Smart Products has assembled a highly skilled professional team with over 50 years of innovation experience. The founding members include: H. Lee Holden, a former California Judge, and successful inventor for over 30 years; Francois Nguyen, an inventor and award winning industrial designer and member of the Pentagram industrial design team in San Francisco, CA.; and Josh Defosset, a mechanical engineer and inventor for 15 years with many years of experience in manufacturing, design and product management.
H. Lee Holden, President & CEO
H. Lee Holden, a former Judge of Santa Clara County, California, is the founder and President of the Invention Factory. He has been a successful inventor for over 30 years and marketed and sold his first two inventions and received an award for a third. Mr. Holden has been involved in the creative process for over thirty-five years and has a published book, Winning Secrets, and has written a manual, Creative Powers of Consciousness. Prior to inventing full time, Mr. Holden was counsel to the CEO/President of Universal Services Associates Inc., a nationwide electronic funds transfer company, in conjunction with International Verifact, Inc., a world leader in PIN technology, managing new product development and marketing. Mr. Holden was an international business consultant to Axim Inc., Paris, France. He lived in Paris working with joint-venture partners, Alcatel, (telecommunications), and C.G.E., the largest water company in Europe, on innovation, product development and marketing. Previously, Mr. Holden was an attorney with Sylvia, Rubnitz, DiNapoli, Hastings, Holden & Livak, San Jose, CA. Mr. Holden holds a M.A., in Public Administration, emphasis International Business, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., graduating Cum Laude, a Juris Doctor from Hastings College of the Law, University of California, and a B.A., from the University of California, Berkeley.
Francois Nguyen, Industrial Design
Francois Nguyen is part of the Pentagram industrial design team in San Francisco, CA. He has a fine arts background in sculpture and has sold work to collectors throughout the U.S. and Europe. He also enjoys a successful career as a classical guitarist; his duet “Francois and Rodrigo” performs regularly throughout the Bay Area. His diverse and multi-disciplinary background is a foundation for his design work. He was the recipient of the 2003 ID scholarship and was the Merit Award Winner for 2004 qualifying him as the best design student in his class. As part of that honor, he was invited to present and speak at the Western District Conference. Previously, Mr. Nguyen was an Industrial Designer with Stoller Studios. Mr. Nguyen completed his course work for his B.S.I.D. from San Jose State University, as a Merit Award recipient, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Fine Arts, graduating with Honors.
Josh P. Defosset, Chief Technology Officer & Secretary
Josh P. Defosset is a Mechanical Engineer, with experience in the manufacturing, sourcing and product management of plastic consumer products. Previously, Mr. Defosset was a Manufacturing engineer for McGhan Medical (now named Inamed, #2 U.S. manufacturer of cosmetic implants), Design engineer for BellSports (market share leader in bicycle helmets), Product Manager for Trek Bicycles (Lance Armstrong’s bike), Product Manager for Specialized Bicycles, and Manufacturing engineer for Parallax Medical (leader in devices for Vertebroplasty). Manufacturing sourcing: lead Specialized Helmets from in-house domestic manufacturing to Asian sourcing of manufacturing; sourced plastic components in North America for Trek and Parallax. Patents: originator of a Bell Sports owned patent for helmet retention systems, originator of a Trek Bicycles patent in same area, originator and owner of patent on Line-Tuned Cooling System. Mr. Defosset holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Scott R. Broomfield, Strategic and Financial Advisor
Scott Broomfield is a managing member of the board of directors of Sand Hill IT Security Acquisition Corp. and VP of Corporate Development. Until recently, Mr. Broomfield was the CEO of Xtegra Corporation, a private EII software company specializing in information integration, which he sold to SAP AG in August 2005. Previously, Mr. Broomfield had been the CEO of Visuale, a private business process software company that he sold to Onyx Software Corporation (NASDAQ: ONXS) in April 2004. Prior to joining Visuale and from 1997 until 2001, Mr. Broomfield was the CEO of Centura Software Corporation (formerly Gupta Technologies, a NASDAQ traded company), a $50 million software business specializing in secure, embedded and mobile databases and application development tools. During his tenure as CEO of Gupta, Mr. Broomfield completed the acquisition of Raima Corporation and in three years built its market capitalization from $6 million to $700 million by early 2000. Prior to Centura, he was a Managing Director of Hickey & Hill, Inc., a turnaround consultancy. At Hickey & Hill he was in charge of the high technology restructuring practice. Mr. Broomfield structured the acquisition of Polyscan and the equity recapitalization for ETEC Corporation. He was also instrumental in the following company divestitures: Dazix, Domain Technologies, Priam, Everex and Zitel, where he acquired two businesses to reposition Zitel in the market. Prior to Hickey & Hill, Mr. Broomfield was the CFO of Trilogy Technology Corporation, which was sold to Digital Equipment Corporation. Mr. Broomfield holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and is a member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), where he was the co-chair of BENS’ cyber security task force and Y2K initiatives.
Cuong Nguyen, Financial Advisor
C.D. Nguyen graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1963. Mr. Nguyen went on to graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1965. His engineering background was complemented with a Master of Business Administration in International Finance from New York University Stern School of Business in 1981. Mr. Nguyen has had a long and successful career in both government and the private sector. His ten-year career with the government of South Vietnam began in 1965 and took him to the post of Vice Minister of Economy at age 29 and the post of Minister of Trade and Industry, a senior cabinet position in government, at age 31. After the events of 1975, he settled in the U.S. and started a new career in finance with Exxon Corporation’s Treasury Department, headquartered in New York. He progressed through the ranks in Exxon’s Treasury Department and became President of Exxon Financial Services, a finance affiliate of Exxon based in Bermuda. Mr. Nguyen also became Tax and Treasury Manager for Infineum, a chemical joint venture between Exxon Mobil Corporation and Royal Dutch Shell headquartered in England. He retired with 30 years of service with Exxon Mobil Corporation and its affiliates.