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Management/Directors
 Martin
Klein, Founder, Chairman and CEO
Marty Klein has over 40 years experience in the
advanced battery field. He founded EEI in ‘92 to develop
and commercialize a concept for bipolar nickel-metal hydride
batteries.
In 1970, Marty co-founded Energy Research Corporation (now
Fuel Cell Energy) and served as Executive Vice President through
1990, and Director through 1992. During his tenure at ERC,
the company grew from a start-up to a publicly traded company
with 140 employees and sales of $13 million per year and became
internationally recognized for the R&D of advanced batteries
and fuel cells.
Marty directed all battery activities and was responsible for
project management, international licenses and joint ventures
covering silver-zinc, nickel-zinc, nickel-cadmium, nickel-hydrogen,
silver-hydrogen, zinc-oxygen, and zinc-bromine rechargeable
batteries.
Prior to ERC, Marty held positions in the battery field at
U.S. Army Signal Corps, Yardney Electric Corp., Electrochemical
Corp., and Electro Optical Systems. He has served as a visiting
scholar at Rutgers University and as a volunteer member of
the Rutgers Battery and Electrochemical Engineering Laboratory.
He has authored and coauthored numerous papers, articles and
reports and has contributed to three books on battery technology.
He is an inventor/co-inventor of 15 U.S. patents and ten foreign
patents in the field of advanced electrochemical systems.
 Mike Eskra,
President & COO
Mike
Eskra joined EEI in 1998 with 20 years of experience in the
rechargeable battery industry.
At Johnson Controls, Inc. (makers of Sears Diehard and Interstate
Batteries), Mike held several positions including manager
of the Advanced Battery Business Unit, where he also was
part of the company’s strategy board.
At General Motors, Mike worked on several battery programs
including the Impact Electric Vehicle Program, the Advanced
Technology Vehicles group, the Technical and Business Management
Team of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)
and the Partnership for New Generation Vehicle (PNGV), where
he was involved in the development of power sources for hybrid
vehicles.
Mike presented the USABC and PNGV technology program strategy
and funding requirements to the U.S. Congress, then Vice
President Al Gore, and the National Science Foundation.
He has five battery-related patents and numerous papers to
his credit.
 Paula Ralston, Operations Manager,
Facility Security Officer and Assistant Program Manager
Paula
joined EEI in 1992 and brings 25 years of experience moving
products through the research and development stage into
manufacturing. She provides oversight and expertise in
cell and battery development and design through to assembly
methods, testing and quality assurance. Paula also holds
the position of Facility Security Officer.
Paula brings broad, hands-on experience from her prior
success in a technology startup, Taunton Technologies (now
VISX). As part of the team who successfully commercialized
surgical laser keratectomy (LASIK™), the leading
surgical corrective procedure for near-sightedness. Paula
was responsible for prototype development of electrical,
electronic, and electro-mechanical assemblies and field
service installations for FDA clinical studies.
She is co-author of a number of papers and is co-inventor
of one battery related patent.
 Rolan
C. Farmer,
Operations Manager, EEI Mobile Products
Rolan joined the company in 2003 when EEI acquired Eagle Picher
Industries' facility in Colorado Springs. For Eagle Picher,
Rolan served as General Manager and Corporate Vice President.
His responsibilities included profit and loss for all Colorado
operations. Rolan has over 38 years of experience in the battery
industry,
Rolan has been involved with many different battery systems,
including thermal, silver-zinc, nickel-hydrogen, nickel-cadmium
and nickel-zinc batteries, and is a recognized expert in the
field.
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