Directors

Neil Furukawa is an accomplished operating executive with over 25 years of expertise solving hard problems in government defense and commercial markets. Neil’s expertise is in the creation of early stage technology start-ups through rapid growth. Prior to founding AKUA as CEO, Neil spent five years as the Chief Operating Officer at CyberPoint International from startup to over 250 employees and $85M+ in revenue. He is the inventor of U.S. Patent 5,987,069.

Neal Linkon served as the Director of Marketing Operations for Children’s Wisconsin. His career included work as a consultant and for Fortune 500 companies, with responsibilities ranging from public relations to internal communications to marketing, with a focus on digital marketing over the latter half of his career. Neal was inducted into the Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame in 2016 and was given the John A. Eudes Vision and Excellence Award in 2021.

Laurie Meyer is a technology strategist with over 30 years of experience in aerospace and marine engineering. She has extensive experience leading research and development of advanced technologies to deliver real world projects. She was Chief Technologist at Lockheed Martin leading a team to design Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plants and prototype key enabling technologies. Laurie is presently Senior Vice President at Moana Minerals Ltd.

Flannery Stevens is a compassionate sustainability scientist who is devoted to a more sustainable future through the integration of a diverse set of fields to problem solve. She graduated cum laude with a B.S in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability from Colorado State University. She is presently working as an Environmental Technician at EcoPoint Inc.

Tim Stevens is an inventor with six patents granted to date. U.S. Patent 11,276,127 was granted on March 15, 2022, “Recommending Matches Using Machine Learning”. The neural network architecture in this patent provides the technical foundation for Long Relationships. Tim served as a Lockheed Martin Fellow and was previously the Chief Systems Engineer at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.