— Company — People
The team behind the technology
The board of directors guiding Kinitics Automation’s shape memory alloy platform.
— Board of directors
Dean Pick
CEO & Founder, Kinitics Automation
20+ years of operating experience · Awarded 6 patents
Dean Pick is the founder, President and CEO of Kinitics Automation. He holds a BASc in mechatronics from the University of Waterloo and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering and product development. Through Biperformance Development, which he has led since 2004, he developed shifting and clutch-control systems for motorcycles, and that work led to Kinitics’ shape memory alloy actuator technology. Dean is a named inventor on six U.S. patents covering shape memory alloy actuators and transmission controls. Today he leads Kinitics’ work bringing its electric actuators, including the KVA38 valve actuator, to oil and gas, process and industrial markets.
Akhil Abat
Partner, Northreach Capital
Executive MBA · 10+ years in heavy-industry capital projects
Akhil Abat is a Partner at Northreach Capital, the venture capital firm formerly known as NGIF Capital, which backs technologies that modernize heavy industry. He joined NGIF in 2018 and, since 2021, has helped deploy more than $30 million of its $50 million Cleantech Ventures Fund 1 across 14 companies. He has served on the Kinitics Automation board since 2023. Akhil previously spent over a decade in oil and gas and heavy industry, from refinery operations at Reliance Industries to leading field development projects at Cairn Oil and Gas. He holds an Executive MBA from Cornell and Queen’s and a BTech in chemical engineering.
Jim Hargrove
CEO, Analytic Systems
30+ years of leadership experience · Grew the company from 3 to 100 employees
Jim Hargrove is CEO of Analytic Systems in Delta, BC, which designs and manufactures electronic power conversion equipment for marine, industrial, motorsports and military customers. He joined his father’s company as a junior engineer in 1981, working on its marine autopilot, then co-founded the spin-off CompuNav Systems, later ComNav Marine, where he was VP Engineering for 11 years. He returned to lead Analytic Systems in 1994 and grew it from three employees to nearly 100. Jim holds a BASc in electrical engineering from UBC and completed SFU’s Management Skills for Advanced Technology program. He joined the Kinitics Automation board in 2022.