Our Team
Michael Ferris has been a founder, chairman, and CEO of several companies throughout his 20-year career. As a former college athlete and 2011 winner and judge of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program, Ferris leads the firm Cerca Trova Holdings and its two fast-growing companies, Occam Technology Group and Abacode. Both firms represent the best and brightest with forward-looking technologies and global influence.
Before acquiring Cerca Trova Holdings, Michel Ferris was the Founder & CEO of Valet Living, a full-service amenities provider. He was also on the Board of Directors for New Mountain Capital and a Cybersecurity Committee Member for the Department of Homeland Security. Along with being a Board Member for Occam Technology Group, Ferris is the Chief Executive Officer for Abacode Cybersecurity.
Before acquiring Cerca Trova Holdings, Michel Ferris was the Founder & CEO of Valet Living, a full-service amenities provider. He was also on the Board of Directors for New Mountain Capital and a Cybersecurity Committee Member for the Department of Homeland Security. Along with being a Board Member for Occam Technology Group, Ferris is the Chief Executive Officer for Abacode Cybersecurity.
Roger Tipton is an Executive Research Director for Occam Technology Group and leads the Health and Life Sciences business. After two decades of working in new product development, Roger knows that the work he does leads to innovative solutions to some of today’s toughest challenges.
Roger has worked with over 120 clients including Exxon Mobil, Honda, Toyota, MDS Aerospace, Johnson Matthey, Ocean Optics, Asahi Glass Company, Diebold, Saint Gobain, Arthrex, HunterDouglas, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Corelle Brands, and many others in over 20 countries on five continents. Roger specializes in developing new products, the regulatory path to certifications, and the manufacturing processes to get these new products to market efficiently.
His previous experience includes positions from the shop floor at Honda to management positions at Little Tikes and Rubbermaid to a director position at Astra Products. Entrepreneurship experience includes founding five companies and selling one of them.
Roger is a NASA Fellow, a winner of a Cade Award for entrepreneurship and product development, a winner of the Manny Award for Excellence in Manufacturing, and a finalist for the Nortech Innovation Award in Advanced Materials. Roger holds a degree in Yacht Design, a Bachelor’s in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, and a Master’s in Materials Science from the University of South Florida. He will also be completing his PhD in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2020.
Roger has worked with over 120 clients including Exxon Mobil, Honda, Toyota, MDS Aerospace, Johnson Matthey, Ocean Optics, Asahi Glass Company, Diebold, Saint Gobain, Arthrex, HunterDouglas, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Corelle Brands, and many others in over 20 countries on five continents. Roger specializes in developing new products, the regulatory path to certifications, and the manufacturing processes to get these new products to market efficiently.
His previous experience includes positions from the shop floor at Honda to management positions at Little Tikes and Rubbermaid to a director position at Astra Products. Entrepreneurship experience includes founding five companies and selling one of them.
Roger is a NASA Fellow, a winner of a Cade Award for entrepreneurship and product development, a winner of the Manny Award for Excellence in Manufacturing, and a finalist for the Nortech Innovation Award in Advanced Materials. Roger holds a degree in Yacht Design, a Bachelor’s in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University, and a Master’s in Materials Science from the University of South Florida. He will also be completing his PhD in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2020.
Mark Kelly brings 30 years of engineering experience to the company. He previously worked at GE Healthcare developing medical equipment. His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tufts University in addition to an MBA and a Master in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Andrew Kivela is the Director of Program Management for Occam Defense under Occam Tech Group and advises for OccamSmart. Prior to entering the engineering field, he spent nine years as a Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Analyst and Korean Linguist for the US Army and an additional three years as an Operations Research/Systems Analyst (ORSA). He has spent over seven years supporting US Forces deployed to South Korea and Afghanistan supporting multiple infantry brigades, 501st Military Intelligence Brigade, 82nd EOD Group, and 3rd Special Forces Group.
Andrew has worked on projects for Anko, Arthrex, Azure Summit Technologies, Beta Bionics, Cell Detect, Corelle, JL Marine, Ocean Optics, Reftec, Welbilt and more. Besides program management, Andrew’s expertise focuses on python and embedded C programming as well as electrical design for embedded systems. His skill set includes software testing and analysis with the Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA) Testbed suite and FDA-level documentation.
As Director of Program Management, Andrew leverages over 12 years of analytical experience and military leadership, plus Computer/Electrical Engineering background. He holds an Associates in the Korean Language from the Defense Language Institute, Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of South Florida and is pursuing a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering to be completed in 2020.
Andrew has worked on projects for Anko, Arthrex, Azure Summit Technologies, Beta Bionics, Cell Detect, Corelle, JL Marine, Ocean Optics, Reftec, Welbilt and more. Besides program management, Andrew’s expertise focuses on python and embedded C programming as well as electrical design for embedded systems. His skill set includes software testing and analysis with the Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA) Testbed suite and FDA-level documentation.
As Director of Program Management, Andrew leverages over 12 years of analytical experience and military leadership, plus Computer/Electrical Engineering background. He holds an Associates in the Korean Language from the Defense Language Institute, Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of South Florida and is pursuing a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering to be completed in 2020.
Adrienne Lytle is the Office Manager for Occam Technology Group. Prior to joining the company in 2014, she spent ten years developing her business acumen and management skills supporting retail and commercial clients. Her career progression includes roles as a Merchandising Manager, Account Manager and Manager of Business Processes. In her experience she has successfully supported clients such as Rite Aid, ULTA, Apple, Harbor Freight, Petco, Michael’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Fred’s, Tractor Supply Company and Vology.
As Occam’s Office Manager, Adrienne assures that that day to day operations and procedures of Occam Technology Group run smoothly and efficiently. Her responsibilities include managing human resources, internal communications, company travel, scheduling, accounts payable/receivable, inventory, shipping/receiving, vendor management, and overseeing IT and marketing functions.
Adrienne was raised in the Tampa, FL area and attended Florida State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Merchandising.
Jordan Kummer is a Mechanical Engineering for Occam Technology Group. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida. During his time in school, he worked as a Mechanical Engineer Itern on the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Competition performing design, analyses, manufacturing and testing. He also took the course and is certified in MIT’s Approach to Innovation and Design Thinking of Products and Services. Jordan has close to 10 year of experience in design, prototyping, manufacturing, testing and production.
Before joining Occam, Jordan worked as a Project Engineer and Mechanical Engineer at Boyd Industries designing medical products such as surgical chairs, hand pieces and layouts all under ISO 13485 requirements where he acquired multiple patents with his name under it. He also worked with the DoD at Lockheed Martin as a Mechanical Engineer implementing design changes and lab testing for the Hellfire missile. Jordan also worked at Valor Athletics Inc. as the Product Development Engineer designing and FEA testing health and fitness equipment products at Valor Fitness.
Enrique Moro is an Electrical Engineer for Occam Technology Group. He received his Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic José Antonio Echeverría. After earning his degree, Enrique worked for Mettler-Toledo Safeline Medisafe America as a project engineer. He also worked for IBA as a proton therapy engineer.
Enrique has extensive experience in the industrial industry performing end of line machinery and packing from PolyPack, Inc. His previous work with embedded C language, prototyping, and troubleshooting will be a great asset to many of our projects. He also has experience designing tools for medical machines.
Dave Dorzback is a college graduate from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Dave has 5 years of experience doing contract software quality assurance, in which he contributed to dozens of high reliability technology releases for companies including Google, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Bloomberg. He also co-founded and ran a startup business which designed and sold ARM microcontroller-based LED products. He worked as a Software Development Engineer Intern for Amazon, writing and maintaining software to simulate all of Amazon's supply chain.
During his time at USF, Dave spent two semesters working with a team of software engineers for Verizon to develop propriety software for specialized hardware. He is an expert in using embedded C and C++, along with a variety of microarchitectures including ARM, AVR, and PIC. Dave joined Occam seeking challenging and exciting opportunities in embedded systems, and software and hardware designs.
During his time at USF, Dave spent two semesters working with a team of software engineers for Verizon to develop propriety software for specialized hardware. He is an expert in using embedded C and C++, along with a variety of microarchitectures including ARM, AVR, and PIC. Dave joined Occam seeking challenging and exciting opportunities in embedded systems, and software and hardware designs.
Nick graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering. He has helped in the development of many projects for Occam, such as soldering and PLC rework.
Ben Stevens is a Software Engineer for Occam Technology Group. Ben is a college graduate from the University of South Florida with two Bachelors degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Ben has over 2 years of experience as a software engineer for Lockheed Martin, in which he contributed to the F35 Aircraft Service and Maintenance Training software. Ben was also cross-trained as a tester and worked with Military Personal for customer evaluation purposes. Ben has a primary background in C++ as well as a background in C, C# and Java.
During his time at USF, Ben developed skills in FPGA Design using both VHDL and Verilog Hardware Description Languages. Ben also developed software skills using C++ for Image Processing, Computer Vision and Computational Geometry. Ben Joined Occam to attain and utilize embedded system skills as well as gain other computer hardware and software skills needed to become an asset to the company.
During his time at USF, Ben developed skills in FPGA Design using both VHDL and Verilog Hardware Description Languages. Ben also developed software skills using C++ for Image Processing, Computer Vision and Computational Geometry. Ben Joined Occam to attain and utilize embedded system skills as well as gain other computer hardware and software skills needed to become an asset to the company.
James Quattrocchi is a Software Engineer for Occam Technology Group. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Florida State University. As part of his undergraduate research experience, he worked on numerous microcontroller-based projects using embedded C. He was Lead Computer Engineer for a project team that designed a mass flow controller capable of providing gas to Hall-effect thrusters. James led the development of the protype’s control system, power supply, and electronics used during testing at one of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center vacuum chambers. James also has experience with high-power superconducting cables through experimental research conducted at the FSU Center for Advanced Power Systems.
Hannah is from Rockledge, Florida and moved to Tampa to attend the University of South Florida. She just finished her Bachelor's Degree in Marketing with a minor in Finance and will be starting her Master's of Business Administration in the Spring.
During her time at USF, she worked as a Student Ambassador for Amazon Prime Student, which included increasing awareness of the Prime Student benefits through a marketing approach and social media posting. She also was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, where she was the External Social Chair. This position involved planning events and maintaining a budget for over 100 guests to attend.
Hannah currently works as the Marketing Associate for Occam Technology Group, developing the website, social media and keeping up-to-date with social events around the Tampa Bay area.
JD Tarriela is the BME & Regulatory Specialist for Occam Technology Group. JD provides QA and regulatory support with product and process validation, FMEA, risk assessment, and associated Quality System documentation.
Before joining Occam, JD was a Mechanical Engineering Intern for Heat Pipe Technology, working on designing production units and supporting various research projects. He also worked at Blackhagen Design as a Usability Engineer Intern, assisting on human factor studies.
Before joining Occam, JD was a Mechanical Engineering Intern for Heat Pipe Technology, working on designing production units and supporting various research projects. He also worked at Blackhagen Design as a Usability Engineer Intern, assisting on human factor studies.
