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Leadership & Board
Mel Torrie
CEO
Mr. Torrie grew up on a farm in Alberta Canada and earned a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Computer Science minor from Utah State University. Mr. Torrie then taught at Utah State University and worked on multiple NASA Space Shuttle payloads. In 2000 he spun out Autonomous Solutions INC. (ASI) from the university’s Electrical Engineering robotics center (CSOIS) to make driverless vehicles a reality in industries like agriculture, mining, construction, logistics, and automotive. Mel is an invited keynote speaker and trainer on the topics of Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Robotics, AI, and Machine Learning in countries like Egypt, Russia, China, Japan, Croatia, Germany, South Africa, and Australia.
Jeff Ferrin
Product Architect
Jeff Ferrin received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University. His Doctoral work was in guidance, navigation, and control of ground robotic vehicles. Jeff has 19 years of experience in robotics and started at ASI in 2004. He has been involved in many different robotics projects across multiple markets including Mining, Logistics, Agriculture, Landscaping, Automotive, and U.S. Government research. Some of his work has been published and presented at the IROS conference, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control conference, and in the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.
Brian Stewart
VP OF PRODUCTS
Brian joined ASI in 2017 bringing 12 years of experience in creating enterprise level, scaled software applications. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from BYU and an MBA from ISU. Brian has driven product development across various industries including network security, big data analytics, and autonomous applications. Brian has a strong sense of product strategy and effective process definition that facilitates good product development. He previously worked for McAfee and Intel before coming to ASI.
Devin Stewart
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Devin has been with ASI since 2013 and has led the company in different capacities. Before his role as Operations Director he fulfilled the positions of Corporate General Manager, Product Manager over the Security Business Unit, and Product Manager over the Mining Business Unit. Prior to ASI, Devin worked as a software engineer and project engineer for Lockheed Martin in Colorado Springs, CO, under a space and missile warning command and control program for the United States Air Force. He attained a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Utah State University and an MBA from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS).
Jed Jones
CFO
Jed joined ASI in October 2019 as the Business Controller of one of ASI’s division and has since been promoted to Director of Finance. Jed has approximately 20 years of financial and operation experience in a variety of industries. Previously Jed was acting president of NOWCFO, a premier consulting firm with a focus on outsourced finance and accounting need. Prior to that he played several key roles in operations and finance at Wheeler Machinery, a large local Caterpillar dealer. Jed has a Masters degree in Accounting and is a licensed CPA in the State of Utah.
Mike Schaefer
SENIOR VP, BOARD MEMBER
Mike is an experienced C-Level business leader and technology executive with ten years’ experience in the autonomy field. He focuses on driving business value via strategy, championing end-user technology adoption, and building organizations through talent, culture and process. Before joining ASI in 2017, Mike held senior leadership roles with Tennant, Ecolab and various consumer package good companies. He is a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Shawn Ballard
BD DIRECTOR
Shawn joined ASI in October 2019 and has 20 years’ of financial and operational experience across a range of sectors including, financial services, oil & gas, and robotics. With experience internationally, Shawn has held a range of senior management level roles, including responsibility for the successful start-up of a multi-billion dollar refinery operation in the Middle East. Shawn is leading key strategic partnership efforts, with a focus on growth, people development, and helping customers reach their potential. He previously worked with world leading companies including KPMG, and Saudi Aramco.
Todd Aznavorian
ENGINEERING DIRECTOR
Todd is a driven technical leader with a track record of developing and delivering innovative, high-quality vehicle telematics and automation products and services for leading industrial OEMs. Examples include directing high-performing product development team for OnStar components for General Motors (GM). He oversaw entire product development process from design through launch and integrated OnStar in GM truck lines as factory installed systems. At Case New Holland Industrial (CNHi) Todd was promoted to build product development team from the ground up, establishing high-performing global team of onsite and remote/offshore technical professionals. Oversaw all product development initiatives, ensuring alignment with corporate strategies and goals. Forged and strengthened relationships with external partners and suppliers.
Dalynn Godfrey
HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR
Dalynn Godfrey has an MBA from USU with an emphasis in Human Resources and 20 years of Human Resources experience. Dalynn has been at ASI since 2013 as the Human Resources Director. Prior to working at ASI, Dalynn worked as an HR Consultant servicing over 100 clients in Northern Utah.