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MEET THE TEAM
Andrew Hladky
Founder and CEO
Jan Filip, Ph.D.
Founder and Head of Product Development
Andrew Hladký, Founder and Chief Executive Office, is an experienced executive and corporate strategist who is dedicated to the development of scientific start-ups. Andrew graduated in Mechanical Engineering in the US, while researching new materials for Li-ion batteries, and spent time at SpaceX and Tesla where he applied his experience to help develop their research capabilities. He holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and has extensive experience at Goldman Sachs, BCG, Sev.en Energy, and Avast, where he worked across investment management, M&A and corporate strategy. Since 2022, he has focused exclusively on the development of high-tech start-ups, primarily based on technologies developed at Czech universities. He also has experience with the Technology Incubation Programme, where he has been leading the SHEAR1 (Mobility Hub) project since February 2023. Andrew has successfully commercialised the project through partners and the use of the Technology Incubation Programme has been key to this success. Andrew will lead the project on commercial, strategic, financial and operational matters.
Eleni Petala, Ph.D
Founder and Chief Technical Officer
Eleni Petala, Ph.D, Founder and Chief Technical Officer, is a materials science engineer. In 2011 she received her M.Sc. degree in Materials Chemistry and Technology from the Department of Chemistry and Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Ioannina while in 2017 she received her Ph.D. from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, in collaboration with the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM) in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Her MSc and PhD studies were driven in the field of environmental applications and more specifically in advanced water treatment nanotechnologies. She has various publications and patents while she has participated in several conferences and through internships, she have had the chance to interact with many collaborators around world. Among her interests is also the application of methodological approaches to link research to its eventual industrial and societal deployment. During her work as a scientific researcher, she has been involved in numerous European projects and has been intensively trained on Innovation Management Tools, EU proposal development, corporate engagement, protecting and licensing inventions and economic development. Currently, she is a post-doc researcher at the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM), Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Jan Filip, Ph.D., Founder and Head of Product Development, is a material scientist with more than 15 years long expertise in synthesis, complex characterization, upscaling and environmental applications of broad range of iron- and carbon-based nanomaterials. He received his master's and Ph.D. degrees in Geological Sciences from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and spent a year as a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Vienna-Geozentrum, Austria. Since 2005, he has been working as a researcher and head of the Environmental Group at the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM) at Palacký University in Olomouc (formerly Centre for nanomaterial research), where he is also affiliated with the Czech Advanced Technology Research Institute (CATRIN). He has been involved in more than 20 national and international grant projects, funded by various agencies and programs, focusing on the development and utilization of iron-based nanomaterials (such as zero-valent iron, iron oxides and ferrates) for water and soil remediation, wastewater treatment, and active packaging materials. He is the author or co-author of four book chapters, more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, inventor of five patents, several verified technologies, utility models and prototypes. He has extensive experience in using X-ray based analytical techniques (such as XRD, SAXS, XPS and XRF) for complex nanomaterials characterization, as well as in studying natural nanoparticles and their properties. In the project, he will be responsible for: Design and synthesis of novel nanomaterials, optimization of their physico-chemical properties and performance, evaluation of their stability, mechanical properties and environmental impact, coordination of laboratory tests and field trials, data analysis and interpretation, dissemination of results and intellectual property protection.