Thomas Havey, Founder & President
Thomas founded Moai Technologies LLC in 2012. Prior to that Thomas worked as a consultant in the Twin-Cities specializing in SBIR/STTR grant funded Medical Technology Research and Development. While attending university, Thomas co-authored several peer reviewed journal articles and was recently published in the International Journal of Production Economics in 2014 and the Journal of Gerontological Nursing in 2015. Other notable experience in the Twin-Cities area include; Thomson Reuters, HealthPartners, and Hennepin County Medical Center.
Thomas holds a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship, as well as a Master of Business Administration. After attending New York Law School, Thomas earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Saint Thomas School of Law in Minnesota.
Don Rawitsch, Educational Technology Product Developer
Don Rawitsch, PhD, is the Principal Investigator for a National Institutes of Health SBIR grant to develop interactive digital media to discourage tobacco and vapor use by middle school students. He has worked in educational technology for over 40 years, including staff and managerial positions in product and curriculum development, project management, and educator training. He has held executive positions at MECC, Jostens Learning, and CTB/McGraw-Hill, as well as serving as a consultant on a variety of educational technology product development projects. He is a co-inventor of the nationally known educational simulation game, Oregon Trail, enshrined in the World Video Game Hall of Fame of The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. Don is currently located in the Denver, Colorado area.
Dr. Daniel Klassen, VP of Software Development
Dr. Daniel Klassen joined Moai Technologies LLC in 2014. Dr. Klassen is the Principal Investigator on a NIH- National Library of Medicine Funded SBIR project titled: “Memory Matters: A Mobile Aid to Stimulate Reminiscing in Persons with Memory Loss” Dr. Klassen has been involved in the design and development of over 60 software products for educational markets over the past 35+ years. Dr. Klassen has been involved in several successful start-up companies in the past.
Dr. Klassen holds a B.A. in Political Science from Minnesota State University and also holds a Ph.D. in Political Science. He received a Bush Foundation Fellowship- Management Program at Carnegie-Mellon University and was a Founding member of the Software Publishers Association.
Tom Plocher, Human Factors Research Scientist
Tom Plocher joined Moai Technologies in 2014. Tom is the Principal Investigator on an NIH funded STTR research grant titled “Smart Textiles to Track Progressive Spinal Deformity.” Tom has 36 years of experience in applying human factors design methods to product design and developing technology for human-computer interaction. Tom is an expert and has authored several books on how culture should influence product design. Tom was a research scientist at Honeywell for 25 years and has had 20 U.S. patents awarded from his research.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Hamline University and earned his Master’s degree in Psychology from Yale University.
Brian Hanzal, Director of Engineering
Brian Hanzal joined Moai Technologies in 2013. Brian Hanzal is the Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation funded research grant titled “An Assistive Tool to Locate People and Objects with a Multimodal Thermogram Interface” which is integrating a thermal camera into a smartphone to assist blind people in locating people using their thermal signature. Brian worked as a research scientist at Honeywell for 25 years where he contributed to dozens of government funded research and development projects. The majority of which was done under DARPA Air Force and Army research contracts.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, as well as Master’s degree in Physics, both from the University of Minnesota-Twin-Cities.
Martin Grider, Lead Programmer
Martin Grider joined Moai in 2014. Martin has over 15 years software development experience. He has been developing iOS applications since late 2008, when he launched his first game for the App Store, a Chess and puzzle game mashup called ActionChess. In 2012 he founded Abstract Puzzle LLC, a small game development studio and iOS consulting shop. He is an organizer for the Twin Cities IGDA chapter, where he has presented on iPhone game development, mobile game design, as well as his own games and apps. He presented a talk at the 2014 GDC mobile games summit about mobile game usability. Martin writes passionately about mobile game development and game design for both video games and board games on his blog at http://chesstris.com/
Additional Information about Martins work can be found at http://abstractpuzzle.com/
Kari Johnson, Research Associate
Kari Johnson joined Moai Technologies LLC in 2014 as a Research Associate. Kari will be assisting in the NIH-National Library of Medicine Funded SBIR project titled: “Memory Matters: A Mobile Aid to Stimulate Reminiscing in Persons with Memory Loss.” Previously, Kari worked in the Chief Clerk’s Office of the Minnesota House of Representatives and has a background in project management.
Kari holds a B.A. in Organizational Behavior and Management from Brown University.
Patrick Swinnea, Interactive Developer
Patrick Swinnea joined Moai Technologies in 2015 as an Interactive Developer, assisting in the National Institute of Health grant-funded “Interactive Game to Support Children’s Learning About Tobacco and the Human Body.”
As an independent games developer, Patrick has produced numerous top-rated iOS games, reaching over 5 million players worldwide. Among his favorites are Toon Drive Mysteries and Alpha Runner HD. In 2012 he received a Kiip Build Fund award for his platforming puzzle adventure, Merlin’s Marble.
He is an active member of the Twin Cities IGDA chapter, where he speaks regularly on the topics of business strategy and game design. He is also active with the Minnesota Virtual Reality club and is an accomplished Stereoscopic Photographer, with images published across the web and in print.
Patrick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Radio, TV and Film from the University of North Texas. See more of his work at boiledgoose.com.