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Officer Biographies
POLARIS was formed by a unique group of individuals whose vast experience and expertise in the industry created a company focused on results. In early 1999, POLARIS opened a state-of-the-art facility with the best instrumentation available. Today, the company has grown exponentially - both in people and production - and is analyzing fluid samples from companies throughout North America, South America and Europe. This growth is attributable to many factors, but each of these factors is driven by the founders' initial focus on their customers. “It's not just oil analysis. It's what we do with it” is more than a slogan for this team; it's their underlying belief that sets POLARIS and its individuals apart.
Officers
Bryan Debshaw - Chief Executive Officer
Vending was Debshaw's first venture into the world of business over 20 years ago. Securing his first bank loan at the age of 12, he continued to grow his first company for more than a decade. Upon graduation from Indiana State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management and Finance, Debshaw sold the business and moved on to higher goals and aspirations. With an initial $5,000 investment, Debshaw founded Aspen Management in 1990, which still today provides energy management and coin laundry services to apartment communities throughout the Midwest.
As a senior business consultant for IUPUI's Small Business Development Center, Debshaw spent five years helping others realize entrepreneurial success through personalized consultation and training. He was invited to speak at numerous seminars and conducted over 80 pre-business workshops for thousands of participants. He was instrumental in securing more than $20 million in financing and piloted the SBA's Pre-Qualified Loan Program for Women and Minorities in Indiana.
Highly skilled in financial analysis and business planning, Debshaw worked closely with POLARIS to develop a viable plan and secure financing for its complex start-up. Upon leaving the SBA in 1999, he joined the POLARIS management team as Chief Financial Officer. Rapid growth and expanding company goals repositioned the management team in 2002, making Debshaw a logical choice for Chief Executive Officer.
Mark Minges - Chief Operating Officer
Mark Minges grew up around the oil analysis industry. He's conducted laboratory testing, he's sold testing and he's worked as a mechanic, gaining the practical application skills necessary to understanding the industry inside and out.
Outside of the laboratory, Minges' experience ranges from owning and operating a small fleet of Class-8 trucks to repairing and maintaining equipment for a well services company and off-shore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
As a previous Lubricon employee, Minges worked closely with POLARIS partner Don Woods to develop the industry's first auto-commenting system and maintained equipment standards tables. Minges continually works to improve POLARIS' commenting, flagging and severity limits by working closely with OEM design engineers and utilizing statistical analyses of POLARIS' database of equipment metallurgies.
Minges began his career with POLARIS as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Initial company growth shifted his responsibilities to Marketing and Technical Services, allowing the company to capitalize on his true strengths as a data analyst and technical consultant. He keeps his analysis team up-to-date on new lube references and the latest industry standards to provide them the critical training they need to keep them at the forefront of their profession. Minges is currently Chief Operating Officer.
Minges is a long standing member of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and is certified by STLE as a CLS (Certified Lubrication Specialist) and OMA I (Oil Monitoring Analyst).
He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), as well as the Technology Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Association (ATA), the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Don Woods - Chief Information Officer
Upon graduating from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Technology, Don Woods began his oil analysis career as an independent consultant for Lubricon. Focusing on the value of technology and its future role in managing the vast amount of data produced by a testing laboratory, Woods became a pioneer in the development of software applications for oil analysis.
Woods chalked up a series of firsts during his 20-year career with Lubricon. He designed LIMS (the Laboratory Information Management System) in 1980, the first software-based data flagging system in 1982, the first electronic data transfer method in 1985, the first multiple language reporting system in 1990, the first data evaluation system in 1991, the first LIMS system to link numerous oil analysis laboratories together on one server in 1994 and the first Windows-based PC database program in 1996. When Lubricon was purchased by a competitor and then closed in 1998, Woods combined his knowledge and expertise with the experience of four other employees to open the doors of POLARIS Laboratories in May 1999.
Woods is currently Chief Information Officer for POLARIS and heads the company's new eSolutions team. His insight and problem solving abilities have allowed POLARIS to introduce its customers to a web-based data-flow program and highly advanced PC data-mining solutions.
Jeff White - Chief Science Officer
White holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville with an emphasis on computer-based process control. He completed an internship at the Kentucky Center for Energy Research Laboratory where he did applied research for coal liquefaction - the process of converting coal, through hydrogenation, to a replacement for crude oil. He gained invaluable experience in building and operating coal liquefaction units, wet bench chemistry and writing and administering the database application for analyzing research results.
After graduating, White joined the United States Postal Service Remote Bar Coding Facility's Research and Development Site. His focus was production, accuracy and turnaround time - the basic fundamentals that make POLARIS a success today.
Simultaneously, White was developing his hobby with computers by working as an independent computer hardware and software design consultant via the internet. Subsequently, Lubricon hired him to provide tech support for their new software systems. Quickly gravitating to the operational side, White served as Production Manager, Laboratory Manager and finally Operations Manager.
White is a member of ASTM and sits on the DO2 committee. He is trained in Total Quality Management (TQM), Statistical Process Control (SPC) ISO 9000 & 17025, HASMAT and OSHA.
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POLARIS Laboratories™ to provide fluid analysis for AES Defence Early Failure Detection Centre
POLARIS Laboratories™, an innovative leader in fluid analysis services in North America, announced today their partnership with UK-based AES Defence who provides oil analysis services for more than 1,500 British military vehicles.
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