Together, We Define.

Ken Haven
Founder / Chairman

Ken Haven is Founder and Chairman of Acorn Product Development. He has been CEO of Acorn Product Development since the company’s founding in 1993. Ken has more than 40 years of product development experience including technical leadership roles with NeXT Computer, Attain, Inc., and Hewlett-Packard. He holds MS and BS degrees in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.

Tim Lau
Founder / CTO Emeritus

Tim Lau co-founded Acorn with Ken and is Acorn’s CTO Emeritus. Tim has 40+ years product development experience in technology product development, and manufacturing liaison roles for NeXT Computer, Wyse Technology, and Plantronics. Tim holds a BS in mechanial engineering from University of Rochester and an MS in mechanical engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Tom Dutremble
CEO

Tom is CEO of Acorn Product Development. He specializes in mechanism design, structural analysis and vibration analysis. With over 10 years of experience in high volume manufacturing design, Tom has a deep understanding of intersection of industrial automation and design for manufacturability. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and an MBA from Boston University.

Natasa Petrova
CFO

Natasa has had a dynamic career in the accounting and audit field in an international environment. As CFO, Natasa leads the accounting team at Acorn and works on financial initiatives across all centers in the US and internationally. She holds Masters in Audit and is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Alex Holton
Senior Mechanical Engineer

Alex is a mechanical engineer and project manager in our Denver Design Center. He has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the University at Buffalo and 7 years of engineering and product design experience. Alex has worked on all phases of the product development cycle in numerous markets including medical, consumer, robotics, industrial, and IoT. His specialties include design for manufacturing of plastic parts and sheet metal. Outside of work, Alex hones his engineering skills with personal projects and enjoys spending time outside golfing, skiing, and boating.

Andrea Condon
Business Development Manager, East

Andrea leads the business development efforts in the Eastern United States. Her responsibilities include identifying new project opportunities, cultivating partner and client relationships, and executing on marketing initiatives. With over 10 years’ experience in client services and business development, Andrea works closely with her teammates to understand the challenges clients face and provide solutions that best meet their needs. Andrea holds a BS in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master’s degree in Management from Harvard University Extension School.

Arnold Edwards
Principal Mechanical Engineer

Arnold is a principal mechanical engineer and project manager in our Boston Design Center. He brings 20 years of engineering expertise with prior work in consumer electronics, food & beverage, automation, robotics, and medical devices. Arnold is an expert at electronics packaging and mechanism design and can lead multidisciplinary teams through all phases of the product development cycle. In his free time, Arnold is an avid runner and bicycle enthusiast who is always in search of the next bike to fix up.

Axel Soriano
Senior Designer

Axel is a multidisciplinary designer with experience in industrial design, user experience, and user interface. As senior designer he is heavily involved working with the design and engineering team to help guide the design process. Axel is also involved with guiding client communications to reach project goals. Axel has a passion for connecting humanistic and empathic designs to the user. He has infused this passion throughout various consumer, medical, IoT, and UI/UX projects within Acorn.

Brian Lewis
General Manager, West

Brian Lewis leads the engineering team in our Silicon Valley Design Center. He brings over 20 years of experience focused on the healthcare and life science industries. Brian has extensive experience with life science instrumentation and consumables and has taken complex software controlled devices through multiple clinical trials. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University, and has been awarded 15 patents throughout his career. In his free time, you can find Brian working on one of his vintage cars or riding mountain bikes.

Caleb Gale
Senior Electrical Engineer

Caleb is a senior electrical engineer and project manager with 10 years of experience in designing products for commercial, industrial, and enterprise applications. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and is highly skilled at embedded HW/SW development. Outside of work you can find Caleb spending time outside, riding his mountain bike or skiing the Vermont slopes.

Crsytal Avila
Administrative Assistant

Crystal is an administrative assistant in our Silicon Valley Design Center.  She is a jack of all trades who helps with all things business operations. She holds a medical administrative degree from Ohlone College and is a certified notary.  In her free time, Crystal likes to bake and decorate beautiful cakes and helps run the multiple family businesses.

David Preston
Mechanical Engineer

David is a mechanical engineer in our Silicon Valley Design Center. He holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from UCLA where he spent time as a development engineer working on laser optics and mechanical testing of materials. David also has experience designing equipment for the semiconductor industry. Outside of work, he enjoys reading, collecting houseplants, and spending time outside hiking, biking, or snowboarding.

Jacob McMullen
Designer

Jacob is a multi-disciplinary designer with a specialty in model making. He received his Industrial Design degree from San Jose State University, where he has since returned as an educator teaching a number of design courses. While at Acorn, he has had a hand in various consumer, medical, robotics, and UI/UX projects. His work has directly led to multiple patents for our clients and his designs have even been recognized by IDEA. Jacob hones his creativity outside of work by building furniture and woodworking.

Jeff Weeks
General Manager, East

Jeff Weeks leads the engineering team in our Boston Design Center. With over 11 years’ experience delivering complex products and technologies to market, he is adept at all stages of development from product definition to volume production. Jeff is highly experienced managing global teams to deliver high quality products and user experiences. Since graduating with a BS from Northeastern University his experience has spanned consumer products, scientific instrumentation, defense systems and industrial automation.

Michael Earle
Mechanical Engineer

Michael is a mechanical engineer in our Boston Design Center. He has worked on a variety of projects in the robotics, medical device, and automotive industries. Michael has experience designing complex assemblies and performing detailed structural and thermal analyses. He has a master’s in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. Outside of work, Michael enjoys sailing, skiing, riding his motorcycle, and working on his car.

Mike Cronin
Senior Designer

Mike is a multidisciplinary designer in our Boston Design Center. He has experience working on products in industries including automotive, medical, toys, sporting goods, and consumer devices. Mike enjoys concept development and bringing ideas to life through sketching, CAD, and rapid prototyping. He holds a degree in Industrial Design from Wentworth Institute of Technology. Outside of work, Mike enjoys staying active in the gym and is currently training for a half marathon.

Minxiang Liu
General Manager of Acorn Asia Group

Minxiang Liu leads the engineering team in our China Design Center. He has more than 20 years of product design and development experience and five years of teaching experience at the college level. He holds a MS degree in mechanical engineering from Northern Illinois University and BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai University.

Nick Deangelis
Senior Mechanical Engineer

Nick is a mechanical engineer and project manager with a Master’s in mechanical engineering design from Northeastern University. He has experience working on mechatronics, consumer, industrial, and life science products. Nick operates at the intersection of engineering and design, always keeping design considerations and aesthetics top of mind in his engineering work. In addition to ME design and analysis, Nick has experience making GUIs and writing testing scripts in MATLAB and Python. In his free time, Nick loves to travel, draw, and hone his programming skills by coding video games.

Ramnik Singh
Director of People Operations

As Director of People Operations, Ramnik has been leading HR and operations for all Acorn US Offices in her 14+ years with the company. She is a member of the executive team, and works on achieving strategic business objectives in areas of Organization Design, Succession and Workforce Planning, Talent and Performance Management and Business Process Improvements. She holds a BS in Computer Science and MS in Operations Research.

Robert Klein
Business Development Manager, West

Robert leads the Business Development efforts for Acorn West. With over 10 years of design consulting experience, Robert thrives on identifying opportunities and forging strong partnerships that drive innovation and growth. His passion for engineering and design fuels his commitment to delivering exceptional value to our clients. As a strong believer in the power of collaboration, Robert works closely with cross-functional teams to ensure our solutions are not only effective but also aligned with our clients’ vision.

Tomas Kerikas
Mechanical Engineer

Tomas Kerikas is a Mechanical Engineer at our Boston Design Center. Before joining Acorn he thrived in a number of startups, and worked extensively on underwater and underground robots, for both military and commercial applications. He enjoys taking concepts from a sketch to a physical prototype and beyond. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University. Outside of the office, Tomas can be found hiking, rock climbing, or celebrating his Lithuanian heritage.