University of Toledo

Engineering Director - Lighting Business

Austin, Texas, United States

Responsible for all new product development engineering activity in Lutron’s window system business unit.

Lutron Electronics

Window Systems Product Development Manager

Led production and operations for the Window Systems Business Unit.

Operations Manager

Managed the manufacturing quality team at Lutron's Shanghai manufacturing facility and the supplier quality team for Lutron’s supplier base in Asia.

I also assisted in business development for Lutron's mainland China group.  This most notably included working on the design/execution of the Shanghai Tower shade manufacturing and installation on 80 floors.

Engineering & Quality Leader

Was team leader for Lutron's development of Radio Powr Savr Sensors (RF battery-powered sensors).
Supported multi-disciplinary team of 8-12 people as developed products in a completely new field for Lutron.  Beyond successfully delivering the new products to the the market, my responsibilities/accomplishments included:

-  Working with the company owner and the President of New Product Development to deliver the product.  Managing aggressive timelines and corporate interaction as product was developed.
-  Co-authored three patents during the products development.
-  Creation of new testing guidelines for the company to maintain a high level of quality.
-  Development of marketing literature and demonstrations.
-  Going out to meet customers to research and promote the product line.


Was "aide-to-camp" for Director of Engineering.  During time was in charge of supporting budget/staffing/timelines for all project activities in engineering. Accomplishments/activities included:

-  Development and tracking  of annual engineering budget for capital and expenses
-  Tracking and summarising all engineering summaries (timeline, budget, cost, etc.) to report to Lutron executives.
-  Weekly team meetings to identify short term gaps and solutions across the organization.


Was Engineering team leader for our Lutron's R&D team.  This team conceptualised Lutron's disruptive innovations ideas.  Responsibilities included:

-  Weekly meetings with companies owner on current activities.
-  Rapid prototyping (10 annually) and pipeline of new internal ventures.

A few notable accomplishments…

Created and managed a small internal ventures group that was responsible for identifying and testing new business opportunities through lean start-up principles and metered funding.

Converted our first internal venture, Architectural Systems, into a viable business unit.  Architectural systems is a unique to industry integration of lighting and acoustical ceiling systems in one design cohesive platform.  The venture was cash flow positive at month 24 and is currently a key contributor to Focal Point’s top and bottom line.

Formalized Focal Point’s position on lighting industry trends for “Light Quality”, “Connected Lighting” and  “PoE” including platform launches to support each trend.  Created network/mechanisms to monitor and rapidly act on industry shifts.

Senior Design & Development Engineer

Was team leader for Lutron's development of Radio Powr Savr Sensors (RF battery-powered sensors).    Supported multi-disciplinary team of 12 people as developed a sensor product family, a  new competency for Lutron.

In addition, had a number of leadership developmental rotations to expand my visibility.  Most notably this included time with Lutron’s ACE (industrial design & disruptive innovation group) and in G&A with responsibility for engineering budget, staffing and recruiting plans.

Served as Electrical Engineer (Power Electronics) and Project Leader for development of Lutron Residential RF controls.  Had individual responsibility for ratification/execution of the product specifications.  Had individual responsibility for the schematic design, PCB layout & execution of new product testing.  Led multi-disciplinary team of 3-4 people in taking products from design phase through manufacturing.

Project Electrical Engineer / Design & Development Engineer

Was a team member on the Squib ASIC team.  The integrated chip responsible for firing a vehicles air bags.

Had product validation accountability for the FET diagnostic check on the Freescale quad squib ASIC.  Built executive summaries for latest automotive customer electrical requirements for their airbags.  Built test board to perform parametric Tx and Rx testing of TRW’s patented DSI communication protocol.

Matt Blakeley