| ABOUT US / TEAM
Chester Aldridge (Chairman and CEO)
Doug Froese (CFO)
Greg Knight (CTO)
Mary Hubert (Controller)
Simon Price (VP of Strategic Planning and Analysis)
Todd Weimer (VP Business Development)
Don Prestage (Director of Business Development)
Don Hicks (Business Development)
Tony Shapiro (Executive Assistant) | | |
Mr. Aldridge has over 17 years of experience in founding, operating and financing businesses, ranging from start-ups to multi-million-dollar publicly traded companies. Areas of operation have included technology, manufacturing, publishing and software verticals. Highlights of Mr. Aldridge's career include raising over $100 million of private equity, licensing major Hollywood properties including MTV's Jackass, Disney brands and Frank Miller's Sin City, and securing sales and distribution deals worth tens of millions of dollars from partners including Vivendi Universal, Sony and Disney.
Mr. Aldridge is Co-Founder and Chairman of a green energy technology fund Green Edge Ventures (a founding sponsor of the TechBridgeTM Program) and has been a valuable advisor to the TechBridge Program from its inception. The TechBridgeTM Program was established by the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (Fraunhofer CSE) to support the development of innovative clean energy technology companies. Fraunhofer CSE, based in Cambridge, Mass., also works in close cooperation with scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT, with the new CSE center located in the immediate vicinity of the MIT campus.
Currently Mr. Aldridge is Co-Founder and Chairman of Equity Solar, which has secured the exclusive license to a patented solar photovoltaic technology. Equity Solar's technology is used within the solar cell manufacturing line. The technology was co-developed by Special Materials Research and Technology (SPECMAT), NASA and the US Department of Defense. Equity Solar has retained Fraunhofer CSE as a consultant for the purpose of validating the commercial value of the technology.
Mr. Aldridge is also Co-Founder and Chairman of Equity Micro Tech, which has secured the exclusive license to a room-temperature silicon-oxide-based coating process for multiple applications within the microelectronics industry, including semiconductors, optoelectronic sensors (digital cameras), and TV displays (AMOLED and LCD) . The technology was co-developed by Special Materials Research and Technology (SPECMAT), NASA and the US Department of Defense.
Mr. Aldridge currently sits as Chairman of the PV Tech Group, which is a full-scale integrator of crystalline PV (solar) manufacturing facilities (wafers, cells, modules). The PV Tech Group executives have designed and installed complete solar manufacturing factories around the world including Greece, Russia, Spain, Germany and North America.
Mr. Aldridge has substantial entertainment ventures and is Founder and CEO of The Royal Factory, a music label that has exclusively licensed the entertainment rights to Austin Brown, nephew of Michael Jackson. Austin is currently working on his debut album, "85," with Grammy Award-winning producer and co-writer Rodney Jerkins, who has produced for Beyoncé, Britney Spears, George Michael, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and many other artists. Mr. Jerkins is considered one of the best producers in pop music today and recently produced the hit single "Telephone" by Lady Gaga.
Mr. Aldridge has management and advisory engagements for high profile individuals including Dallas Cowboys legend Tony Dorsett, and music producers Rodney Jerkins and Rex Salas. Mr. Salas is a Grammy- and Emmy Award-nominated American record producer, songwriter, musical director, and music arranger. Best known in recent years for his work as the musical director for Janet Jackson on several of her tours, Mr. Salas has worked with such artists as Justin Timberlake, Cher, Boyz II Men, Robert Palmer, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, 50 Cent, will. i. am, and many others.
Mr. Aldridge is also the exclusive Manager for Walter Afanasieff, a Grammy Award-winning writer and producer who has produced for many leading artists including Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Lionel Richie, Josh Groban, Christina Aguilera and Luther Vandross. Mr. Afanasieff produced "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, one of the best-selling singles of all time. Mr. Afanasieff is collaborating on Austin Brown's debut album.
Mr. Aldridge is a Life Member of the Stanford Business School Alumni Association. |
