Bill Flaherty, Ph.D.

Alloy is an industry leader in thermal management components across diverse industries such as data centers, photonics and defense. As the Director of Applications and Technology Development, I'm on the forefront of providing cutting edge thermal management solutions to Alloy's diverse customer base. This includes spearheading efforts to develop new capabilities unique to Alloy's Stack Forging process, as well as leading customer projects to ensure we meet or exceed their requirements and deliver high-quality components. I oversee the Applications team, and foster an environment where engineers own the success of their projects from the first customer interaction through component delivery.

As the Director of Hardware Engineering, I led a team of mechanical and controls engineers to develop the machines that enable Alloy’s unique Stack Forging process. My leadership philosophy centered on fostering an environment of ownership for each individual contributor while they tackle exciting, challenging projects that are critical to Alloy’s continued success. Central to this is the expectation that each engineer gets hands-on, building and testing their designs.

Very is a remote product-development firm focused on developing internet-connected products for commercial and industrial applications. As the Director of Hardware Engineering, I led the growth of the hardware practice, a key piece of Very’s transition from a software-focused development firm to one built around hardware development as a core offering. This included being a key contributor to hiring, sales, marketing, as well as working closely with Very’s clients in roles such as Interim CTO and Chief Engineer. I grew the team from 5 engineers to 25 over 3 years, representing a fivefold increase in Very’s hardware book of business. I spearheaded the development of Very’s unique approach to Agile hardware development, enabling a team of remote hardware engineers to successfully deliver products to market while integrating tightly with software and machine learning teams to develop end-to-end solutions for our clients.

MIT Lincoln Lab is a federally-funded research and development center that focuses on developing advanced defensive technology for the Department of Defense. At Lincoln, I worked on and led teams that were developing cutting-edge electro-mechanical prototypes. I served as engineering lead on projects with significant budgets (up to $20M+ per year) and large teams (up to 15 engineers). I also served as the subject matter expert on hypersonic aerodynamics, including pioneering the in-house use of high-fidelity CFD on Lincoln’s world-class supercomputing system. I was also heavily involved in Lincoln’s internal R&D work, proposing for and receiving over $700,000 in funding for these efforts over three years.

I worked in GE’s commercial aviation business, primarily working on the thermal management of combustors and turbine hardware for large commercial engines such as the GEnx and the GE90.

I performed experimental hypersonics research in the Compressible Fluid Mechanics Lab in support of my dissertation.

Worked on Colloid Thruster research with Professor John Blandino at Worcester Polytechnic Institute