THE TEAM

Jim Malcolm
James Malcolm – CEO
Jim conceived of and built the company AccuMap – a company that revolutionized the Canadian oil and gas industry. AccuMap enabled geologists, engineers, and land personnel to do in twenty minutes what used to take six weeks. Jim received recognition as Entrepreneur of the Year and City Businessman of the Year while AccuMap itself was twice a finalist for Alberta’s Science and Technology Awards.

Brad Malcolm
Brad Malcolm, CA –  President
Brad began his life in the business world early. At age 19 while attending university, Brad started a business that in its second year, had annual revenue of over $100,000. After obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Brad went on to complete his Chartered Accountant designation and spent 4 years working with a major international Chartered Accounting firm where he spent several years in the corporate tax planning department. After this, Brad left to help manage various private and public Canadian and International companies which brought him to his current position with Athentech in 2001.

Brian James
Brian G. James - Scientist
B.Sc. (Honors Physics) at Simon Fraser University. Gained significant experience in oil field seismology with Chevron with particular emphasis on signal processing, numerical methodologies, time series analysis and the convolutional model.

Inventor, has been awarded several patents. Focus for all of them is on signal processing corrections that are not just "good enough" but are also scientifically valid. it is not enough for the math to be internally consistent, it must also adhere to the facts and findings of science so that the correction represents what would have been recorded with a non-existant superior recording instrument. The guiding philosophy is that this constraint, first, removes much of the guess work and errors in trying to find a "good enough" compromise adjustment and, second, produces remarkably attractive results as they are realistic.

Have enduring fascination with the "ancient civilization" (Greece and Rome). Interests include the ancient history, mythology, philosophy and engineering. The name "Athentech" came from merging the Greek Goddess of Wisdom's name "Athena" with the word "technology". So Athentech means "wise technology".

Sam Lau
Samuel Lau, P.Eng. - VP, Research & Development

Samuel has developed passion in science and math since childhood. Because of his love for classical mechanics, he first pursued his engineering education in the University of Alberta. After he obtained the degree with distinction in Civil Engineering, he went on to pursue his degree in Computer Science. During this period, Samuel found computer graphics fascinating because it is a combination of math and art. He took graduate level courses in computer graphics. And one of his projects - Particle System, is later on adopted into the OpenGL library. Samuel joined Athentech Technologies Inc. in 2001. In his spare time Samuel enjoys classical music, fine arts, jigsaw puzzles and radio control models. He also loves planting organic produce and plans on building his fully automated organic farm this summer.

Rafael Soltero

Rafael Soltero, Vice President of Marketing and Sales

Rafael Soltero brings more than 25 years of cross-functional experience in sales, marketing, product development and global business management within the imaging industry. Previously, Mr. Soltero served as General Manager, Marketing Support Division of Noritsu’s International Sales & Marketing Unit and VP, Marketing and Sales for the KIS Photo-Me Group, where he was responsible for business development in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. Earlier, he has also held various key positions within the Eastman Kodak Company.

Mr. Soltero has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology.  Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese and currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

Chris Ewington      Chris Ewington - Lead Application Developer

Chris has a wide variety of software development experience, including enterprise and consumer software on various platforms from server to desktop to console to handheld devices.

He has written code in every major programming language (and some of the lesser known languages too!) starting in elementary school, through his university degree (B.Sc., First Class Honours in Computer Science with Applied Mathematics) and now for 15+ years in his professional career where he has developed a reputation for his positive attitude, being a team player, and the speed and reliability with which he can deliver results.

Chris prides himself on his attention to detail, and his abilities to learn new technologies and to integrate his work seamlessly with existing code and third-party tools and APIs.  His particular interests lie in developing end-user applications on various platforms, and the opportunities which that work presents in terms of solving problems and creating a satisfying user experience.

Having worked as a consultant for many years, Chris is happy to have found a permanent home at Athentech, where he can use all of his skills and experience to bring the Perfectly Clear technology to Windows, Mac, and mobile users.

Marc Shandro
Marc Shandro - Product Maestro 

As a software developer, I was instrumental in building the AccuMap product, working with Jim as one of the three founders in 1990. I grew that product and others through two corporate acquistions until leaving IHS in 2006.  I’ve always had an interest in the user experience and interface design of software and played a large role in making AccuMap “easy to use”. I bring that experience to Athentech.

I also have a passion for photography and making impactful and beautiful images from my travels and exploration of nature. I spent 2 years between AccuMap and Athentech to exclusively pursue my love of travel and photography. I enjoy spending time learning the digital photography craft and keeping up-to-date on that fast changing world.

I have entered some photography contests and was fortunate to receive an honorable mention in the Canadian Geographic 2007 Photo Contest for my “North Klondike Valley” photograph of the Yukon. I also received an honorable mention in the CBC Nature of Things – Nature in Focus Environmental Photography Competition for my photograph titled “Contemplating the Wave”. You can see my photos on my Flickr website .

So I bring end-user experience to the design of photography software. I’m particularly excited by the ease of use in our Perfectly Clear PRO stand-alone application. (The iPhone app is pretty cool too!).

 

Tara Honsberger
Tara Leigh Honsberger - Support/Executive Guru

 
Tara is an experienced office manager and fledgling graphic designer. She has helped develop our website and software. Before joining Athentech she spent time travelling in South America, Mexico and the Caribbean enjoying life, doing volunteer work and teaching English. As a result of her travels she is fluent in Spanish.

Bob McKenzie – Businessman
Eric Hobson – Businessman
Bob and Eric were co-leaders of what became Canada’s largest oil and natural gas trader – Northridge Canada. After selling Northridge to TransCanada Pipelines for an undisclosed sum of money, Bob and Eric built Canada’s first transnational fiber optic network – MetroNet. MetroNet was sold to AT&T Canada for $7 billion.
Athentech Imaging believes strongly in who we are – we are a company that establishes and maintains relationships working with companies like yours all over the world. Many businesses depend on our solutions, so we only feel it fair you know who we are.
 
 Our Technology
Along with its integration into a variety of imaging software products, online fulfillment sites and editing systems, Perfectly Clear® is currently correcting images in more than 50,000 retail photo kiosks, several thousand minilabs, multiple online photo sites and labs, and millions of copies of imaging software in nearly 40 countries. Perfectly Clear® has become the dominant image correction technology currently in use worldwide, and the de facto industry standard for the imaging industry.
 
 Our Foundation
Our goal is the relentless pursuit of truth – pushing through the “rules of thumb” that have plagued science – seeking the truth at the heart of the matter. What makes the perfect photograph? What life saving information lies hidden within the x-ray? What is the signal – the information – hidden by the noise? Our method is the use of science precisely and rigorously to uncover, discover and recover all of the vital information contained in digital images and to display it without distortion. The higher purpose of our business is to preserve your precious memories perfectly, to assist in saving and improving lives with medical imaging and to reveal the earth’s resources for the benefit of mankind. Our motto is to be the best we can be in rendering the Real World … Perfectly Clear. Our inspiration is Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and justice.
Our History

The genesis of Athentech Imaging Inc began in 1998 when the corporation’s chief scientist challenged himself to accurately photograph the stained glass artwork of European cathedrals.
history - stained glass
Taking many photographs, he discovered it was impossible to capture the rich colors that the eye could see even using the best of cameras.
To correct the lighting problems he experienced, he tried enhancing the photographs on his computer. Using the world’s best, off-the – shelf photo improvement software, he quickly learned that proficiency required considerable experience. All of the software he tried required sophisticated knowledge of color and good deal of time. Even though he had plenty of both, when lighting adjustments were undertaken, the color within the photographs became distorted and he was unable to retain the true colors – the Real Colors – seen with the naked eye.
The desire to overcome these hurdles resulted in the original Perfectly Clear invention for photographs – an automatic correction designed to reproduce what is seen with the human eye.

This first of many discoveries in photography was patented and catalyzed inventions in signal processing.

Athentech Imaging Inc was established in 2001 for the licensing of imaging technologies to companies for inclusion in their existing lines of software, still and motion/video cameras, x-ray machines, satellites, scanners, editing equipment and kiosks and mini-labs.

Also, in the year 2000, the company undertook its most ambitious project, the reduction of noise in seismology to reveal the hidden signal.

A steady stream of discoveries and patents has flowed from the study of the behavior of frequencies in photography, medical imaging, and seismic. Where appropriate, the learning and inventions emerging in one discipline – such as medical imaging – are applied to images within another discipline, eg photography. The goal remains to discern the maximum information within an image, whether that image is a photograph, an x-ray or a group of seismic traces.
Perfectly Clear and Athentech Imaging are Synonymous with Innovation
Invention and innovation is the lifeblood of Athentech Imaging and our suite of Perfectly Clear inventions and solutions.

innovation

Athentech and Perfectly Clear is all about the act of innovating, introducing something new, introducing change, being creative. This is reflected in numerous patented technologies that fall underneath the umbrella of the Perfectly Clear brand. The philosophy that drives Perfectly Clear physicists is the quest for truth. Physicists are ‘Philosophers of Nature’ and that remains our quest. This has resulted in breakthroughs in medical imaging, photography and earth sciences. Whether it is looking inside humans, the earth or matching photographs more accurately to the image in the mind’s eye, our brand says it all, Perfectly Clear.



Innovate v.tr. To begin or introduce [something new]. –intr. To begin or introduce something new; be creative. [Latin innovare, to renew + novare, to make new, renew, fron novus, new]

Innovation n. 1. The act of innovating. 2. That which is newly introduced; a change.

Dedication to Research & Development
Athentech Imaging’s research adheres to the aim of making significant strides forward from all that has come before. Although good technology can evolve from incrementally improving time tested solutions, in many cases these foundational solutions only survived by being “good enough” or “all there is”, standing in the face of enormity of the scientific challenge. Athentech Imaging is disinterested in improving the status quo and is dedicated to finding great solutions [as opposed to good solutions] by assailing the big challenges that underlie historical scientific hypotheses.
Our company eschews being first to market, preferring to make the investment in time and money to seek a truly watershed solution. This means Athentech Imaging has invested many man years in science and solutions without commercializing our discoveries.

Within the seismic discipline we have now made 80 inventions that we protect with the law of trade secrets. We are approaching commercialization within this segment in 2009, after many years of investment. In photography we have a number of inventions embodied in 3 patents in more than 15 countries and more pending. In medical imaging we hold a single patent in more than ten countries.


We believe the results speak for themselves: a photo correction that emulates how the eye gathers light, clear x-rays and what we perceive to be world leading inroads into reduction of noise in seismic imaging.