The GUI is where people meet your product, so it’s got to be great! Your product’s success depends on the first class design, ease of use and performance of its user interface. Whether you’re developing an automotive dash or a heart monitor, a thermostat or a washing machine display, you define your brand and redefine your market by delivering an attractive and intuitive GUI for your product.
Altia’s mission is to help manufacturers get great GUIs from the artist’s imagination to the lowest cost hardware in the shortest time. By providing powerful, professional-grade embedded GUI development tools, we help creative, customer-focused designers and software engineers worldwide to deploy game-changing user interfaces. Automotive, medical, industrial and consumer electronics companies rely on Altia’s best-in-class software and services to get their GUIs into production.
Who
In 1991, four Hewlett-Packard embedded systems developers discovered a need for graphics tools to prototype instrumentation front panels. These engineers spun-off and founded Altia to develop products to meet this need.
Altia’s first customers were automotive, medical and test and measurement companies — including General Motors, Fluke and HP — who were interested in modeling early design concepts.
What
Altia offers a model-based GUI development tool chain to help companies get the best user interface from your artist’s imagination to the lowest cost hardware in the shortest amount of time.
Altia’s GUI editor, Altia Design, lets you draw objects from scratch and leverage assets – 2D and 3D artwork, video and more – to create cool, custom GUI models that can be shared early in development for feedback and fast updates. Once complete, Altia DeepScreen generates C code for your GUI model that is optimized to take full advantage of the on-chip resources of your selected processor.
Companies around the world — in automotive, medical, industrial and consumer electronics — are using Altia to get first class embedded GUIs into production.
Why
A great GUI is no longer just a “nice-to-have” — it’s a critical component to product success.
Altia-generated code is driving some of the most innovative embedded GUIs around the world — in products ranging from sleek and sophisticated full TFT automotive instrument clusters to insulin pumps, treadmills, home appliances and beyond.
With a dedicated team of artists, engineers and UX experts, we’ve got the heart and know-how to deliver first rate products, services and support to companies of all kinds. Altia is committed to helping our customers deliver market-winning GUIs that strike the perfect balance of beauty, performance and cost.
Meet the people who are driving Altia’s GUI innovation efforts and leading our global staff of artists, engineers and user experience experts – Altia’s Executive Team.
Mike Juran
CEO
CEO
Mike Juran is the CEO and co-founder of Altia. He sets the vision and is involved in key strategic decisions driving the company’s growth, market position and product development.
Since its founding, Mike worked with Altia’s key customers and partners and has a deep understanding of their business issues, technical challenges and opportunities. He was involved in the development of some of Altia’s finest Human Machine Interfaces and embedded device GUIs for automotive instrument clusters, HUDs, audio and infotainment systems. In addition to his automotive experience, Mike’s history includes medical device products, consumer electronics, industrial equipment and many of the products that are on the front lines of the Internet of Things. Mike leads Altia’s business and development efforts from the company’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Prior to co-founding Altia, Mike was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, then later at AT&T Microelectronics Europe in Munich, Germany. In both positions Mike contributed as a microprocessor and computer hardware designer, then as a product marketing manager. He continued his career as a software developer and user interface design expert for electronic design automation products at Hewlett Packard in Colorado.
Mike earned a B.S. in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Mike has been awarded three U.S. patents related to graphics, user interface design and electronic design automation tool architecture: 5,164,911; 5,883,639; and 6,957,418.
Michael Hill
VP of Engineering
VP of Engineering
Michael Hill is Altia’s VP of Engineering, managing Altia’s product development, engineering services and technical support teams. Michael leads Altia’s experienced, highly specialized team of embedded systems graphics developers, designers and software architects. Michael’s critical mission is to deliver targeted software to a wide and constantly changing landscape of microprocessor hardware. Quality is paramount to Altia’s customers and thus Michael’s teams are ASPICE driven and will continue driving upwards to the highest certification levels achievable.
Michael started his career as a software engineer writing C, C++ and Ada code for telecommunications, DoD and Aerospace projects while working at MCI, Hughes Aircraft and Lockheed Martin. He then moved into management positions and began leading rapidly growing teams toward high quality product releases. Following his work at Lockheed Martin, Michael spun-off and co-founded Systems Integration Software, an embedded system and performance test company. He also co-founded Xaware, an enterprise integration software company, and led engineering teams at Millennium Engineering.
Michael earned his B.S. in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, where he developed his software engineering education as applied to broader engineering disciplines. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Jenny Laughlin
VP of Finance
VP of Finance
Jenny Laughlin leads the Finance and Accounting functions for Altia in her role as VP of Finance. She is passionate about well-designed process and execution and has worked with teams in large and small companies to re-engineer policies, procedures, systems and control environments. Jenny and her team continually strive to support Altia’s growth: managing cash flow and costs and improving the business support infrastructure.
Prior to joining Altia, Jenny served as CFO of an educational software provider and spent several years with a private equity company. She has held several roles at First Data Corporation, including a key role driving the accounting and reporting related to First Data’s $29 billion private equity LBO. Additionally, Jenny spent five years with First Data’s global technical accounting team, focusing on financial instruments, revenue recognition and software capitalization. She has also worked at Ernst & Young, managed SEC reporting teams and served as Controller of an early stage operation overseas where the business grew from $6 million in revenue to $30 million during her tenure.
Jenny has two B.S. degrees – one in Marketing from Colorado State University and another in Accounting from Metropolitan State University of Denver — and is a licensed CPA in the State of Colorado. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the Colorado Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) and serves on the Board of Directors for Denver’s Early Childhood Council.
Brett Stein
VP of Engineering Services
VP of Engineering Services
As Vice President of Engineering Services, Brett Stein is laser-focused on delivering consultative value to all Altia engineering services customers around the world. He leads Altia’s Professional Engineering Services Team and its vast array of customer projects that span the user interface development lifecycle – from graphics creation and user experience development through to testing and certification.
Throughout his career, Brett has held key leadership roles in technology and client services. He has maintained a track record for success for strategic planning, managing and delivering customer projects and supporting expansion of global operations. Prior to joining Altia, Brett served as Vice President of Digital, Marketing and Reporting Technology at OppenheimerFunds, Inc. where he helped grow strategic marketing and distribution efforts by transforming the company’s digital footprint. Additionally, he led the company’s enterprise architecture and took ownership of marketing and reporting technology. As Vice President of Client Services at XAware, Inc., Brett led the development and ongoing management of the company’s Client Services division. He has also served in key technology leadership and implementation roles at Sapient Corporation, Salomon Brothers, Inc. and General Electric.
Brett earned a Bachelor of Science in Information and Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology. He also earned a Master of Science in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jason Williamson
VP of Marketing
VP of Marketing
Jason Williamson is Altia’s VP of Marketing and is responsible for marketing communications, partner relationships and market strategy. Altia’s software is closely tied to embedded hardware, so Jason’s relationship with leading silicon vendors is crucial.
Prior to taking on the marketing leadership role, Jason contributed to all areas of Altia’s success – including research and development, sales, technical support, consulting, training, testing and engineering project management. His unusually broad background positions Jason to genuinely and clearly communicate complex concepts and solutions to Altia’s customers – helping to satisfy the exploding market which is increasingly hungry for embedded display GUIs.
During Jason’s tenure as a software engineer, project manager and engineering leader, Jason worked with most of Altia’s key customers, including Hewlett Packard, Honda, General Motors, Chrysler, Denso, Delphi, Visteon, Caterpillar, Fiat, Lockheed Martin, NASA, Motorola, Stryker Corporation and Stanford University. He has been involved in creating many next-generation displays, including full-spectrum automotive entertainment systems, automotive instrument clusters, and prototypes of numerous consumer electronics and medical devices.
Jason graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, a B.S. in Engineering Math and Computer Science and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Dennis Robinson
VP of Global Sales
VP of Global Sales
As Vice President of Sales, Dennis Robinson leads Altia’s global sales and field applications engineering teams. He comes to Altia with vast experience and demonstrated sales leadership at technology companies from all over the world, particularly with companies in Altia’s key areas of interest including software and embedded applications, as well as automotive, medical, consumer electronics and IoT.
Before joining Altia, Dennis served as the Senior Vice President of Sales for Thundersoft. He made impressive contributions to the company’s growth – including securing North America’s largest IoT OEM. At HARMAN Connected Services Dennis held two titles including Senior Director of Sales, Consumer Electronics and Vice President of Automotive Sales Americas. Dennis has gained further sales leadership and management experience at Bsquare, Intel/Wind River, Applied Data Systems and Motorola.
Dennis has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Meet the people who are driving Altia’s GUI innovation efforts worldwide –
Altia’s Regional Sales Directors.
Wangsu Kim
Sales Director, Altia Korea
Sales Director, Altia Korea
As Sales Director for Altia Korea, Wangsu Kim is dedicated to automotive OEM and Tier 1 suppliers in Korea – helping them to achieve best-in-class user interfaces for their production vehicle programs. Wangsu is focused on understanding his customers’ business needs and helping them deliver rich, high-performance automotive displays with Altia’s software and engineering services.
Wangsu brings to Altia his extensive experience with automotive production in a variety of roles supporting OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers with projects related to infotainment, body, ADAS and chassis. He has served in leadership and technical roles at NXP, Microchip, SMSC (acquired by Microchip) and Korea Electric Terminal.
Wangsu has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Kyonggi University in Suwon, South Korea.
Armin Koelker
Sales Director EMEA, Altia Europe GmbH
Sales Director EMEA, Altia Europe GmbH
As Sales Director EMEA, Armin is actively involved in nurturing and expanding Altia’s customer base across Europe. With extensive expertise in Automotive applications, the Internet of Things, embedded software and the semiconductor business, Armin brings a wealth of knowledge about complex HMI projects as well as a keen understanding about delivering state-of-the-art embedded applications for production.
Before joining Altia, Armin held several sales-related positions across Europe. As Sales Director at mozaiq, he was instrumental in launching their IoT marketplace platform. At VoiceBox Technologies, Armin served as Director of Sales for Europe and then Vice President of Sales for North, Central and Eastern Europe where he grew their Conversational AI Platform business. Armin has also worked at Wind River in their Embedded Software Solutions division, at SPX Europe GmbH as a Sales Manager for their Diagnostics division and as a Technical Sales Engineer in various European regions at Texas Instruments.
Armin holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University Munich.
Makoto Okubo
Managing Director APAC, Altia Japan KK
Managing Director APAC, Altia Japan KK
Since joining Altia in 2011, Makoto Okubo has worked directly with an impressive list of embedded device manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers and engineering services companies who are developing and deploying market-winning HMIs for production. He works tirelessly to create and expand relationships with silicon companies and embedded tool providers. In addition to serving the needs of Altia customers across Asia and the Pacific Rim, Makoto collaborates with Altia’s distribution network in China, Japan and Korea to help companies in automotive, medical, consumer and industrial get first class user interfaces onto the lowest cost hardware in the shortest time.
Makoto has a wealth of sales direction and management experience with companies including Kana Software and SumTotal Systems, where he provided strategic software solutions to companies of all sizes.
Makoto earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Musashi University in Tokyo, Japan.
Mark Taylor
Executive Director of Sales
Executive Director of Sales
Mark Taylor, Executive Director of Sales, is dedicated to the success of our comprehensive list of North American automotive OEM and Tier 1 suppliers, as well as key non-automotive clients, through the planning, procurement and execution of Altia HMI software development and code generation software and services. Based in the suburbs of Detroit, Mark is perfectly situated to engage directly with companies who are developing and deploying embedded user interfaces for production. Mark collaborates not only with Altia’s engineering and services teams but also Altia’s key silicon partners to deliver low cost and industry-leading HMI solutions to its customers. He has helped a vast array of teams get their embedded displays to production – with products ranging from instrument clusters, HUDs, infotainment systems and driver displays to home appliances, thermostats, medical devices and more.
Before joining Altia in 2009, Mark held key positions in executive leadership, sales, project management and product delivery at companies including General Motors, Citation Global Manufacturing Solutions, Indicon Corporation and EPLAN Software and Services. This strength of experience makes Mark perfectly suited to support complex HMI development programs like those in automotive, from concept to successful production.
Mark earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
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Our passion is embedded GUIs.
Customers and Partners
Let’s build beautiful GUIs together.
Altia has a passion for GUIs — and that passion drives all we do.
We’re committed to delivering best-in-class user interface development software and outstanding engineering services for our customer and embedded ecosystem partners.
Let us help you achieve your GUI goals. Connect with us today.
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