Advisory Board

Charles Burchett, Acting President

Fredrick E. Congdon

Mr. Congdon is Executive Director of the Tennessee Association of County Mayors and has served this post for more than 16 years and is on the board of the National County Executives Association in Washington, D.C. Mr. Congdon is a consultant in management and marketing. After serving two consecutive 4 year terms as County Clerk, he was elected County Judge (Executive Mayor). He is a former chairman of the Unicoi County and Town of Erwin Economic Development Board; the Northeast Tennessee Regional Industrial Development Board and the Alliance for Business and Training of Northeast Tennessee. He is an expert in developing marketing strategies, conducting marketing seminars and providing in-house motivational training.

Dr. David L. Mefford

Dr. Mefford has 36 years experience in a division of value theory known in philosophy as 'formal axiology', created by Professor Robert S. Hartman. He studied under Dr. Hartman, the first research professor or Chair of Excellence in the Humanities at the University of Tennessee. In addition he studied at the University of Paris, Nanterre, France and earned his Magister Artium (M.A.) degree in psychology, philosophy and law at the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1976. While completing his Ph.D. degree at the University of Tennessee, Dr. Mefford evaluated and counseled psychiatric patients under the supervision of Dr. John Wolaver, M.D., for a three year period. His dissertation, Phenomenology of Man as a Valuing Subject, achieved a comprehensive typology of personality, based on value judgment patterns

Dr. Fang Zheng Peng

Dr. Peng is an Associate Professor, Michigan State University. He is an expert in advanced converter/inverter topologies in power electronics. He received his Doctorate and Masters of Engineering from Nagaoka University of Technology in Japan. He was Research Assistant Professor at University of Tennessee in Knoxville for an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) power electronics contract. He later became a Lead Scientist at ORNL. Dr. Peng has published several leading papers on power electronic designs and has won multiple IEEE awards.

Steve Levy

Mr. Levy is a technical consultant. Mr Levy was the Technical Director and Government Liaison for EPRI (Electrical Power Research Institute) in Knoxville, TN. He was Chief of the Army Pulse Power Center and one of the founders of the Electrical Power program for the Strategic Defense Initiative "Star Wars" program. His expertise is Megawatt Electronics. He is also the inventor of the "All-Electric Tank" concept for the U.S. Army. He has consulted on all aspects of advanced technologies from idea creations to product acceptance; created teams to collaborate on joint projects; managed large programs that go beyond the limits of conventional technology; and submitted winning competitive bids. He is able to "see the big picture," to know the direction in which technology needs to move.

Bob Young

Mr. Young has over 30 years of experience in the design power electronics systems. He received Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He was president of PEMDA, a power electronics firm and previously worked for Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Mr. Young has 2 US patents with Dr. Lai and published many technical papers.