Bishop Ascendant Appoints Three New Executive Leaders
Company strengthens leadership team with addition of seasoned Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Business Development Officer
West Caldwell, NJ, May 30, 2018 – Bishop Ascendant, an innovator in applying technology to solve the global clean water crisis, today announced the addition of three new senior executives to the company’s leadership team: John Krane as Chief Technology Officer, Keith Eckert as Chief Financial Officer, and Eugene Fernicola as Chief Business Development Officer. The three join founder and CEO Justin Bishop in forming the core team required to accelerate the company through its initial phases of growth and bring its Spark water purification platform to the market.
John Krane, Chief Technology Officer, brings over 20 years’ experience in computer science and information systems management, including with the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science. John is leading development of the operating system that will control Spark’s integrated functionality, and is building the team of engineers responsible for Spark’s development. John expressed that “I’m excited to join Bishop Ascendant at this foundational stage and look forward to driving the company to a leadership role in the solar water purification industry.” A graduate of NJIT, John holds a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Information Systems.
Keith Eckert, Chief Financial Officer, is an entrepreneurial, highly-effective and proven senior finance executive. He is responsible for Bishop Ascendant’s financial modeling, management and investor relations. Throughout his career, Keith has launched several successful software and consulting firms, including EPIX, a joint venture of Viacom, Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM Studios. Regarding this new venture, he noted that “I am excited to be working with a team that is focused on solving such important social and environmental issues.” Keith is a graduate of Cornell University, and received an MBA from Columbia University.
Eugene Fernicola, Chief Business Development Officer, will lead sales and business development for Spark. Eugene has unique technical sales knowledge from 39 years’ experience selling highly technical mechanical systems to enterprises such as Leisure Technologies and the Kokes Organization. Skilled in retail, wholesale and distribution, he has marketed to Fortune 500 builders for decades, and created and marketed several proprietary products to the building industry. Eugene stated “Spending most of my career in sales and market development, I immediately recognized Spark’s ability to not only save millions of lives but cross marketing spaces and become a true disruptive technology. I am both humbled and privileged to be a part of this amazing team of inventors and innovators.”
Justin Bishop commented that “These experts bring the experience, skill and passion that is needed to build a world-class organization. I am thrilled that these leaders support Spark’s critical mission of bringing clean water to wherever it is needed. As a team, we are already accelerating the systems development and go-to-market strategies that will bring the Spark solution to life.”
About Bishop Ascendant, Inc.
A multi-arena advanced engineering, manufacturing, and services firm, Bishop Ascendant solves the global water scarcity crisis by transforming polluted water into drinkable water. We provide water and energy where it’s needed. And we enable digital communication for people in even the most remote locations— sustainably, at scale, anywhere. Spark, our integrated, modular and portable platform, combines tested and proven technologies in an innovative, reliable and mass-producible system that helps people everywhere survive and thrive.