Tom Wilcox, Chief Technical Officer:

Born and raised in Monterey Park, California (a suburb of Los Angeles), Tom received his Bachelor of Science degree from Cal Poly, Pomona. In college, Tom was a diehard member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, serving as President of the college chapter, and he and the chapter designed and built the regional championship winning Mini Baja Design Competition entry from Cal Poly for two years running. Interestingly enough, this design competition is still active today. After school, Tom served a two year stint at Garret AiResearch, where he worked in the motor driven fans and compressors group as a development engineer. Tom formed his own company "Motive Systems" with a business partner, Randy Coons, in 1981. The pair gained notoriety in racing circles by developing what became the premier road racing go-kart chassis in the US, the Motive Systems Van-K "New Wave".

After leaving Motive, Tom worked for Lips Propellers, a major player in the field of large ship propeller manufacture and repair. Tom became the chief engineer and one of the founding personnel of the Lips Seattle facility, and worked for several years developing and perfecting repair methods and procedures, equipment, and facilities for the Seattle shop, which specialized in repair, refit, and recertification of mission critical U.S. Navy submarine and surface vessel propellers. (Note: Lips was acquired by Wartsila several years ago, and now maintains the same business as Wartsila Defence, Inc. Kinetic Research continues to support their facilities in Poulsbo, WA and Chesapeake, VA.)

Tom joined Boone Metalworks, Inc. in 1991. The original business was in Oakland, and later, after changing its name to Kinetic Research, Inc., relocated to Cordelia, California. The company moved to its present location in Kingston, Washington in 1994, and has been busily designing, machining, and assembling a wide variety of projects ever since.

Tom is an avid amateur musician, playing in local bands and recording original music in his PC based home studio. Other hobbies include a house, a wife, and a son.