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, 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 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 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 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.