Find Out About Elite's Experts

Mr. Klouda is Elite’s technical expert for equipment management. He ensures that Elite remains a state of the art test facility. His specialized area of knowledge includes testing avionics to the indirect effects of lightning strikes and nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP). His primary responsibilities include research and development of new test systems, equipment, and processes. He is also the manager of Elite’s Calibration Team having responsibility for management of existing test equipment and acquiring new instruments and systems. He is a member of the Strategic Planning, Safety, and Quality Teams. He is a member of the IEEE EMC Society and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He currently attends the SAE AE-2 Lightning Committee meetings. He is an iNARTE Certified EMC Engineer. Mr. Klouda received his Electrical Engineering degree from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago B.S.E.E. (1985). He has also received a Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1997).

Mr. Lindberg is the manager of Elite’s Environmental Stress Testing and Photometric Testing teams. He brings over 35 years experience in Environmental Stress Testing. In addition to his management responsibilities, he leads the development and implementation of new services and capabilities in the department. One of his key areas of expertise is in Vibration and Shock testing, and HALT testing, both in the application of the test as well as in the operation, engineering support, and maintenance of the vibration test equipment. He is a member of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (IEST). John received his engineering degree from DeVry University (1983) and received his B.A. in Business from DePaul University. He also received a Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1997).

Mr. Laya is Elite’s Sales and Marketing Manager. In addition to his technical sales and leadership responsibilities he also drives the development of new services for Elite. He is an internal auditor for the Quality Assurance team and assists with the administration of Elite’s ISO 17025 quality system and ISO 17065 certification systems. His specialized area of knowledge includes CE Marking and international compliance regulations, reliability engineering, HALT/HASS, and lithium battery regulations. He is a member of the IEEE EMC Society and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Mr. Laya received his Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana B.S.M.E (1983).

Mr. Hurley is responsible for EMC test project scheduling and leads the IT team. His specialized areas of knowledge include Military / Aerospace EMC Testing and technical writing of EMC test plans. He is an internal auditor for the Quality Assurance team and assists with the administration of Elite’s ISO 17025 quality system and ISO 17065 certification systems. He is a member of the IEEE EMC Society and an iNARTE Certified EMC Engineer. Mr. Hurley received his degree from the College of Dupage, A.A.S. – Electronics Technology (1989).

Mr. Hall is Elite’s Military/Aerospace EMC Test Team Leader. His specialized area of knowledge includes MIL-STD-461A through MIL-STD-461F EMC tests, DO-160A through DO-160F EMC tests and D6-16050-4 through D6-16050-5 EMC tests. He has developed Elite’s MIL-STD-461, DO-160 and D6-16050 EMC test procedures. He is also knowledgeable with the application of FCC, CE mark and automotive specifications. Mr. Hall received his engineering degree from DeVry Institute of Technology B.S.E.E.T (1981). He is also an iNARTE Certified EMC Engineer (Certified August, 1989).

Dan Crowder passed away on April 19, 2020. All of us at Elite are heartbroken as we say farewell to our colleague and dear friend.

Mr. Crowder is Elite’s Certification Department Supervisor. In addition, he is the FCC/CE Mark Test Team Leader and Senior EMC Engineer. His specialized area of knowledge includes transmitter certification and testing for U.S. and foreign markets, FCC testing and regulations, CE Marking and international compliance regulations. He is an internal auditor for Elite’s quality assurance team and assists with the administration of Elite’s ISO 17025 quality system and ISO 17065 certification system. He is actively involved in transmitter standards development including ANSI C63.10 and ANSI C63.26. He is a member of the Telecommunication Certification Body Council, IEEE EMC Society and is an iNARTE Certified EMC Engineer. Dan received his B.S.E.E.T. from DeVry University (1989).

Mr. Lugo is the Automotive EMC Test Team Leader and has been part of that team since 2005 with additional experience with CE Mark and Marine Standard EMC testing. His expertise includes a wide range of automotive EMC test methods as well as test setup design and validation. His primary responsibilities include the daily operation of the Automotive EMC test team, test preparation, development of internal test procedures, and maintainence of ISO 17025 accreditations and OEM laboratory approvals. Brandon is also a member of our Quality Assurance team as an internal auditor and technical advisor. Brandon earned his BSEET from DeVry Univeristy (2005), Certificate of Business Adminstration from Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago (2008), and Masters of Project Management from DeVry's Keller Graduate School of Management (2018). He is also an iNARTE Certified EMC Engineer (since 2017).

Mark oversees Environmental Stress Testing at our main facility, with special expertise in Vibration, Shock, Climatics, and Exposure testing. In addition to managing daily operations, Mark trains new employees, reviews test reports, and assists with testing projects. He is trained in CAD modeling and Operational Security (OPSEC) Awareness. Mark received his engineering degree from University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2005 (BSME).

Mr. Schmit is Elite’s Inside Sales Manager and is chiefly responsible for application engineering and customer support leading to the preparation of proposal for services. John has a broad background and an engineering understanding of the EMC test standards applied for Elite’s key markets. Mr. Schmit has authored several papers related to international compliance, as well as developed standards and client specific test plans for applications in the marine industry, construction industry, and for truck OEMs. Mr. Schmit received his degree in finance from the University of Illinois at Champaign. (1982).

As a part of our Sales and Marketing Team, Michael's responsibilities include Business Development, Account Management, and Digital Marketing. Michael routinely meets with management and senior engineers and is an advocate for customer engagement. Michael received his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management from Illinois State University (2011). Click here to connect with Michael on LinkedIn.

Elite has a long history of optimizing its efficiency by applying test automation to its processes. Today, Elite software is primarily written in Visual Basic to run on the Microsoft .NET Framework. Supporting this function are Sebastian Gola and Rich Jesinowski, both software engineers with significant expertise in EMC testing. Elite’s IT infrastructure is managed by Neil Hurley and Rob Fredres.