Our experienced team of technical experts and business strategists is the power that makes Coretec’s technologies valuable across multiple industries. Pulling from their respective experiences, this team is disrupting the status quo in many applications where CHS enables higher technology performance and lower costs. We’d like to introduce you to two key team members who are working tirelessly to bring Coretec’s CHS Solutions to market: CEO Michael A Kraft, and VP of Technology Dr. Ramez Elgammal. What’s your role on the team? Michael Kraft: As CEO of The Coretec Group, I focus on building and executing the company’s strategic vision, leading business development, and driving the creation of long-term organizational value for customers, shareholders, and our partners. I do this by identifying market requirements, driving product development and marketing, and building strategic partnerships to achieve commercialization. Dr. Ramez Elgammal: As the VP of Technology, I oversee R&D, intellectual property protection, application development, and volume manufacturing of the CHS technology. What’s your background and how did it bring you to Coretec Group? MK: With over 20 years in several advanced material and industrial spaces, my professional career has centered on supporting the growth of organizations that disrupt markets through new materials designed to increase the performance of precision systems.  I’ve been the CEO or part of the executive team in public and private companies that range from start-ups to billion-dollar revenues, each offering technology with a global impact. I’ve led startups from the beginning phases to $300 million in revenue, establishing them as strategic suppliers to worldwide markets and partners of the Global 500. I’ve been a member of two executive teams that grew revenues from $100 million to $1 billion and increased shareholder value to figures exceeding $1 billion. I came to Coretec because I saw potential in the technology within a variety of the applications and markets that I’ve worked in before: military, solar, auto, semiconductors and more. I felt then and still believe today that this is a company with core materials technology that has potential applications across multiple markets. RE: I have a broad background of over 20+ years in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship with a focus on semiconductor devices, nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry, lithium-ion batteries, and fuel cells – all of which made this position with Coretec a natural fit. In addition to overseeing CHS development at Coretec, I also manage projects in energy storage and generation as a Senior Research Associate at the University of Tennessee. Prior to this position, I worked with Sylvatex developing advanced lithium-ion battery materials and prior to that I co-founded two clean-tech companies, Novoform Technologies and Saratoga Energy Research Partners. Gas-to-liquids chemistry was at the core of one of the companies I founded, which is what drew me to Coretec and the liquid silicon advancements. Which application for CHS are you most excited about and see the most promise in? MK: Well, there are four applications, not just one, that I believe are truly game-changing:  LED lighting, Solar, Si Anode Battery, and semiconductor.  Without going too in-depth on the innovation specifics for confidentiality reasons, the high-power LED market is currently working on new designs that incorporate CHS as a key component.  The renewable energy sector has experienced tremendous growth over the last decade and with new state-regulations focused on providing incentives and driving sustainable practices being rolled out across the country, the potential for CHS in PV applications is tremendous. PV today fails to capture about 25 percent of the energy it could, and we have an opportunity to regain that lost energy.  Last but not least are semiconductor applications.  Next generation semiconductor chips have lower temperature processing requirements and the low-temperature transition of CHS to pure Silicon shows real promise. RE: In addition to renewable energy generation, LED, and semiconductor, energy storage is playing an even greater role in today’s technologies, from lithium-ion batteries in our mobile devices to EV batteries and stationary industrial energy storage for mission critical applications like the U.S. power grid or microgrids. Presently, silicon anodes are being validated for use in next generation Lithium Ion batteries and we believe CHS has the potential to make commercial Si anodes a reality, offering advantages such as significantly higher energy density, increased cycle life, and faster charging times. There are multiple directions via partnerships and product development that we can take so that CHS penetrates the energy storage market. To learn more about Michael Kraft and Dr. Ramez Elgammal, please visit our leadership page here.