional regions. We look forward to working in close collaboration to support our existing customers and growing our market share in these areas with those that benefit from utilizing the industry’s best in quality and accurate sensor solutions.” Brian Peters, Vice President of Sales, Interface

Elotek brings decades of expertise in sensor technologies for aerospace and military, industrial, medical, communications, manufacturing, R&D, universities, systems integrators, and energy markets.

Elotek Represents Interface’s Precision Performance Products, including:

  • Load Cells
  • Mini Load Cells and Load Buttons
  • Rotary and Reaction Torque Transducers
  • Multi-Axis Sensors
  • Instrumentation and Indicators
  • Wireless and Bluetooth Telemetry Solutions
  • Load Pins, Tension Links and Shackles
  • Verification Load Frames and Calibration Systems
  • Accessories and Calibration Services

Interface has a strong network of force measurement experts around the globe.  To find a sales representative in your area, visit our online location finder here.

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Faces of Interface Featuring Jeff Erickson

In today’s Faces of Interface, we are featuring a member of our U.S. Sales Team Jeff Erickson. Jeff has been with Interface for 11 years and has recently been promoted to Regional Sales Director. We had a great time speaking with Jeff and hope that you enjoy his story.

Jeff began his career shortly after high school when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy because he felt a great responsibility to serve his country. During his time in the Navy, he traveled the world and was part of three deployments to Israel, Syria, and Grenada on the aircraft carrier USS Independence. He also learned the tools of his current trade in the electronics industry as an aviation electronics technician. A career in electronics wasn’t always the goal, but he certainly developed a fondness for the work while in the Navy.

Shortly after leaving the Navy, Jeff continued his education to get his associates degree in Engineering Science at Northwestern Connecticut Community College. After graduation, he went to work at Lewis Corporation in Oxford, Connecticut, as an entry level technician. He was quickly promoted to a quality control engineer at Lewis Corp. From there he moved to the role of Applications Engineer in their sales department

While working at Lewis Corp, Jeff was advised to get into a role in technical sales. He joined Blue Wave Ultrasonics in Davenport, Iowa, as an Applications Engineer where he got his foot in the door in sales and quickly thrived. After some time with Blue Wave, Jeff then took a Regional Sales Manager role at Ney Ultrasonics based out of Chicago.

Jeff began his career in sensor sales with Gem Sensors in Plainville, Connecticut. He then worked for MK North America until 2010, when he and his family left New England to get to the warm weather of Arizona, where Jeff has friends and family, as well as a history visiting the state while growing up out west.

Shortly after he moved, we finally welcomed Jeff to the Interface family. Jeff began as an Applications Engineer for Interface. After several years as an AE, he worked as a buyer and planner in charge of purchasing and planning parts orders supporting multi-axis sensors, torque sensors, and the instrumentation segment of our company. He then switched back to AE role for a short time before being promoted to Regional Sales Director covering the Western third of the U.S.

He enjoys working at Interface and has stayed with us for so long because each day is different, and every customer brings a new opportunity to help solve complex technical challenges. He is particularly excited about the space industry and all the incredible opportunities there are for Interface solutions to be used for rocket engine and airframe testing as well as computer chip manufacturing and the metrology markets. He also enjoys working with customers in one of our fastest growing industries, electric vehicles.

When he’s not working with customers to provide innovative solutions to complex challenges, Jeff can be frequently seen on his endurance road bicycle or swimming laps at the pool. He is training to hopefully compete in a triathlon next year. Jeff has two children, one in college and one in high school. His daughter in college is in the second year of her law degree at the University of Connecticut law school. He enjoys taking trips to the west coast and southern Utah, alongside his girlfriend Fran.

To learn more about our outstanding team members at Interface, tune in monthly for the Faces of Interface Series.

Faces of Interface Featuring Elliot Speidell

In today’s Faces of Interface post, we are featuring Interface National Sales Director Elliot Speidell. Amongst all the wonderful stories and backgrounds, we hear about from our amazing team, Elliot’s may be one of the most unique and interesting.  You see, Elliot didn’t start his career in or go to school for engineering like many of the Faces of Interface subjects we’ve highlighted in the past.

In fact, Elliot studied music education at Northern Arizona University. Music was Elliot’s first passion and he thought that he would go on to pursue a career in it. Although, as he explains it, he was a kid just trying to figure it out and wasn’t sure what to do. But he loved music, so he went for it.

His first job out of school was teaching music in elementary school, followed by teaching both middle and high school students. And while he did enjoy it for a time, he and his wife were expecting a daughter and he thought that it was time for a change.

Now, music isn’t Elliot’s only passion. He also loves to work with cars. He can often be found tinkering and improving cars that he eventually races in Sports Car Club of America Solo (SCCA) events. SCCA Solo is different from what you see on TV with NASCAR and Indy Car Racing. It involves precision driving through a designated course marked with cones. If you’ve kept up with the Faces of Interface series, you would know that SCCA Autocross is also a major hobby for our Global Sales Vice President, Brian Peters.

Going back to Elliot and his desire to move into a new field, both Brian and Elliot became friends during SCCA competition, and Elliot had mentioned to Brian that he was looking for something new. Knowing Elliot well, Brian thought that he would make a great application engineer. Thus, the unique story of how Elliot moved from music to a career in technology and engineering by joining the team at Interface.

As an Application Engineer at Interface, Elliot provided frontline support to customers across the east coast, later moving to serve the west coast. He worked across industries providing force measurement solutions to customers for a wide variety of applications. After a few years, he moved on to the newly introduced technical services department where he served as the technical services manager. In this role, Elliot and his team helped manage the recalibration of customer’s products as well provided technical support to customers for load cells, torque transducers, and related instrumentation. He was also instrumental in selling these services to customers and growing the technical services business.

Elliot was promoted to regional sales director starting on the west coast and eventually taking over support for the region that is along the US east coast, as well as a few regions in the south including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The  role is more strategic in nature in that he’s out working directly with customers providing Interface force solutions, while also working directly with Interface’s teams of outside sales reps in those regions.

Today, he is the national sales director for Interface. He is responsible for all the regional sales directors and application engineers covering the United States.  He works directly with our sales network and supports key accounts. His promotion is based on years of experience and dedication to helping customers find the right solutions for all their test and measurement needs.

The thing that Elliot loves most about working at Interface is the diversity of applications he gets to work on. One day he could be helping provide a solution for measuring the tension on a guitar string and another day he’s helping a customer that’s working on a test stand for a rocket engine. Every day is unique and the technology he gets to see, and help solve challenges for, is always getting cooler!

When he’s not solving customer challenges, Elliot can be found with his wife of 14 years and their daughter, riding his mountain bike, or in the garage slowly working on LS swapping his car’s engine for SCCA autocross. Pre-pandemic, he also still indulged his love of music by playing trumpet in a Soul and Funk band at various Phoenix area venues.

We hope you enjoyed learning about Elliot as much as we enjoyed sharing this feature. Stay tuned for more Faces of Interface in 2021, and from everyone here at Interface, we wish you a very happy New Year!

Faces of Interface Featuring Brian Peters

It is not everyday we get to share a story about an accomplished engineer and sales leader who also doubles as a racecar driver.  Let us introduce you to our Global Sales Vice President, Brian Peters, who has a fascinating professional and personal background that came together because of his passion for all things automotive.

As a kid growing up, Brian was always interested in cars, and more specifically the mechanics of cars. His dream had always been to work with cars professionally in some capacity. This dream led him to pursue a mechanical engineering degree at Arizona State University (ASU). The thing he loved most about this experience was that the educational program was focused on a hands-on experience. During his time at ASU, he also earned an internship doing automotive component testing and accident reconstruction, which became his first foray into a profession in the automotive industry.

In this position, Brian also received his first experience working with load cells. Part of the job entailed testing seatbelts, airbags and other automotive components using force sensors. The load cells would be used to measure the resistance and force of these components in various situation. It just so happened that some of the load cells that Brian was working with were Interface load cells.

Later on in his career, Brian began looking for a new opportunity. Around the time of the 2008 economic downturn, he was referred to Interface who was looking to hire an application engineer. In 2009, Brian came on board as an Interface Application Engineer. His focus was on helping to solve force-related design and testing challenges across a wide variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, oil and gas and more.

His success with Interface helped in rise through the ranks to become a regional sales director, then national sales director. Most recently, Brian has been promoted to the position of global sales VP for Interface. In this role, Brian is responsible for all worldwide sales for Interface, including US manufacturer’s reps and international distributors. He works closely with his application engineers and regional sales team, as well as the outside sales network to ensure customers are happy and satisfied with their experience working with Interface products and services. He also continues to work directly with customers to help them solve complex challenges related to force and torque testing of new technology.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of the Interface team and take pride in the fact that Interface offers the most reliable and accurate product on the market and knows that each and every member of the organization works hard to maintain its 52+ year track record of excellence.” Brian Peters, Global Sales VP

Brian also enjoys the opportunity to solve customer needs across every industry. His love of automotive mechanics has expanded to other sectors and he loves to take on new challenges in these sectors. Brian also works closely with energy market leaders.  Read more from a recently contributed Article by Brian Peters 20 Most Promising Energy Tech Solution Providers 2020.

Brian’s automotive also passions persisted well outside of the workplace. Throughout his life he has remained connected to cars and racing. Brian is a regular on the racetrack, whether he’s racing or helping other drivers train.

He often competes in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) racing, which involves precision driving through a designated course marked with cones. While not what you would consider a fast race in comparison to NASCAR and Indy Car Racing, the level of technical expertise and ability to handle powerful cars necessary to compete in SCCA is immense. Brian has even competed in SCCA championship events throughout his career in the sport. In addition, Brian also used to train drivers, both military and enthusiasts. But don’t take our word for it, check him out on the track!

In short, the automotive industry has had a major impact on Brian’s life, and he feels extremely fortunate to be able to keep up with this dream through his personal and professional work. However, above all else is family. Brian credits his ability to thrive professionally and continue with his dream of racing to his wife of 20 years and three young daughters. He expressed that their love and support has enhanced his life like nothing else could and without them he would not be in the position he is today.

We are thankful to have you on our team Brian and we are thrilled to finally be able to tell your awesome story. To learn more about the outstanding people that make Interface go, please subscribe to our blog for more Faces of Interface ForceLeaders profiles and host of educational material related to force measurement and it’s applications in real life at www.interfaceforce.com/blog/.

Faces of Interface Featuring Dan McAneny

Our Faces of Interface series provides readers with an inside look at all the brilliant and talented people that work for our 52 year-old company.  There is also a team of experts and experienced individuals that are part of our sales engineering network. These representatives and distributors are integral to the work we do, and they are considered part of the Interface family.

In this post, we are featuring Dan McAneny, co-founder and sales engineer at Tritek Solutions, one of Interface’s sales representatives covering the Pacific Northwest. Dan has been working with Interface for many years, so we have gotten to know him pretty well and are grateful to have him part of our team.

Dan began his career as a design engineer in New York after graduating with a bachelor of science in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. He spent a few years in this design engineer role before quickly realizing that he had a passion for being out in the field and working directly with customers, rather than behind a desk.

His search for sales engineering positions took him out west to work for a rep company in Los Angeles, California, that sold electronic test equipment. This position helped Dan develop his proficiency in sales, as well as better understanding of the test solutions critical to the evolution of technology. When the LA company went out of business in 1988, Dan and his good friend and co-worker decided to start Tritek Solutions.

Tritek Solutions is a manufacturers’ representative with sales and administrative staff capable of providing a complete sales and support solution. The company focuses on test instruments, systems, specialized components and board-level products.

The company quickly ascended, growing into Northern California, the Rocky Mountain region, and the Pacific Northwest. And after 28 years in Southern California, Dan and his wife decided to take their talents to Seattle, Washington, where he could focus his work with Tritek in the Pacific Northwest.

Dan learned about the diverse and innovative technology ecosystem in this region and has developed a wide range of experience and expertise on how to serve customers in various industries such as aerospace and defense, medical, industrial, automotive and construction. In fact, this is the aspect of his job that he enjoys the most, working with customers in all of these different technology sectors in Seattle to learn about their challenges in bringing new innovation to market, and offering synergistic solutions available from the many manufacturers he represents.

“In a single day, I could be standing next to a 777X airplane for an hour, and then the next hour, I could be discussing a solution for developing delivery drones or ventilator production. The possibility of learning about and working with customers on hundreds of new technology is something I enjoy every day.”

When Dan began working with us many years ago, he noticed that our presence in the Pacific Northwest was mainly focused on large aerospace OEM’s and knew he could help us break into a larger variety of markets. Dan has been successful in proactively searching for and securing new opportunities for Interface force measurement products across new markets, innovators and advancing technology sectors.

“Working with Interface has been a pleasure. Their more than half-century in business has provided them with a deep understanding for efficiently working with reps like myself, and the quality of their products and engineering talent makes it easier because I know my OEM customers know and trust the Interface brand.”

When he is not making a killing helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) find test, engineering and manufacturing solutions for their product development process, Dan enjoys taking advantage of the beautiful outdoors in the Pacific Northwest. Dan’s wife of 30 years and two sons age 23 and 25 enjoy road and mountain biking, hiking and swimming together, as well as exploring the hidden gems the region has to offer.

Stay tuned to our blog for new Faces of Interface ForceLeaders profiles to learn more about our valued network and team members. You can subscribe to receive the blog weekly at www.interfaceforce.com/blog/.