William Ellison

Company founder and long-time President, Dr. William T. Ellison stepped down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on 07/09/2013, and as President at the end of CY2013. On 12/31/2018 Dr. Ellison cut his hours back to an expected level of effort of under 1,000 hours. He continues as the Company’s Chief Scientist and, as such, devotes more of his time and energy in growing the business.  As the founder of Marine Acoustics, Inc., Dr. Ellison established MAI as a principal contributor in a wide range of engineering and scientific efforts. Since 1996 MAI has been at the forefront of environmental noise issues in the ocean, helping design and implement experimental plans to investigate these issues as well as formulate new national standards in this rapidly emerging field. Recognized as a leading expert in theoretical modeling of acoustic processes, he is the author of the Acoustic Integration Model (AIM), an internationally recognized state of the art real-time virtual model for assessing the acoustic realm in the ocean environment. In recognition of his exploits in the study of marine mammals, he has served on the U.S. Delegation to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, has served as an Expert Witness before the National Energy Board of Canada as well as other landmark environmental issues, and is a past member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the North Slope Borough, Alaska. He also served on the Advisory Board to the Marine Mammal Research Program of the Acoustic Thermometry of the Ocean Climate Project at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, including duties as Acting Chairman.  He also served as an expert advisor to the Executive Board for the development of the SURTASS LFA sonar Environmental Impact Statement and as an expert advisor to the High Energy Seismic Source working group of the California Coastal Commission.  He has been an invited panelist, and speaker at numerous technical workshops sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service; including the NOAA sponsored National Acoustics Lecture Series. He is a co-author of two benchmark publications, the 2007 report:  Marine Mammal Noise Exposure Criteria – Initial Scientific Recommendations, and the 2014 ANSI-Standard: Sound Exposure Guidelines for Fishes and Sea Turtles. He has served on the review and oversight board for numerous major international oil and gas development projects and currently serves on the Technical Advisory Panel for the Oil and Gas Producers Joint Industry Panel. In recognition of his many years of scientific research in the Arctic, he was elected a Fellow of the Explorers Club in 1984. In 2007 he was elected as a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America for his contributions to research on the impact of noise of marine mammals. He has been the author/co-author of over 300 scientific, technical, and research publications.

Tom Stewart

MAI’s CEO/President/Chief Engineer, Thomas N. Stewart, replaced Clayton H. Spikes as CEO upon Mr. Spikes’ retirement at the end of 2016.  Mr. Stewart has an extensive background in management, engineering development, system test and evaluation, operations research, and naval operations.  His experience includes Executive Officer and Department Head experience in the management of 150+ crew members and in directing the operations of US Navy nuclear-powered submarines, management of technical programs and projects at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and management of MAI’s Undersea Warfare projects. A former submarine officer, he is familiar with every facet of operations critical to MAI’s undersea warfare customers. As a civilian, he has directed high profile on-going systems assessment programs for Program Executive Office- Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO-IWS) and Naval Sea Systems Command. He has been a key figure in the submarine combat system spiral development efforts. He has directed all testing and evaluation for four major ocean system development programs, has directed numerous individual major at-sea experimentation efforts and has been a principal advisor to PEO-IWS on the conduct of Task Force ASW Experimentation. He continues to advise PEO SUB (PMS450) and PEO LCS (PMS420) on the test and evaluation of advanced submarine capabilities and New Littoral Combat ship capabilities entering the Fleet. As President and CEO, he is focusing on MAI’s business development on MAI’s core capabilities while improving those capabilities through personnel training and development and support for continuing education. Mr. Stewart has fostered a diversified staff of professionals known and respected by MAI’s clientele.

Patricia Gomes

Patricia A. Gomes was promoted to the CFO position on 03/27/2013.  Ms. Gomes has been with the Company since 1990 and has extensive experience in government financial accounting and compliance. She has been a member of the Board of Directors since 12/05/2006 and has been responsible for all MAI financial activities and oversees all Human Resource Management functions of the Company.  Ms. Gomes’s financial duties include accounting system design and deployment, policy and procedure development and implementation, indirect rate structure development, forward pricing proposals, DCAA audit interface, and incurred cost submission development and defense.  She monitors and manages the Company’s financial structure and control systems, develops forecasts and projections of the Company’s working capital requirements, analyzes the operating results of the Company, and ensures their compliance with established financial objectives and goals.  She has multiple years of experience with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), and the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). She maintains contact with external auditors and investigates their findings and recommendations for the Company.  Ms. Gomes directs and manages the Company’s finances, including overseeing all purchasing and payroll activity, accounts payable and receivable, ensures adequate cash flow to meet the Company’s needs, and monitors all Company banking activities.   She ensures that adequate controls are installed, and substantiating documentation is approved and available, such that all purchases may pass independent and governmental audits.  She oversees the maintenance of the inventory of all fixed assets, including assets purchased with government funds, assuring all are in compliance with federal regulations.  She is the Company’s direct liaison with all third-party professionals, accountants, attorneys, pension plan administrators, and insurance agents.
As Director of Human Resources, Ms. Gomes oversees the full scope of human resources; she directs Company staff in the areas of organizational structure, employment compensation, employee database maintenance, payroll, benefits administration, employee relations and policy/procedure development. She maintains appropriate insurance coverages and oversees employee benefit plans, with particular emphasis on maximizing a cost-effective benefits package, including analysis of rates for renewal, new benefits, etc. She implements and oversees the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) process and benefits, administers and ensures compliance and support with managing the Short-Term Disability/Long-Term Disability (STD/LTD) programs, workers compensation and annual audit of these coverages. She keeps track of any changes in pertinent laws and regulations, at both the state and federal level, to ensure the company stays in compliance and up-to-date. She serves as one of the trustees and oversees administration and financial reporting of the organization’s retirement plans.

Kenneth Graf

Kenneth Graf has been with MAI since 2002, arriving shortly after earning his MBA from the University of Rhode Island.  His earliest role within the Company was that of Subcontracts Manager, primarily for the Company’s efforts surrounding the Phraselator handheld language translation system. As this segment of the Company grew, Mr. Graf expanded his role into the areas of contract order fulfillment, commercial contract management, and invoicing, up until the eventual $2M sale of the Phraselator rights to Voxtec International. In 2008, MAI’s existing Contracts Manager left the organization, and Mr. Graf was promoted to the position. Since that time, he has been responsible for the complete contractual oversight of the Company, including working with MAI Program Managers and government sponsors to plan upcoming fiscal year funding requirements. He directs the development, oversight, and submission of technical and cost proposals/bids; contract negotiation; tracking of government funds as they work their way through the acquisition process; and internally managing hours allocation, budgets, and burn-rates for ongoing projects. He supervises Company invoicing to ensure consistency between accounting and project budgets; issuance and management of all Company subcontracts; and oversight of the contractual closeout process. In 2011, Mr. Graf was appointed to the MAI BOD as a Vice President and Director of Contracts, giving him both the necessary authority to negotiate on behalf of the Company and to bind it contractually, as well as the ability to interface more directly with MAI’s customers. As a Director, Mr. Graf maintains a central, holistic role within the Company, having frequent, direct interaction with all Program/Project Managers, administrative staff, BOD members, customers, and subcontractors.

Steve Psaras

Mr. Skevos (Steve) Psaras has 18 years of technical experience and leadership in Anti-Submarine and Under-Sea Warfare within both the Navy Submarine, Integrated Under Sea Surveillance (IUSS) and larger Theatre Anti-Submarine Warfare (TASW) communities. His background includes two accredited technical master’s Degrees and proficiency with advanced sonar signal processing and sensor development. He has an extensive range of operational experience as a Submarine Officer, Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Mission Commander, IUSS military detachment Officer In Charge (OIC), and CTF 74 Theater ASW Deputy; contributing to a comprehensive familiarity with the operational environment in which ASW systems will be employed. As a Senior Engineer at MAI he has: Conducted system assessments and at-sea test direction of Advanced Processing Builds (APB) testing of submarine SONAR and Fire Control Systems; led the coordination and provided at-sea test direction for Office of Naval Research’s Future Naval Capability (FNC) ASW systems; developed Concept of Operation (CONOPs) for and provided subject matter expertise to future iterations of SURTASS Low-Frequency Active (LFA) systems;  and led development for both a CONOPs and Tactical Decision Aids (TDAs) for Mid Frequency Active (MFA) SONAR bistatic operations as part of ongoing Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) initiatives. As the head of MAI’s Virginia Operations, he maintains managerial oversight of 10 on-site and teleworking personnel in and around the larger Virginia/Maryland/DC area as well as at MAI’s satellite office and support facility in Arlington, VA.