Chris Airola

Chris Airola

SUMMARY
Curriculum Vitae
chris at airola dot com
Chris has been a career entrepreneur who can bring an idea from the whiteboard to full production and release. He has collaboratively developed and executed the business plans and product strategies for each of the companies he has co-founded, which have given him experience with both success and failure in the Web and Software industries. He has a very strong and creative talent at specifying and integrating new systems, hardware and software to create new products. Additionally, he is very adept at developing research systems to prove a product´s market potential. Chris was most recently the CTO of HomeSavvi (formerly Alphabet Lane) a home remodel and home management social media company. Prior to HomeSavvi, Chris was the CTO and co-founder of Red Llama, Inc. http://www.redllamainc.com , which develops innovative surgical and medical device training applications. He is a founder and board member of the Arts Non-profit Stronghold Productions http://www.strongholdproductions.org. He was also a Co-Founder, CTO, and Board Member of Static Factory Media http://www.staticfactory.org, a creative services and development company and record label, Wax Orchard http://www.waxorchard.com. In the early years, Chris received a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University. He then worked at the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Lab from 1996 - 2001 as a Research Engineer, where he developed and managed projects involving wearable computers, driving simulators, surgery simulators, interactive home networks, and 8 channel audio systems. He has exhibited some of his multi-modal interactive art installations in the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City, NY), the Bellevue Arts Museum (Bellevue, WA), Burningman (NV), Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, WA), and the U of WA. His largest collaborative project to date was The Machine http://www.themach12e.org in 2005, which spawned Stronghold Productions.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Operating Systems: Linux, Unix, MacOSX, Windows (all), Windows Server Web and DB: Apache, IIS, MySQL, XHTML, Adobe Server Technologies: Linux and Microsoft, Web Servers and Email Servers Virtualization: VMware, Parallels CRM systems: Sugar CRM System Administration and hosting configuration and management of all the above

BUSINESS EXPERTISE
Business plan and proforma development and strategies Internal product roadmap development and strategies Competitive analysis for both business and technical decision making Technology architecting and strategies development Networking and presenting company vision to potential clients and investors Product vision, and go to market strategy development and execution

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
HomeSavvi CTO, 2007 - 2008 Co-created the product development plan and product roadmaps. Co-conceptualized and modeled the core architecture of the company’s consumer facing social media website. Hired and managed multiple concurrent development teams located in Seattle, France, and India Worked with the founders to conceptualize and specify the website’s user experience and design. Conceptualized and created numerous Functional Requirements Documents for the development of new features.
Red Llama, Inc. CTO / Co-Founder, 2003 - 2007 During Red Llama´s beginning stages, initialized a project (SimPraxis™, an interactive surgical simulation platform) that became the main focus for the company. Integral in developing the vision of the simulation software engine and translating that vision into the release of SimPraxis v1.0 Co-developed the master Business Plan and Proforma Researched and implemented competitive solutions and systems Helped establish and hire Advisory Board, CEO, and business and technical strategists Co-developed product development plan and Product Road Maps Presented the Red Llama story to Northwest and West Coast Investor Forums and demonstrated SimPraxis to numerous academic and business leaders Managed network and technology infrastructure Worked with law firms to create C Corp business documents, private placement memorandums, employment agreements, trademark, and patent application
Stronghold Productions, Non-profit Board Member / Secretary / Co-Founder, 2005 - present Integral in conceptualizing primary mission Co-developed master Business Plan and Proforma Integral in developing and executing the premier project, The Machine Developed cross-functional and interdisciplinary teams for projects Interviewed by press and presented at forums, such as Dorkbot Seattle
Static Factory Media, LLC CTO / Co-Founder, 2002 - 2005 Integral in developing the business plan and securing Angel funding for the company Constructed the company's network and technology infrastructure from the ground up, which managed 120 client's websites Performed CIO and COO duties in the early stages, and co-managed company finances Additionally, performed CIO and COO duties in the early stages Specified, Researched, developed, and released internal and external software Hired and managed Development, System Admins, Sales, Marketing, and PR teams Helped hire Development, System Admin, Sales, Marketing, and PR teams Created profitable hosting and web development divisions for the company within 3 years Co-founded and spun off successful record label Wax Orchard Worked with the CEO to close down the company, sell assets, and reconcile all debts
Human Interface Technology Lab (HITLab) Research Engineer, 1996 - 2001 Key member of the team in attaining second round funding on the Madigan Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Simulator. Collaborated in development of phase two and three simulation content and testing protocols. Validated voice recognition system, which was used for system control and interactive student aide during training. Published multiple papers on the objective measure of performance on the simulator vs. performance in the operating room HITLab/UW Opthalmology Department's refractive surgery pilot studies; lead to submission of a grant proposal to the NIH for further studies and development of another testing system Kodak, Immersive Experiences Project; Lead Engineer/Developer for the content and audio technology subgroups on this project. Conducted research in noise cancellation hardware and software, and voice recognition software, Developed soundscape synthesis and interaction software for incorporation into a smart home system. Successfully coordinated 3 multidisciplinary teams with an average of 4 people per team to gain Phase C funding for an additional 14 months of development. As Lead Audio Engineer, concentrated on development of a multi-user, spatialized, eight channel audio environment using Max/MSP Managed the HITLab's virtual reality audio lab and RealDrive driving simulator. Designed, specified, and built hardware devices for the lab's human interface and human factors studies; Specified and purchased interface, wearable computing, audio and simulation hardware, and motion tracking equipment. Developed hardware for HITLab's wireless wearable computing system. Incorporated realtime video tracking and object recognition into the wireless wearable hardware prototype system Collaborated and helped develop the Augmented Groove and exhibits at SIGGRAPH 2000

COLLABORATIVE INSTALLATIONS
The Machine Director of Technology, May 2004 - Sept 2005 Development of technology, grant proposals, and project development for Burningman 2005. Co-developed 8 channel, 7 day, continuous soundtrack and audio sculpture for the project Managed the technology teams and finances Part of The Machine Crew who raised over $86,000 through grants, private donors, and fund raising events
Sensitize Software Engineer, April - May 2004 Developed spatial 8 channel sound system in Max/MSP for Sensitize theater production.
Spheres Of Transformation Software Engineer, June - Sept 2003 Developed spatial 4 channel sound system in Max/MSP with Dan Cohn and David Kitts for Burningman 2003.
ZeArc Software Engineer, March - Sept 2002 Developed Ze Arc's interactive 8 channel sound system in Max/MSP with Justin Rodda for Burningman 2002.
Well Software Engineer, Sep. - Dec. 2001 Incorporated custom Max/MSP 8 channel interactive audio system with video tracking. Well is an Interactive media installation with Juniper Shuey for the University of Washington's BFA Exhibits, Nov. 27 - Dec. 01 2001.
www.milkmilklemonade.net Software Engineer, Jan. - June 2001 Developed an interactive audio/video installation with Lew Baldwin for the Whitney Museum of American Art's BITSTREAMS Exhibit which was showing from March 22 - June 10, 2001.
Parabola Software Engineer, Jan. - Sept. 2000 Developed multi-participant, Interactive audio/video installation with Alicia Berger, which was shown at the Bellevue Art Museum's Pacific Northwest Annual 2000 Exhibit (July - September 2000). First shown at the Cornish college of the Arts' BFA Exhibits (May 2000).

PUBLICATIONS
Red Llama's Youth Services projects presented at the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference in San Diego by Peter Gruenbaum 10/2006. The paper is entitled "Technological Creativity in Low-Income Neighborhoods", and it describes various creative technology classes taught at the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood in Seattle. Click here to download
Poupyrev, I., Airola, C., Billinghurst, M., Kato, H. Augmented Groove: Collaborative Jamming in Augmented Reality, ACM SIGGRAPH 2000, July 23rd-28th, New Orleans, USA.
Charles Edmond, M.D., David Heskamp, Major Glen Mesaros, M.D., Suzanne Weghorst, Christopher Airola, Don Stredney, Dennis J. Sessanna, Roger Crawfis, Naeem Shareef, Gregory J. Wiet and Jeffrey Miller (1998). ENT SURGICAL SIMULATOR (Final Report - Cooperative Agreement No. DAMD17-95-2-5023 - HITL Technical Report R-99-14). Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5012: U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
Weghorst, S., Airola, C., Oppenheimer, P., Edmond, C.V., Patience, T., Heskamp, D., Miller, J. (1998). Validation of the Madigan ESS Simulator. In Proceedings of Medicine Meets Virtual Reality. Art, Science, Technology: Healthcare (R)evolution, pp. 399-405.
Weghorst, S., Airola, C. and Oppenheimer, P. (1997). Formal Evaluation of the Madigan Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Simulator (September R-97-34). Seattle: University of Washington, Human Interface Technology Laboratory.