Andrew Scheuermann

CEO & Co-founder

Andrew (He/Him) is the CEO and Co-founder of Surd, with a mission to drive digitization and sustainable innovation in electronics manufacturing.  Andrew has published over 15 scientific papers in the fields of semiconductor electronics, electronics manufacturing, and renewable energy. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Stanford where he fabricated world record silicon photoanodes enabled by a background building custom fabrication and inspection equipment in collaboration with top equipment vendors. Outside of engineering, he helped build StartX, a top worldwide startup accelerator that has invested over $200M across various companies. After leading their hardware and IoT vertical, helping scores of early IoT companies go to market, Andrew joined Tim to build Surd in 2015.

Tim Burke

CTO & Co-founder

Tim (He/Him) is an innovative and compassionate technologist with more than 10 years of embedded electronics experience. He earned a PhD at Stanford discovering the first complete theory of organic solar cell operation. Before that, he independently designed a pico-hydropower power plant as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama that was used as a model for rural electrification. He’s been thinking about how to build modular electronics for the last decade, both independently and with the nonprofit WellDone International where he used low-cost sensors to help ensure access to clean water in rural Africa. He is passionate about empowering people to have equal access to basic resources and ensuring that the next wave of IoT devices benefits all people. Tim currently serves on the IPC-CFX technical board.

Dave Trail

VP of Sales

Dave Trail (He/Him) is VP of Sales at Surd. He is an accomplished industry professional with over 25 years of experience in electronics manufacturing equipment, machine connectivity, and manufacturing execution systems software (MES). Throughout his career, he has been a pioneer and proponent of the evolution of manufacturing from Industry 3.0 to 4.0, big data analytics, AI/ML, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT).

While working with most of the largest global manufacturing corporations, Dave possesses a vast knowledge of the challenges manufacturing companies face and the opportunities inherent in evolving their organizations to capitalize on tomorrow’s technologies today.

Ben Freeman

VP of Engineering at Surd

Ben Freeman (He/Him) is the VP of Engineering at Surd.  He has a passion for building successful and productive teams that deliver the right products for our clients and effective experiences for our users.  Previous to Surd, Ben spent 12 years building and growing the R&D team for Shipwire, an innovator in Ecommerce Fulfillment.  He looks forward to using his 20+ years of experience delivering software and solutions for the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries to drive great outcomes in the industry.

Jennifer Davis

Head of Marketing & Communications

Jennifer Davis (She/Her) is Head of Marketing & Communications at Surd, driving connections between Surd and the quickly evolving manufacturing industries. She worked previously in the start-up space; 13 years in the medical industry in development and implementation of electronic medical records systems (EMR). In recent years, her time has been spent consulting within the medical and engineering industries and the charitable sector. Her role at Surd includes ownership of marketing and communications strategies and partnerships. She holds a BS in Journalism/Corporate Communications from Utah State University. She has a passion for mentoring the next generation of workforce leadership; volunteering with young women’s groups, fostering learning and leadership skills and enabling innate talents. She lives in northern Utah where she enjoys skiing, hiking, horseback riding, classical piano, travel, and time spent with her children and husband.

Eric Krock

Head of Product

Eric Krock (He/Him) is the Head of Product at Surd, driving the evolution of our products and ensuring our customers are delighted. Eric brings over 15 years of enterprise product management experience at startups and large enterprises. At Arm Holdings, Eric managed the growth and rebranding of Arm’s partner program for enterprise IoT partners. At LifeMap Solutions, he partnered with Apple and Mount Sinai Health to develop the Asthma Health mobile health app, one of the first six apps to launch on ReseSurdKit, and worked on mobile health IoT solutions. Prior to that, he was responsible for Kontiki’s solution for secure peer-assisted content delivery, resulting in an acquisition by VeriSign, where he launched a global cloud-based enterprise content delivery network. Eric is passionate about using technology and evidence-based best practices to create a better, sustainable world for the children of today.

Erika Kavanagh

Head of People Ops

Erika (She/Her) has been working in People Operations for nearly a decade; working in operational, strategic, and leadership roles. Her substantial experience in the startup space, including DogVacay, The Bouqs, and Sweetgreen, has allowed her to build and scale People Ops functions to align People and Talent strategies with company goals. She has a proven track record of employee advocacy and has helped companies create processes for reviews, career leveling, compensation, internal communications, and more.
Erika is also a professional improviser. In addition to performing with and coaching improv teams, she has facilitated applied improv and team-building workshops for dozens of company events, including Google, NVIDIA, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. She is also the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for ComedySportz (CSz) San Jose where she works with area and global CSz leaders to achieve their goals to make improv more inclusive and accessible.
Erika is an SHRM senior certified professional (SHRM-SCP) and holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources from San Jose State University. Erika lives with her husband and their two dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Andrew Scheuermann

CEO & Co-founder

Andrew (He/Him) is the CEO and Co-founder of Surd, with a mission to drive digitization and sustainable innovation in electronics manufacturing.  Andrew has published over 15 scientific papers in the fields of semiconductor electronics, electronics manufacturing, and renewable energy. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Stanford where he fabricated world record silicon photoanodes enabled by a background building custom fabrication and inspection equipment in collaboration with top equipment vendors. Outside of engineering, he helped build StartX, a top worldwide startup accelerator that has invested over $200M across various companies. After leading their hardware and IoT vertical, helping scores of early IoT companies go to market, Andrew joined Tim to build Surd in 2015.

Tim Burke

CTO & Co-founder

Tim (He/Him) is an innovative and compassionate technologist with more than 10 years of embedded electronics experience. He earned a PhD at Stanford discovering the first complete theory of organic solar cell operation. Before that, he independently designed a pico-hydropower power plant as a Peace Corps volunteer in Panama that was used as a model for rural electrification. He’s been thinking about how to build modular electronics for the last decade, both independently and with the nonprofit WellDone International where he used low-cost sensors to help ensure access to clean water in rural Africa. He is passionate about empowering people to have equal access to basic resources and ensuring that the next wave of IoT devices benefits all people. Tim currently serves on the IPC-CFX technical board.

Dave Trail

VP of Sales

Dave Trail (He/Him) is VP of Sales at Surd. He is an accomplished industry professional with over 25 years of experience in electronics manufacturing equipment, machine connectivity, and manufacturing execution systems software (MES). Throughout his career, he has been a pioneer and proponent of the evolution of manufacturing from Industry 3.0 to 4.0, big data analytics, AI/ML, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT).

While working with most of the largest global manufacturing corporations, Dave possesses a vast knowledge of the challenges manufacturing companies face and the opportunities inherent in evolving their organizations to capitalize on tomorrow’s technologies today.

Ben Freeman

VP of Engineering at Surd

Ben Freeman (He/Him) is the VP of Engineering at Surd.  He has a passion for building successful and productive teams that deliver the right products for our clients and effective experiences for our users.  Previous to Surd, Ben spent 12 years building and growing the R&D team for Shipwire, an innovator in Ecommerce Fulfillment.  He looks forward to using his 20+ years of experience delivering software and solutions for the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries to drive great outcomes in the industry.

Jennifer Davis

Head of Marketing & Communications

Jennifer Davis (She/Her) is Head of Marketing & Communications at Surd, driving connections between Surd and the quickly evolving manufacturing industries. She worked previously in the start-up space; 13 years in the medical industry in development and implementation of electronic medical records systems (EMR). In recent years, her time has been spent consulting within the medical and engineering industries and the charitable sector. Her role at Surd includes ownership of marketing and communications strategies and partnerships. She holds a BS in Journalism/Corporate Communications from Utah State University. She has a passion for mentoring the next generation of workforce leadership; volunteering with young women’s groups, fostering learning and leadership skills and enabling innate talents. She lives in northern Utah where she enjoys skiing, hiking, horseback riding, classical piano, travel, and time spent with her children and husband.

Eric Krock

Head of Product

Eric Krock (He/Him) is the Head of Product at Surd, driving the evolution of our products and ensuring our customers are delighted. Eric brings over 15 years of enterprise product management experience at startups and large enterprises. At Arm Holdings, Eric managed the growth and rebranding of Arm’s partner program for enterprise IoT partners. At LifeMap Solutions, he partnered with Apple and Mount Sinai Health to develop the Asthma Health mobile health app, one of the first six apps to launch on ReseSurdKit, and worked on mobile health IoT solutions. Prior to that, he was responsible for Kontiki’s solution for secure peer-assisted content delivery, resulting in an acquisition by VeriSign, where he launched a global cloud-based enterprise content delivery network. Eric is passionate about using technology and evidence-based best practices to create a better, sustainable world for the children of today.

Erika Kavanagh

Head of People Ops

Erika (She/Her) has been working in People Operations for nearly a decade; working in operational, strategic, and leadership roles. Her substantial experience in the startup space, including DogVacay, The Bouqs, and Sweetgreen, has allowed her to build and scale People Ops functions to align People and Talent strategies with company goals. She has a proven track record of employee advocacy and has helped companies create processes for reviews, career leveling, compensation, internal communications, and more.
Erika is also a professional improviser. In addition to performing with and coaching improv teams, she has facilitated applied improv and team-building workshops for dozens of company events, including Google, NVIDIA, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. She is also the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for ComedySportz (CSz) San Jose where she works with area and global CSz leaders to achieve their goals to make improv more inclusive and accessible.
Erika is an SHRM senior certified professional (SHRM-SCP) and holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources from San Jose State University. Erika lives with her husband and their two dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area.