Nicholas P. De Luca
nicholas.deluca@createtechnologies.com
Professional Objective:
To bring world changing ideas and technologies to life and implement programs to insure their success in the market place.
To help lead the technical and strategic development of companies founded on innovative technology.
To foster, share, and explore the process of innovation.
Experience
October 2011 – Present
OAS Design Group, Sand City, CA, www.oasdesigngroup.com
President and CTO
Clients
The Taylor Company, Rockton, IL: Provide engineering and technical expertise for various research and development projects including the development of commercial food service equipment, high speed oven heating elements, energy storage and distribution systems, and power and switching systems. Responsible for innovation associated with increasing the life of consumable high power mesh based heating elements by 50 times. Additional focus on quality testing and life testing of manufactured elements.
Little Feet Packaging, Sand City, CA: Develop novel manufacturing systems for a new line of paper based package cushioning materials. Systems include continuous high speed paper converting machines, paper dome forming processes, as well as portable end user packing line equipment to form paper Pubble wrap.
October 2014 – Present
Create Technologies Inc., Carson City, NV, www.createtechnologies.com
President and CTO
Development of novel technologies in various fields including solar energy collection, marine plastic debris collection, haptics, packaging, and lighting.
October 2014 – Present
De Luca Oven Technologies, San Francisco, CA www.delucaoventechnologies.com
Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer
Invented a high-speed stored energy wire mesh heating element and using the mesh, developed an oven capable of cooking at 4 times the normal speed of a conventional infrared oven. Managed a 10 person engineering team to integrate the core technology within numerous commercial, consumer, and industrial applications. Managed licensing efforts, patent prosecution, and contract developments with various licensees including United Technologies, The Taylor Company, Middleby, Pia’s Amazing, Hyperwave Technologies, Revolution Cooking, and Rapid Radiant Technologies. Technology licensing and partnerships worth $5M secured based on the technology.
May 2001 – August 2014
Create Technologies Inc., Carson City, NV, www.createtechnologies.com
Inventor, Technology Strategist, President
Partnered with Sealed Air Corporation to conceive of products and manufacturing processes, develop new technologies, and create and implement commercialization strategies. Developed technology in the fields of on-demand robotic manufacturing systems, computer color coding system, meat tracking systems, computer vision systems, food safety, hospital safety, environmental packaging, solar concentration systems, and haptic technologies. Directed a full time consulting team of 20+ mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineers and scientists, technicians, manufacturing experts, computer scientists, designers, industrial designers, marketing and business professionals. Projects developed: Layered Packaging, ColorID, VTID, Vision Enabled Training, Vision Safety Solutions, Excell Foam, Polyboom. Co-managed innovation project budget of over $7M.
Jan 1997 – May 2001
Novus Packaging Corporation, Richmond, CA
Founder and President
Founded Novus as a developer and manufacturer of inflatable packaging systems for use in the $2BB industrial packaging market. Raised $5.2 MM to test market, establish sales, and build a manufacturing facility for an automatic cushioning and void fill inflation packaging system. Managed the initial technology development team of 3 engineers and a marketing coordinator and then built team to 30 including directors of sales, marketing, manufacturing, finance, and engineering. Company sold to FP International, achieving investor yearly ROI of 8%-200% www.novuspackaging.com
May 1993 – Dec 1996 Novus Product Development, Watertown, MA
July 1996 to June 1997 Tracor Aerospace, San Ramon, CA
Nov. 1991 to Jan. 1993 New Products Program, MIT
Sep. 1991 to Jan. 1992 Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory, MIT
Summer 1991 Fusion Systems Corporation, Rockville, MD
Sep. 1990 to May 1991 Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, MIT
June 1988 to June 1990 National Institute of Standards & Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Publications
Harvard Business School, “Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID’,
N-9-512-029, August 25, 2011.
Berg, R.F. and De Luca, N.P., “Milliwatt Mixer for Small Fluid Samples,”
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 62, No. 2, February 1991.
US Patent and Trademark Office Patents and Publications – See Patents
Awards
2012 Kitchen Innovation Award from National Restaurant Association (SA Partner)
1993 MIT 1st Prize De Florez Award for Outstanding Ingenuity in Mechanical Design
1993 MIT 1st Prize in 10K Entrepreneurial Competition
1990 Maryland Governor’s Commendation for Science Award
1990 Westinghouse Science Competition Finalist
Languages
Italian and French – fluent, some Spanish.
Background
Graduate of Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda, MD
Other Interests
Teaching K-6, Piano Improvisation, Traveling, Singing, Rock Climbing.
References
Upon Request