Daniel J. Cavicchio, Jr., Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Cavicchio has over 50 years of business experience leading product based technology companies. He acquired Block Engineering and led the transformation of Block from a small custom shop to a leader in quantum cascade lasers for security, safety, environmental protection and research applications. He founded Block MEMS in 2004 to effect this transition and lead Block’s growth in commercial products as well as critical R&D support for the U.S. government. As CEO of Block he directs strategy, programs and customer interfaces. Prior to his Block involvement he acquired and turned around Commonwealth Sprague Capacitor, Inc., a power capacitor company. Previous to that he was an Engagement Manager at the consulting firm of McKinsey & Company and Director of Business Development at American Can Company. Dr. Cavicchio holds a B.S. Degree in Math from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he placed first in his class, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer and Communications Sciences from the University of Michigan. He wrote one of the first artificial intelligence dissertations based on genetic algorithms.

Michael L. Bickford, Vice Chairman

Mr. Bickford holds a B.S. degree from Boston College, an MBA from the University of Bridgeport, and is a graduate of the Executive Program at the London Business School. Mr. Bickford served in the U.S. Army and the National Guard. He founded and led BIC Consultants LTD, which advised U.S. multinationals on foreign direct investment. Mr. Bickford was the International Treasurer at American Express Company and later a manager and international advisor at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. Previously, he was the international treasury manager at Standard Brands, Inc. and earlier a manager at Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst & Young). At Block Mr. Bickford directs strategy and corporate finance.

Al Weggeman, President

Mr. Weggeman has over 20 years of business leadership experience in technology and highly-engineered product companies. In his most recent role as the President of L3 Technologies Security and Detection Systems, he was responsible for leading their global security and detection systems business focused on aviation, transportation, government and critical infrastructure markets. Prior to L3, he served as Vice President of Survivability Systems at The Safariland Group, a leading provider of technology based Personal Protective Equipment for law enforcement, military, and global government agencies. Prior to The Safariland Group, he was President and CEO of the Stamford Industrial Group, as well as President of a GE subsidiary. Mr. Weggeman earned a Master's in Management (MBA) from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Bachir Kharraja, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Technology

Dr. Kharraja holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the Universite Louis Pasteur in France, a Doctorat D'etat in Physics from the Universite Chouaib Doukkali in Morocco, and a B.S. in Physics from Universite Mohammed V de Rabat in Morocco. He joined Block from Roboworx, a robotics firm that he co-founded. Before that he held engineering management positions at Topflight Technologies, Rypos, Bluefin Robotics, iRobot and Motorola. Dr. Kharraja heads up Block's Engineering Department, including product development and commercialization for commercial products.

Bob Messier, Vice President of Government Sales

Mr. Messier has been leading sales efforts to Department of Defense and other federal government agencies for over twenty years. He came to Block from Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he was the Key Federal Accounts Manager for handheld Raman and FTIR chemical/explosives and narcotics identification instruments. He has also led sales and business development efforts at Sotera Defense Solutions, ICX Technologies, and GE Security, where he sold explosive detection systems to Force Protection and Anti-Terrorism Officers at the Army and Department of Defense. He has a B.A. in Business Management from Barry University. Mr. Messier leads all federal, state, and local government sales efforts for Block.

Swathi Ramanujan, Controller

Ms. Ramanujan comes to Block Engineering with over 6 years of public accounting experience at the Deloitte Boston and Deloitte Chennai, India offices. Prior to joining Block she was responsible for the audits of several domestic and international clients of Deloitte. She has worked with clients in a range of industries, including manufacturing, financial services, wholesale, public sector and not-for-profit. Ms. Ramanujan holds a CPA license in the US and a CA certificate from India, as well as a B.S. in Commerce and Accounting from the University of Chennai, India.