Team & Leadership - Achates Power

David Crompton

President & CEO
Laurence Fromm

Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer
Dnyanesh Sapkal

Executive Vice President, Engineering & Operations
Carol Mottershead

Vice President, Finance and Administration
Christopher (CJ) Kalebjian

Vice President, Performance and Development
Zoltan Bako

Vice President of Heavy-Duty Pathway Development

Board of Directors

Dr. John Wall | Retired Chief Technology Officer, Cummins

David Crompton | President and CEO, Achates Power, Inc.

Hal Harvey | CEO, Energy Innovation

Mark Van Den Berg | Managing Director, OGCI Climate Investments

Leading the world through development and commercial adoption of emerging powertrain technologies

David Crompton serves as the President and CEO of Achates Power. Crompton joined Achates Power in 2019 after a 28-year career at Cummins, Inc., where he served as president of both the Engine Business and Power Systems business. His experience in the powertrain industry includes work in Commercial and Recreational Marine, Construction, Agriculture, Mining, Rail, Defense, Oil & Gas and, Power Generation businesses. Crompton brings a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the development and commercial adoption of emerging powertrain technologies. Most recently Crompton served as an independent director at Agility Fuel Systems, and currently serves on the board of Panduit. While at Cummins, Crompton ran Quality and New Product Development and led Cummins’ overall business in Mexico, Central and South America. He also served on the Board of Directors of eight Cummins joint venture companies with the following partners: Tata, Dong Feng, Foton, Kamaz, Komatsu, Brunswick/Mercury Marine, and Westport Innovations in China, Japan, India, Russia, and the United States. Crompton graduated from Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies and completed the Advanced Management Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Managing business development, intellectual property, and marketing and advocacy for Achates Power

Laurence Fromm joined Achates Power in 2004 as the market-facing executive of the company’s founding team. While managing the business development, government relations and marketing for Achates Power, Fromm leads engagements with leading engine, commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle manufacturers around the globe. Prior to Achates Power, Fromm served as CEO of Chaos Telecom, a venture-backed, early-stage company, where he helped create the company’s first product — licensed embedded software for digital subscriber line modems. Prior to Chaos Telecom, Fromm was the vice president of Widcomm, Inc. (sold to Broadcom Corporation), where he managed development of the Bluetooth LAN access point and developed the company’s channel program in Europe, North America and Asia. Previously, Fromm was part of the executive team at Dialogic as the company grew to $400M in annual revenue, went public and was purchased by Intel Corporation. Fromm earned a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in computer engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Executive Vice President, Engineering & Operations

Dnyanesh Sapkal, Executive Vice President of Engineering & Operations, joined Achates Power in October 2013 as Vice President of Engineering. In his current role, he is responsible for the Engineering & Operations functions that include overall design, analysis, mechanical development, supply chain management, manufacturing, engine assembly & engine testing of the Achates Power opposed-piston, two-stroke engine hardware. He also manages a team of engineers to ensure the product design robustness by utilizing modern analytical tools and demonstrating results through dynamometer testing.

Prior to Achates Power, he worked as the department manager of commercial engines and advanced applications design at FEV Inc. in Auburn Hills, Michigan where he managed the teams responsible for design and development of various powertrains including gasoline, diesel and dual-fuel engines as well as automotive hybrid transmissions and wind turbine gearboxes. Prior, Sapkal was a senior design and release engineer at Ford Motor Co., responsible for design and development of the automatic transmission servo–hydraulics components. He began his career as an engineering manager at Mahindra in Mumbai, India. Sapkal is a Six Sigma Green Belt and received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Mumbai, where he graduated with honors. Sapkal has also undergone a comprehensive management and leadership training program at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore & Ahmedabad, India.

Leading the finance and administration functions that drive the Achates Power business

Carol Mottershead joined Achates Power in 2014 to lead the Finance and Administration functions, responsible for HR, payroll, accounting, pricing, revenue and cash flow performance and administration. Mottershead has extensive experience in financial reporting and leadership, as well as directing government contracts and reporting. She was previously controller at Trofholz Technologies, Inc., responsible for payroll, procurement, pricing, budgeting and forecasting, accounting and administration. While at Trofholz, she developed revenue and cash flow forecasting tools and worked collaboratively to manage compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and contract budgets. Prior positions include senior finance roles at Purple Communications (formerly Hands on Video Relay Services & Goamerica, Inc.) and NIC Conquest, Inc, NIC Technologies, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from San Jose State University.

Charging the Achates Power ACE program for the world’s strongest military

Christopher (CJ) Kalebjian, Vice President of Performance and Development joined Achates Power in 2011 as a senior development engineer in the performance and emissions department. His contributions included analysis, controls development, calibration, and testing of the company’s opposed-piston, two-stroke engine. Some key areas of focus were on developing a strategy to achieve very low emissions levels and high exhaust temperatures for catalyst light-off; which fed into a base emissions calibration offering significant improvement in fuel economy for a light duty engine platform. Moving forward he became the Chief Engineer and Program Manager for Achates Power’s military business. The initial military project’s success led to the Advanced Combat Engine program, which is currently under development. To date this project’s success put the engine on the path to change the powertrain landscape for the military. Now as Vice President of Performance and Development, Kalebjian is responsible for the development and demonstration of all engine programs. Prior to Achates Power, Kalebjian spent more than five years as a diesel calibration engineer at General Motors where he oversaw performance, drivability and emissions for the current and future GM diesel pick-up platforms—including the Duramax engine used in U.S. light-duty trucks. Before that, he worked as a systems application engineer for Visteon Corporation, a leading global automotive supplier. Kalebjian began his career at Ford Motor Company as a product design engineer responsible for developing innovative throttle bodies for several different engines. He received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Cornell University’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Heavy-Duty Pathway Development

Zoltan Bako, Vice President of Heavy-Duty Pathway Development, joined Achates Power in June 2013, starting as a Director of Application Engineering. Promoted to Chief Engineer and Program Manager for Achates Power’s heavy-duty engine, he was responsible for all technical aspects from concept to detailed design, development of the company’s heavy-duty opposed-piston, two-stroke. His effort was key to demonstrating CARB proposed future ultralow NOx legislation can be achieved. Now as Vice President of Heavy-Duty Pathway Development he oversees all commercial and technical aspect of heavy-duty engine and aftertreatment design and development. Prior to Achates Power, he spent more than four years as an engineering specialist at Caterpillar, where he contributed the Caterpillar’s off-road diesel engine development meeting Tier4 final emission standards. He began his career at AVL in both Austria and USA as a senior project engineer responsible for thermodynamic calculations and engine development work including the FORD 6.7L Power Stroke diesel engine. He received a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from University of Miskolc, Hungary.

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