Clifton H. Brown, Jr.
President & CEO
ADA’s President and CEO Clifton H. Brown, Jr. has overall responsibility for growing ADA and its associated family of spin off companies. The ongoing growth of ADA’s R&D program is critical to the company’s success, as is its ability to commercialize technologies as they mature within the R&D program. ADA’s R&D program is focused on creating platform technologies that are aligned with federal R&D programs in the areas of Energy Storage, Biotechnology and Advanced Materials. Mr. Brown has been with the firm since 2000 and in his current position since 2006.
Mr. Brown is an active member of the Denver Advisory Board, where he chairs the community volunteer programs. He also serves on the University of Denver, Department of Engineering, Industrial Advisory Board and is a board member for privately held Advanced Distributed Sensor Systems and Pronghorn Technologies, LLC. Advanced Distributed Sensor Systems and Pronghorn Technologies are ADA spin-off companies.
He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the University of Tennessee respectively and is a registered Professional Engineer (inactive) in the state of Tennessee.
Mr. Brown is a pilot and enjoys fishing, boating and relaxing at Lake Powell.
Russell Farmer
Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Board
Russell Farmer is Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Board, as well as a principal owner of ADA. He has responsibility for the company’s overall financial goals and strategic direction. Mr. Farmer was instrumental in changing the firm’s focus to technology commercialization, utilizing early-stage funding from federal government programs. This change in strategy resulted in extraordinary growth for the firm. The company has experienced significant growth and profitability during his tenure. Mr. Farmer is recognized as a leading expert on the federal government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and is the founder and executive director of SBIR Colorado, a non-profit organization that promotes the SBIR and STTR programs within Colorado. He served on the Board of Directors of the Small Business Technology Council, a Washington DC-based organization focused on advocacy for small business participants in the SBIR program. Mr. Farmer holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from University of Colorado and a B.S. and M.S. in Business Administration from University of Northern Colorado.
Nada Austin
Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Nada Austin is responsible for leading ADA’s finance organization, which includes treasury activities, tax planning, accounting and reporting, financial strategic planning, contracts and procurement, human resources, and the financial aspects of the company spin-out initiatives. Prior to being named CFO, Ms. Austin served as the company’s Controller. She joined ADA in 2007, bringing extensive accounting and financial experience to the organization, including work in engineering and federal contracting, energy and insurance. She has performed SEC reporting for large publicly held companies and has experience with business startup initiatives for small professional services companies. Ms. Austin has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Colorado. She is involved with various volunteer efforts relating to local and regional youth sports organizations.
Steve Arzberger
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Arzberger oversees all technology development efforts within ADA’s R&D group and is responsible for ensuring its overall technical excellence. A sought-after presenter, Dr. Arzberger has published numerous journal articles and conference proceedings, has authored numerous patents and serves as a reviewer for several science journals and conference proceedings. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Western Washington University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining ADA, he was Principal Scientist and Program Manager at Composite Technology Development, Lafayette, Colorado.
Jonathon Benson
Dr. Jonathon Benson is CEO of the Wyoming Technology Business Center – a business development program of the University of Wyoming. As CEO of an early stage medical device company, he helped the company obtain SBIR Phase I and Phase II funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Benson founded and was CEO of The Ben Craig Center, Inc., a non-profit corporation that initiated a technology-related business incubator in 1986 as a joint effort of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and major private sector interests. As part of his work at The Ben Craig Center, he worked with over 100 developmental technology and information-based companies. He also worked for the Urban Institute at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and was a National Science Foundation program manager.
Larry Fenster
Larry Fenster is a private investor involved in multiple startup and early stage companies, an active angel investor in several Denver-area companies and serves on numerous boards. He co-founded and served as president of Natkin Energy Management, an energy performance contracting company located in Englewood Colorado. He also served as executive vice president, of ServiceMaster, a Fortune 500 company, was president of CMI, a clinical equipment insurance company, and president of Global Facility Solutions, a facility management outsourcing start-up.
Alan Steiner
Alan Steiner provides expertise in new business creation, strategy formulation and implementation, and the leadership and management of people. A retired Hewlett-Packard executive, Mr. Steiner serves on several companies’ Boards of Directors/Advisors, including ADA Technologies and several non-profit volunteer boards, including Goodwill of Colorado Springs, UCCS Chancellor's Roundtable, UCCS Business Dean's Advisory Board, UCCS Gero-psychology Board, and the CU Foundation Board of Trustees. He retired from HP after 34 years in marketing and general management of HP businesses in California, Colorado, Italy and Scotland.