WATCHSTANDER - Key Persons
Admiral Mark Fitzgerald was born in Winchester, Mass., and graduated from Northeastern University, Boston in June 1973. He was designated a naval aviator in October 1975. He retired….
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Finance
Alan Swimmer is a finance industry veteran with over 25 years of experience. He is responsible for financial oversight of operations and long-term planning. Swimmer also manages the company's ship arrest and governmental services operations.
Prior to employment with National, Swimmer successfully operated and sold two well-known specialty finance loan platforms, having managed the origination of over $4 billion in aircraft, yacht, and recreational vehicle loans and the acquisition of several specialty loan portfolios. Originally a Certified Public Accountant, he draws on his varied business experience to advise law firms, lenders, and government agencies. Swimmer graduated from Quinnipiac University in 1981.
A military Non-Lethal Perimeter Security expert. David Rigsby has more than 30 years experience of providing integrated technology solutions for difficult problems in the area of force….
Job Titles:
- Employee of the Applied Research Lab
- Technical Director ( Via Contract With Penn State ARL )
- Technical Director for the WatchStander System and Dept. Head of Intelligent Control Systems at the Penn State Applied Research Lab
Bob Touchton, Ph.D. - Technical Director for the WatchStander System and Dept. Head of Intelligent Control Systems at the Penn State Applied Research Lab
Dr. Bob Touchton, a full time employee of the Applied Research Lab (ARL) at The Pennsylvania State University, has served as the Principal Investigator for WatchStander's R&D contract with ARL since its inception in 2011. As such, he has directed all technical aspects of the design, engineering, implementation, and testing of the WatchStander System. He has over 35 years of experience in technology innovation and leadership, engineering, software development, and project management, spanning autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, decision support systems, and intelligent control. Touchton was a team member and Finalist at both DARPA Grand Challenge Events and the DARPA Urban Challenge, events which catalyzed the movement towards self-driving automobiles.
Touchton joined ARL in 2009 and has led and participated in numerous robotic, autonomous perception and control, and unmanned system projects sponsored by the US military. Prior to that, Touchton was the Vice President of Business Innovation and Robotics for Prioria Robotics and Managing Director of Autonomous Systems for Honeywell's Business Innovation Center. In 1984, he co-founded PathTech Software Solutions in Jacksonville, FL and served as its Chief Technology Officer for almost 20 years. Touchton began his career as a Nuclear Engineer in the commercial nuclear energy sector.
Dr. Touchton holds two MS degrees, one in Nuclear Engineering from Carnegie Melon University and the other in Computer Science from the University of North Florida. His Ph.D. was received from the University of Florida in Mechanical Engineering where his doctoral research focused on autonomous robotics.
Dr. Touchton is a native of Jacksonville, Florida and is a licensed Professional Engineer there.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman - TCH Holdings Inc
- Founder of Toney Capital Holdings
G. Robert Toney is the founder of Toney Capital Holdings, a marine related holding company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Noted holdings include National Liquidators, the leading pleasure yacht recovery and remarketing firms in the nation; National Maritime Services a global leader in commercial vessel custody, arrest and government asset seizures and various other marine related companies.
Financial backing from Toney Capital Holdings has made it possible for WatchStander, a one-of-a-kind antipiracy and countermeasure system, to debut in the commercial shipping market. The diversification into piracy was a watershed for TCH, as this was the group's first investment in a start-up operation with no existing revenue stream.
Toney is an active speaker at conferences throughout the world involving vessel financing, international ship foreclosures and maritime legal matters. He also serves as an investor and board member of a south Florida community bank, and is on the board of the Port Everglades Association. He is a member of the Southeast Admiralty Law Institute and the Maritime Law Association.
Jeff Hilsgen worked 15 years as an international corporate banker and finance executive. He began his career with Deutsche Bank in New York City and Frankfurt, Germany, followed by executive management positions with Daimler-Benz. In 2001, Hilsgen became Corporate Treasurer of Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE: ABG), one of America's 300 largest companies. Together with Asbury's CEO and CFO, he managed the company's March 2002 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
Hilsgen joined the U.S. Foreign Service as a political-tracked diplomat in 2003, and served full tours of duty in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Prior to joining WatchStander, Hilsgen served as the regional director of Asian operations for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. He has lived and worked in a broad range of challenging security environments.
A native of St. Cloud, Minnesota, Hilsgen is a graduate of St. Cloud State University (International Finance) and the University of South Carolina (International MBA). He speaks fluent German, fair Spanish and beginner-level Arabic and Mandarin.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor, Maritime Security
Admiral Mark Fitzgerald was born in Winchester, Mass., and graduated from Northeastern University, Boston in June 1973. He was designated a naval aviator in October 1975. He retired….
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor, Maritime Security
Fitzgerald had operational control over the first NATO anti-piracy deployment near Somalia as well as numerous US Navy deployments to the west coast of Africa. His experience in developing tactics and procedures to counter the piracy threat in both the Indian Ocean as well as the Gulf of Guinea make him a leader in the counter piracy arena. He has spoken at numerous international forum and advocated for improved protection systems for commercial shipping.
Fitzgerald's awards include both the Defense and Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (4 awards), Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat V (2 awards), Bronze Star (2 Awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), Air Medals, and numerous individual, Campaign and Unit awards as well as numerous foreign awards. He has logged over 4,800 flight hours and has over 1,100 carrier arrested landings from the decks of 13 aircraft carriers.
He currently consults with numerous defense and commercial aviation and maritime contractors. He is Chairman of the Board of the Association of Naval Aviators and a Vice Chairman of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.