Navid Kazem

Navid Kazem

Chief Executive Officer & co-Founder
Navid Kazem co-founded Arieca after him completing his PhD in computational mechanics at Carnegie Mellon, where he developed the core technology behind Thubber. He is a former Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship Fellow with multiple high-impact publications and a pending patent on Thubber. His background combines a deep technical expertise with the capacity to convert cutting-edge scientific advancement into commercially successful technology. Navid leads Product development of Thubber, commercial strategic partnerships, as well as fund raising. As a huge soccer (former CMU Men’s club soccer player and President with record breaking goal-scoring) and Manchester United fan, he takes lessons from the importance of passion and persistence in everyday life just like in sports.
Carmel Majidi

Carmel Majidi

Chief Technology Officer & co-Founder

Carmel Majidi is the Clarence H. Adamson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University where he leads the Soft Machines Lab, a research group dedicated to the development of novel soft multifunctional materials for applications in wearable computing and robotics. Carmel is credited with the invention of the “Thubber” and regarded as a leading innovator in the development of soft, functional materials. In addition to Arieca, his lab at Carnegie Mellon University has created two other companies that bring cutting-edge innovation to market and at Arieca, he is co-founder, CTO, and serves as Board Chairman.

Phil Marzolf

Phil Marzolf

Chief Commercialization Officer

Phil Marzolf serves as Chief Commercialization Officer for Arieca, where he is responsible for transitioning Arieca’s technology from the laboratory to end market applications. He has over 30 years experience commercializing new products in the semiconductor and computer technology markets. He has held general management positions in Germany for Telfunken GmbH and Micronas S.A. He was a founding member of nSerial, a SERDES startup that was acquired by Intel in 2001. Phil remains active in the Pittsburgh entrepreneurial community as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and is a Board member for several early-stage companies.
He earned a BSEE from the University of Notre Dame, an MSEE from Santa Clara University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. As an ardent Arsenal supporter, he is having difficulty adapting to having a boss who is a Manchester United fan.

Johnathan B. Dindak

Johnathan B. Dindak

Director of Business Development and Operations

Johnathan Dindak is a results-driven engineer with over 14 years of experience in business development and operations. He brings a global perspective, having lived and worked across the Americas and Europe, from Poland to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Honduras. He is an adept technologist and communicator with an extensive network of relationships in several sectors. At Arieca, he applies his proven skill in complex sales to large- and small-cap businesses alike to expand the number of industries, customers, and solutions adopting Arieca technology. In addition, he has been a volunteer in his local fire department and community of West Homestead, PA for over 18 years.

Vivek Singh

Vivek Singh

Principal Scientist

Vivek Singh is an experienced Principal Scientist with a demonstrated history of working in structural, magnetic, optical, surface and electronic characterization of bulk and nanomaterials for over a decade. He is skilled in several materials characterization techniques like Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Ultra-high vacuum/cryogenic temperatures Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy (STM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), SQUID magnetometry, Low temperature electron magnetic resonance, Optical microscope, FTIR, absorbance and photoluminescence and others. He has a strong research professional background with a Masters of Science – MS focused in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and PhD in Physics from West Virginia University.