Corporate Leadership

William R. Jones, CEO, is Solar Atmospheres' founder and owner, and a pioneer in our industry. A graduate of Penn State with a degree in electrical technology, Bill has more than 30 years of experience developing vacuum furnace and processing technology. He is an American Society of Materials (ASM) Fellow, and received the national Eisenman Award for applications of vacuum technology for outstanding contributions in industry in the personal application. He served as President of Abar Corp. for five years, and in 1978 founded the Vacuum Furnace Systems Corporation (VFS) to engineer and build vacuum furnaces. In 1983 he and his son, Roger, formed Solar Atmospheres to make use of the technology advancements of VFS.

Roger A. Jones, Corporate President, has managed Solar Atmospheres' development and growth since the inception of the company. In 1994, he served as Chairman of the Metal Treating Institute's (MTI) Atlantic Coast Chapter. In 2004-2005 Roger served as President of MTI and continues to serve as a Trustee on the Board. For the American Society of Materials (ASM), Roger was the Philadelphia “Liberty Bell” Chapter Chairman in 1995 and was awarded The Delaware Valley Materials Person of the Year in 1998. On the national level, Roger served on the ASM National Membership Development Committee as well as Chairman of the ASM International Heat Treating Society Immediate Needs Committee. He currently serves as a member of the ASM Heat Treating Society Board. Roger is the author of Partial Pressure Processing (1997) and "Assessing Work-Basket Alloys" for Vacuum Furnaces (1995).

Robert Hill Jr., President, Western PA, is a metallurgist with 20 years of experience involving a wide range of heat treating methodologies. Bob is a member of ASM and has published a number of articles on ten Bar Processing Applications. For 2000-2001, Bob served as Chairman of the Philadelphia Liberty Bell Chapter of ASM. He received a B.S. from Millersville State College and a degree in Metallurgy from Spring Garden Institute.

A. Bruce Craven, President of the Hatfield Plant, has devoted 20 years to developing ion nitriding equipment and processing at Solar Atmospheres. His previous experience also includes engineering at Air Products and Chemicals for air separation and gases. Bruce is a member of ASM and has published Principles of Ion Nitriding (1989), The Advantages of Ion Nitriding Gears (1997) and other articles on titanium nitriding and job costing. He is a graduate of Widener University with a B.S. in Engineering.

Don Jordan, Vice President Technology, Souderton, PA and Corporate Metallurgist oversees the R&D Technology Center at Solar for the improvement of current vacuum services and the development of new processes. Don has over 25 years experience in metallurgical engineering, which includes five years as Chief Metallurgist for STORK MMA Laboratories, a commercial materials testing laboratory. Don also has 15 years experience in design and construction of nuclear powered submarines with General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division where he was Head of Materials Engineering. He has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 1979. Don was Chair of the ASMI Philadelphia "Liberty Bell" Chapter in 2002 – 2003 and is a member of ASMI, NACE, and SAE.

Bob Sandora, Vice President of Operations, Western PA has more than 28 years of experience in building, installing and maintaining vacuum furnaces. Bob moved from Solar’s Souderton facility to Solar Atmospheres, Western PA in January 2001 to develop Solar's newest facility in Hermitage, PA. In 2006 Bob oversaw the Western, PA plant expansion from 24,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.

Calvin Amenheuser, Vice President of the Hatfield Plant, has overseen development of the Braze Department at Solar Atmospheres for over 15 years. Under his management, Solar Atmospheres Brazing Department has received numerous awards including Hewlett Packard's award for "Outstanding Support" and Brooks Instruments "Processor of the Year." Calvin personally received the Metallurgical Engineering Assistance Award from ASM International, Philadelphia Chapter.

Ken Bauhof, Vice President Special Projects, joined Solar with over 30 years of experience in engineering, software design, and sales and marketing of industrial process control systems. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska. Ken is a member of ASM.

Michael A. Moyer, Corporate Quality Manager, brings over 15 years of vacuum furnace heat treating experience to the Senior Quality Department position at Solar Atmospheres. Mike is a member of ASM International, Liberty Bell Chapter and recipient of the 2002 Metallurgical Assistant’s award. Since 1999, Mike has led multiple Solar Atmospheres locations to accreditation in NADCAP (National Aerospace Defense Contractor’s Accreditation Program), and certification to ISO 9001, ISO 9002, AS9000, AS9100. Mike also maintains Solar’s Quality System compliant with the NIAC (Nuclear Industry Assessment Committee) audit checklist to 10 CFR part 21, and 10 CFR part 50.

Suzi Generalovich, Aerospace Project Manager, will be focusing on Boeing and aerospace quality reviews. She previously worked at Titanium Metals Corporation as Team Leader of the Forge Logistics and Planning Department. Before that she was the Contract Manager for Wyman Gordon – PCC, TIMET. Prior to her time with TIMET was an Area Manager, Customer Relations and Production Planning Supervisor in the Steel Industry. Suzi has more than 25 years of experience in the metals industry after earning a B.S. from Geneva College. She is a member of APICS (Advancing Productivity, Innovation and Competitive Success) and achieved the CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional) certification from APICS.

Jamie Jones, General Manager of Operations, Eastern PA, has worked in various departments at Solar for the part 12 years, Jamie has been promoted to the management team. Most recently he worked with customers as a Sales Engineer and previously spent a number of years in the braze division as Group Leader. Jamie is a member of ASM and has taken a number of metallurgical and heat treating courses through the training program. As General Manager, Jamie will oversee day to day heat treating operations in Souderton, PA and will be very involved with customer service.

Kevin Bekelja, Plant Manager, Western PA, has been with Solar for over 8 years. He has extensive vacuum heat treat experience with running and maintaining Solar’s state-of-art vacuum furnace equipment. Kevin started with Solar at their plant in Souderton and then moved in 2001 to help start up Solar Atmospheres of Western PA. Kevin graduated from Elizabethtown College with a B.S. in Sociology/Anthropology.

Michael Drakeley, Director of Sales, has over 13 years of experience in the heat treating and brazing industry. Mike spends much of his time working with customers to help them solve their heat treating problems. He also gets involved early in the design review process to help customers design parts for vacuum brazing. He is a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and ASM.

Tim Steber, Regional Sales Manager, has over 25 years experience in the metalworking industry. His career began as a machinist, and after achieving a degree in Mechanical Technology, spent many years designing a broad array of machines from packaging equipment to vacuum furnaces. Tim has been involved in sales over the past eight years as a Sales Engineer for capital equipment, and is now Regional Sales Manager covering Northern PA, New Jersey and Southeastern NY for Solar Atmospheres. Tim is also an adjunct instructor at a local community college and a member of ASM International.

Michael F. Johnson, Sales Manager, Western PA, joined Solar Atmospheres with over ten years of experience in heat-treating and CNC machining operations. Mike previously worked for a Fortune 500 company where he wrote heat treating specifications for hand tools that were sold all over the world. Mike is an ASM member.

Susan Wolske, Accounting Manager, has been managing Solar Atmospheres' corporate finances for over ten years. She is a graduate of Messiah College and previously worked for Niessen, Dunlap & Pritchard, P.C.

Les Teale, Human Resources Manager, has a 30 year history in Human Resources management. He has overseen HR departments for a large food processing company, Vacuum Furnace Systems and currently for Solar Atmospheres. Les’ responsibilities include managing all personnel needs for Solar Atmospheres, Solar Manufacturing and Magnetic Specialties. This task includes employee communications, benefits, insurances and employment processing. Les, a graduate of Temple University with a B.S. in Business Management, spent over four years in the United States Air Force. He is a member of The Society of Human Resource Management.

Josh Isaak, Corporate IT Manager, has serviced the computer network at all Solar plants for the past six years. He oversees the hardware and software development and the other electronic device at all Solar plants. Josh earned an AS in computer science from Montgomery County Community College and has received various certifications for computer software and hardware.

Bob Lacock, Marketing Manager, has been with Solar for fifteen years. Bob has published several articles on the vacuum thermal processes performed at Solar and edits The Solar Spotlight. He has a B.S. in Business Administration from Bloomsburg State College and M. Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary. Bob is a member of the ASM.