Our Team

The IMPACT team is a diverse and tightly integrated group of engineers, designers, scientists, and manufacturing experts all focused on the goal of developing and commercializing successful processes and products. The passion, depth of experience, and talent of the team is what helps us achieve success for our clients.

IMPACT Management and Senior Staffing include:

Mark A. Wilkinson, Ph.D., President/CEO

Dr. Wilkinson is the Founder and CEO of IMPACT Technology Development. He has over 30 years of experience in process and product development of chemical, metallurgical, and pharmaceutical based technologies. His experience also includes leading and managing large development organizations. Prior to founding IMPACT in 1998, Mark previously served in leadership and development roles at Cabot Corporation and Molten Metal Technology. Mark has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and a B. Eng. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University. Mark has been granted nine U.S. patents and authored numerous publications.

Stephen B. Kessler, M. Eng., Chief Technical Officer

Steve is the CTO of IMPACT Technology Development. Steve joined IMPACT in 2002 and has over 50 years of experience in process and product development of biopharmaceutical, medical device, and polymer-based technologies. Steve has considerable expertise in separation and mixing technologies and is a co-author of book chapters on each of these disciplines. Steve previously served in leadership and development roles at Becton Dickinson, Millipore, Sepracor, Biosepra, Hemasure, and CARR Separations. Steve has a M. Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. Steve has been granted eleven U.S. patents and authored numerous publications.

William M. Cox, Executive Vice President of Business Development

Bill leads the global sales, marketing, and business development for IMPACT. Bill joined IMPACT in 2002 and has over 25 years of experience in the development and commercialization of chemical, metallurgical, and biopharmaceutical based technologies. Bill previously served in technical, applications, and business development roles at Hoechst Celanese, DuPont, Badger Engineering, Molten Metal Technology, and CARR Separations. Bill has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University. Bill has been granted one U.S. patent.

David K. Steckler, Vice President of Engineering

Dave leads the project management and engineering teams at IMPACT. Dave joined IMPACT in 2008 and has over 30 years of experience in the development, commercialization and operations management of chemical and metallurgical based technologies with specific emphasis on carbon black and fumed silica production. Dave previously served in technical, applications, and operations roles at Dow Chemicals, Molten Metal Technology, and Cabot Corporation. Dave has a M.S. from the MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice and a B.E. in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from Vanderbilt University.

Francis X. McConville, M.Sc., Senior Project Leader

Fran joined IMPACT in 2003 and has over 40 years of experience in the process development and scale-up of chemical and pharmaceutical based technologies. Fran is a key project manager and technical contributor with specialties in process scale-up, crystallization, and chiral separations. Fran previously served in technical roles at New England Renewable Fuels, WPI Chemical Engineering Dept., and Sepracor. Fran has a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, a M. Sc. in Biotechnology and a B. Sc. in Chemistry all from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Fran has been granted five U.S. patents and authored numerous publications including the acclaimed “Pilot Plant Real Book”, and several times a year teaches professional training courses on the scale-up of batch chemical processes to chemical engineers and chemists from around the world.

Sam Williams, Senior Consultant and Development Center Manager

Sam joined IMPACT in 2008 and has over 35 years of experience in product development, project management, and quality control in the fields of biopharmaceutical disposables manufacturing, supply chain, medical devices, separation science, and synthetic membranes. Sam previously served in management and technical roles at Sepracor, Whatman-Hemasure, and Xcellerex. Sam has a B.A. in Chemistry from Reed College. Sam has been granted three U.S. patents

T David Marro, Senior Consultant

Dave joined IMPACT in 2008 and has over 35 years of experience in product and process development, particularly in disposable medical devices and bioprocessing equipment. This includes structured and investigative experimentation, the design and construction of prototypes and assembly fixtures, and formal documentation. Dave previously served in technical roles at Kontron Medical, Polymer Technology, ABIOMED, as well as founding his own consulting firm, T David Marro Consulting. Dave has a B.S. from Pennsylvania University and studied mechanical engineering at Northeastern University. Dave has been granted three U.S. patents.

David Schlier, Senior Engineer

Dave joined IMPACT in 2006 and has over 35 years of experience in process development and design, project management, facilities management and layout, cost estimation, operations management, start-up and troubleshooting, and safety management and regulatory compliance. Dave served previously at Starmet and Applied Technology Management. Dave has B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. Dave has been granted two U.S. patents.

Charles Freeman, Senior Engineer

Charles “Chas” joined IMPACT in 1999 and has over 30 years of experience in process and product development including process design, equipment design and specification, fabrication, instrumentation/control, installation, and process optimization. Chas served previously at Thermo Electron, MODAR, General Atomics, Counter-Current Systems, and Busek. Chas studied chemical engineering at Northeastern University and mechanical engineering at UMASS-Lowell.

Natalie D. Kent, Director of Accounting & Human Resources

Natalie joined IMPACT in 1999 and oversees the company’s financial and HR administrative functions, including all aspects of financial accounting as well as employee payroll and benefits. Natalie has over 30 years experience working in the financial and communication industries, and has worked for such corporate giants as Xerox Corporation (Medical Systems Division), General Dynamics (Government Contracts Division) and Contel-IPC & GTE Corporations (Communications Division for Financial Trading & Commodities). Prior to joining IMPACT, Natalie was employed in the Process Development Division of Molten Metal Technology. Natalie received her BS in Biology with a Minor in Business Administration from Boston College.