SPRINGDALE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NanoMech today announced that Bran Ferren, one of our Country’s leading inventors, technology businessmen and creative thought leaders has become a significant investor and member of our distinguished Board of Advisors.
One of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business,” Bran Ferren is a master of the arts and sciences. Equal parts artist/designer and scientist/engineer, he is an expert on leveraging curiosity and creativity to inspire innovation. His 2014 TED Talk entitled “To create for the ages, let’s combine art and engineering” has been translated into 24 languages and viewed nearly 1,000,000 times.
Bran is co-founder, co-chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Applied Minds, a company that for the last 15 years has provided advanced technology, creative design, and consulting services to government and commercial clients. Previous to Applied Minds, Bran held various leadership positions, including president of R&D for the Walt Disney Company, and president of Creative Technology for Walt Disney Imagineering R&D, Disney’s creative design and engineering division. In his role as president, he advised the CEO and senior leadership on emerging creative and technology opportunities and led the development of key enabling innovations for divisions such as ABC Television. Prior to that, Bran was president of and Creative Lead for Associates & Ferren, a company acquired by Disney.
“Bran is the true multi-gifted Renaissance Man, a pioneer in many of the leading technology, entertainment and design breakthroughs of the last century, and is a perfect fit for lending his novel thinking and direction to help NanoMech achieve our mission in providing the most advanced material science based products that dramatically increase performance, efficiency and sustainability in key manufacturing, energy, military, and vehicular industry segments,” said Jim Phillips, Chairman & CEO of NanoMech.
Phillips added, “We believe Bran’s strong experience, pragmatic imagination and company building successes across both developed and emerging markets, will be extremely valuable as NanoMech continues to grow around the world.”
“I admire NanoMech for its innovative products and dynamic leadership team, and I’m honored to be joining their Advisory board,” said Ferren. “I am personally familiar with their innovative breakthrough products, and have tremendous respect for Jim and Ajay and the other board members, and I look forward to working with them.”
Applied Minds past and current clients include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Motors, Sony, Herman Miller, Intel Corporation, United States European Command, Air Force Research Lab, Smithsonian, Genworth, L-3 Communications, the Department of Defense (all services), and the Library of Congress. Bran has been a senior advisory board member or consultant for science, advanced technology, and innovation to over a dozen U.S. government and military agencies and the U.S. Senate.
Bran is a prolific inventor with over 500 awarded and pending patents. He developed numerous successful designs, technologies, experiences, and innovations for theme parks, arena concerts, film and television productions, building architecture, command centers, exhibits, and special-purpose vehicles. His creative design and art work has been widely shown, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His photography is part of the contemporary art collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC.
His latest vehicle project, the KiraVan, has appeared in Wired Magazine and hundreds of international publications and websites. It will be featured in a one hour special on the Travel Channel this fall and at the SEMA convention in Las Vegas in November. He recently led the design team that successfully won the design competition for the new 5-year exhibit for the Renwick Galleries of the Smithsonian, opposite the White House Old Office Building.
Bran is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Technical Achievement and Science and Engineering Award winner, whose work has appeared in films such as Altered States, Little Shop of Horrors, The Manhattan Project, Star Trek V, and Places in the Heart.
Major theater credits include award-winning special effects, lighting, and sound design for Broadway shows including Evita, Cats, Frankenstein, and the Lion King. Bran has pioneered technologies for music legends ranging from Emerson Lake & Palmer, R.E.M. and Depeche Mode to Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Paul McCartney.
He has received numerous awards and nominations for his projects and career accomplishments including the New York Drama Desk award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award, Maharam Foundation Award, the Wally Russell Lifetime achievement award for lighting design, the Kilby International Award for extraordinary contributions to society, and the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion in 2014.
Despite his wide and varied successes across industries, Bran considers his daughter Kira, his most important accomplishment and, by far, his best work to date.
About NanoMech
NanoMech is focused on patented platform nanomanufacturing technologies that offer a broad range of high value market opportunities. The operating vision of NanoMech is to be the Six Sigma world leader in nanomanufacturing innovation with swift product development and an emphasis on platform technologies that are scalable for efficient mass production.
NanoMech Inc. creates advanced engineering materials through patent and patent-pending nano-engineered and nanomanufactured product development. NanoMech is recognized as a leader in innovation and technology. Their breakthroughs in nanomaterials and manufacturing include the first cubic boron nitride coating for machine tools and advanced nano-engineered lubricants and coatings. The company’s products have applications in very advanced energy manufacturing, machining, lubrication, highly durable and sustainable protective multi-functional coatings for metals and textiles as well as consumer products, and strategic military applications. NanoMech has recently won the prestigious R&D 100 Award and two Edison Awards. NanoMech is a member of President Obama’s Materials Genome Initiative, the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative (USMCI) and the U.S. Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative, both based in Washington, DC. For more information please visit www.NanoMech.com.
