Our Team
Bill Altieri, Business Advisor
Founder and President of the highly successful Boston-based investment firm TAG Venture Partners, Bill Altieri serves as an important business advisor to MagCanica. Bill's unique financial and business experience provides MagCanica with strong guidance to effectively develop MagCanica's business over the long term. His support is particularly valuable in helping to identify and evaluate new markets to enter, assess product development strategy, and make introductions to potential clients and investors.
Nader Bitar, Vice President of Business Affairs
As MagCanica's Vice President of Business Affairs, Nader is responsible for all business and legal matters affecting the Company, including managing MagCanica's business development and financial management efforts, and handling various administrative functions such as human resources, investor relations, and benefits. Nader is a seasoned California corporate and intellectual property attorney with significant experience in the high-tech arena. As such, he provides invaluable legal and business development leadership. He holds a Bachelor's degree in International Economics from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of California at Davis. In addition to his varied educational background, Nader has over fifteen years of financial and legal experience, having worked with a number of financial institutions, law firms, and high technology startup companies.
Sami Bitar, President
President and co-founder of MagCanica, Sami holds a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Brown University and a Master's degree in mechatronics from Stanford University. Following his university studies, he gained valuable experience at the Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI, USA) leading the development of a series of magnetoelastic torque sensors for Formula 1 racecars and production automotive steering applications. Through his experience developing torque sensors at Ford, Sami developed a strong understanding of the issues involved in developing practical torque sensing devices for industry as well as an in-depth appreciation for what infrastructure and skill base is needed to guide a successful R&D program for this technology.

As President of MagCanica since its founding in early 2000, Sami has successfully managed the inception and growth of MagCanica from a business concept to a credible and financially sound enterprise. He has carried out both technical and business roles in a dedicated effort to continuously improve and further propagate MagCanica's technology platform. In particular, Sami has been able to raise funding, recruit a world-class technical and business team, and secure numerous contracts to fuel the company's growth.
Wade S. Fiegel, Electrical Engineer
Wade earned his Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Lowell in 1980. Virtually ever since then, he has worked directly with Ivan Garshelis on magnetoelastic torque sensors and a variety of other transducers and devices. His almost thirty years of work experience and hands-on approach make him a particularly valuable contributor to the team in such activities as experimental testing, sensor and module assembly, and system troubleshooting. Among other things, during his free time Wade is an avid canoe racer and serves as a local Fire Department emergency volunteer.
Ivan J. Garshelis, Chief Technical Officer
Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of MagCanica, Garshelis is recognized as one of the world's top experts in torque measurement and magnetoelastics. Among other things, he has invented and successfully proven out devices for the measurement of torque, rate-of-change (ROC) of torque, speed, and position; current threshold sensing; and the mechanical magnet. Mr. Garshelis' professional and scientific distinctions are numerous, as reflected in his publication of over 50 peer-reviewed technical journal articles (for a complete list of Mr. Garshelis' publications, click here) and over 30 patents. Furthermore, in 1994 he was awarded the prestigious R&D 100 Award in recognition of his pioneering work in magnetoelastic torque sensing.

An expert engineer and inventor, Mr. Garshelis has several decades' experience as a designer, researcher, and senior engineering consultant across many industries. Prior to his association with MagCanica, he consulted for a number of Fortune 500 companies including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Daimler-Chrysler, and Honeywell. Mr. Garshelis, an expert mechanical engineer and physicist, is recognized as the world's top expert in torque sensing and magnetoelastics and has authored the seminal patents and technical papers in the area of magnetoelastic torque measurement. As such, at the request of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), he authored the chapter on torque measurement in The Measurement, Instrumentation and Sensors Handbook and The Mechatronics Handbook.
Marnix Hollander, Design & Development Engineer
A New Yorker, Marnix graduated with an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree from Columbia University in 2007 and joined MagCanica shortly thereafter. While at Columbia, Marnix drew upon his interest in combined mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering to conduct research on control systems for MEMS sensors. Marnix's engineering background in the various aspects of mechatronics, combined with his practical experience as an automotive mechanic, help him contribute to MagCanica's continuing product development and application engineering efforts for a variety of motorsport, automotive, and aerospace programs.
Ryan Kari, Senior Engineer
A graduate of Stanford University's mechatronics Master's program, Ryan joined MagCanica in early 2002. His rigorous training in the latest embedded controls techniques and development platforms helps to maintain MagCanica's position as a leading developer of mechatronic systems. Ryan has led the development of MagCanica's in-house signal conditioning and signal processing electronics development, helping to optimize the performance of our torque sensor system. Ryan's combination of interdisciplinary know-how and a strong product focus helps MagCanica to effectively transition newly developed measurement technologies into functional products and systems. In particular, Ryan leads MagCanica's efforts to integrate the various measurement functions (torque, rate-of-change of torque, and speed) in an optimal fashion.
Stijn Tollens, Senior Engineer
After completing his Master's degree in Mechatronics and Control Systems from the University of California at Berkeley, Stijn joined the MagCanica team in mid 2003. A native of Leuven in Belgium, Stijn is an avid automotive engineer with a particular interest in vehicle controls. Working closely with Ivan Garshelis, MagCanica's Chief Technical Officer, Stijn is especially active in MagCanica's research and development work. Currently he is focusing his attention on developing the Drag Force Method (DFM) for non-destructive evaluation and leading MagCanica's R&D efforts on the magnetoelastic subsystem of the MagCanica torque sensor system. Finally, Stijn is MagCanica's most experienced track support engineer, having attended over twenty-five Formula 1 track tests to conduct troubleshooting and thorough data analysis.
William Street, Manufacturing Engineer
A highly experienced manufacturing engineer with a strong background in sensor manufacturing and quality control, Bill plays a key role in testing and assembling MagCanica's torque sensor systems, documenting and improving MagCanica's manufacturing and testing processes, and championing MagCanica's quality improvement efforts. Bill has over twenty years of manufacturing engineering experience with electromechanical devices. Prior to his association with MagCanica, Bill worked for a number of automotive and aerospace industry leaders including BEI and Honeywell working as a process engineer for various sensor devices such as position sensors, encoders, and potentiometers.