Eric Close
Currently, Eric is the CEO of RedZone Robotics (www.redzone.com). Prior to Redzone, he and Chris Farls (listed
below) co-founded and successfully sold 2 companies: PartsZone, a provider of parts for lifts, and ProLine
Services, a provider of railcar manufacturing and maintenance. He also helped finance and successfully sell Blue
Fish Labs, Inc., a Pittsburgh software developer. Eric also served as a management consultant for Coopers and
Lybrand. From 1991 to 1995, Eric served as a design engineer, product line manager, and sales engineer at
Performance Controls, Inc., a motion control and robotics company.
Eric received the 1999 Western Pennsylvania Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He is the primary inventor on
two patents and has three patents pending. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University and a
M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.
Chris Farls
Chris is the CEO of Workhorse Rail (www.workhorserail.com), a company providing materials and services to the rail
road industry. Chris started the company two years ago. Prior to Workhorse, Chris was Eric's partner in the
acquisition, turnaround, and sale of ProLine Services and PartsZone; both are discussed above.
Chris holds a M.B.A from Carnegie Mellon University.
Chuck Kennedy
Chuck is a visiting lecturer at the Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh (visit his school page). Chuck
is a seasoned investment banker
During his tenure with Dain Rauscher Wessels (DRW), an investment bank in Minneapolis, Minn., Chuck was
responsible for managing all aspects of the investment banking process for his clients. His team managed more
transactions in the network technology sector than any other investment bank, including six of the top 10
performing IPOs of 1999. In addition, Chuck was responsible for recruiting, training and managing highly
sought-after analysts, and associates from undergraduate and MBA programs.
As a principal of DRW, Chuck, along with the other principals and shareholders of the firm, sold the investment
bank to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the largest commercial bank in Canada, for $1.2 billion. Subsequently, he
was asked to open the firm's investment banking office in Boston.
He left RBC to establish his own financial and strategic advisory firm, StratAccord, LLC. StratAccord assists
high-growth companies with evaluating strategic alternatives, including raising capital and completing merger and
acquisition activities.
Chuck holds a B.S./B.A. from Duquesne University and a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.