Bios - Key Management Staff
Empire Precision's employees' broad backgrounds bring a wide perspective to our company
Neal
P. Elli
President
After developing a strong track record in Industrial Sales, Project Management and General Management with technically oriented engineered projects, Neal started Empire Precision with Rick Wilson in 1992. Staff includes direct reports in manufacturing, finance, engineering, quality assurance and materials management. As an optimistic active manager in a team - driven environment, the company President must be the catalyst for process and quality improvements in our fast paced environment and customer oriented company.
Education: St. John Fisher College, 1980, Bachelor of Science, Biology. Neal has made technical presentations for SPE & AG Research Technical Conferences on Micro Molding and is a member of the SPE.
Rick
Wilson
V. P. Engineering
After completion of his Journeyman certification in mold making in 1984, Rick continued his career as a mold maker at Erdle manufacturing, a small mold making shop in Rochester, NY. He advanced his position to foreman, then general manager. In 1992 Rick started Empire Precision Plastics with partner Neal Elli. Rick maintained his position as general manager at Erdle manufacturing until 1998 when Empire and Erdle merged and moved into a common facility.
As VP of Engineering Rick helps create a team driven environment in which Empire’s management is empowered to make decisions that will help carry Empire to a prosperous future.
Rick’s day to day responsibilities include cost estimating for tooling and parts, and acting as a technical resource for the management team. Rick also leads the Advance Project Team in supporting our new and existing customers with sales and engineering resourc
Kathleen
S. Elli
Controller
Kathy has worked for both Fortune 500 and privately-held manufacturing companies before joining Empire Precision in August 1999. Her primary focus at Empire has been to oversee the implementation and maintenance of the company’s ERP system, cost accounting and profit reporting processes, human resource management, and office administration.
Kathy is an active participant of Empire’s Senior Management Team and enjoys working with her peers to drive process and quality improvement projects. Her staff includes accounting, information technology, and administrative resources.
Education: Kathy received her B.S. degree in Accounting from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. She is also licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the state of New York
Chris
Judd
Director of Quality
Chris is a graduate of Gates Chili High School; upon graduation he went directly into the United States Air Force to study Advanced Avionics on F-15 Fighter Jets. Upon returning home from the USAF he began as an apprentice attending Tool and Die school. Due to his employer's need for a Quality person skilled in blueprint reading and part measurement, he was asked to join the Quality group as a Layout Technician. Chris enjoyed working in Quality and chose this as his career path. Chris attended many schools, classes and seminars, continuously working toward his goals of being a leader in the Quality field. He has since spent the majority of his last 20 plus years as a Quality Manager in the Injection Molding Industry. Chris is a member of our local ASQ and the Society of Plastics Engineers.
Douglas
Gresens
Project Manager / Advance Project Team
With over 25 years of design experience in manufacturing, plastics caught Doug's attention almost 20 years ago. Doug has held several key positions from design engineering thru sales and project engineering. "The exciting part about plastics is the huge variety of applications". Coming from New England, Doug had extensive exposure to very high volume, tight tolerance plastic parts. Whether the application was continuous molded connectors, medical devices, disposable razors, or watches, they all shared the need to be produced efficiently and closely monitored for quality.
Having gone thru the SUNY education system, Doug gained a broad knowledge
of general manufacturing practices. After graduating, he enrolled in
the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. As he became more involved in plastics,
this was a natural fit. Currently Doug is an
active member of the Rochester Industrial Manufacturing Engineering Society.
Lori
Beachel-Johnson
Customer Service Represenative
Lori bring to Empire over 25 years of experience in the manufacturing environment including supervision, management, planning, purchasing, quality auditor and customer service. Lori's twenty years of experience in the electronics industry provided a strong background in production and support processes, which transferred easily to the plastics industry. "As the Customer Service Representative I look forward to welcoming your business and working together to fulfill your expectations".
Education: Genesee Community College – AAS Computer Repair Technology/Electronics, Phi Theta Kappa. Professional Training: Interactive Management Certificate, Accounting for Small Business Certificate, Vitalwork Leadreship Training and APICS CPIM courses.