Management & Key Personnel

Stephen Gorevan – Chairman
Stephen Gorevan co-founded Honeybee Robotics in 1983 and currently serves as the company’s Chairman. He is principally responsible for guiding the company’s direction toward the application of advanced robotic and automation techniques to new applications in the aerospace sector. His responsibilities include new technology development, company and engineering management, design and systems engineering. Mr. Gorevan has over 25 years of experience in leading advanced robotics and automation design, development, and implementation efforts for NASA, defense and industry. He currently serves as a Co-Investigator on the science teams for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) SAM instrument and is a member of the Venus Science Definition Team.

Chris Chapman – Vice Chairman & Chief Financial Officer
Chris Chapman co-founded Honeybee Robotics in 1983 and currently serves as the company’s Vice Chairman and CFO. His responsibilities include financial and contract management, corporate operations and the development of corporate resources through capital investment, staff diversification and training. Mr. Chapman has over 25 years of experience in corporate management.

Kiel Davis – President
Kiel Davis has over 14 years experience in developing electromechanical systems from early concept through to flight. His responsibilities include project management, company resource management, business development, mechanical and electrical design, control systems design, software development, systems implementation and testing of advanced automated and complex engineering systems. His work on space missions, including the Mars Exploration Rovers’ Rock Abrasion Tool, the Mars Phoenix Lander’s Icy Sample Acquisition Device, and the Mars Science Laboratory’s Surface Removal Tool provide him with an in-depth understanding of the challenges and difficulties inherent in designing mechanisms for long life in harsh environments.  He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Rochester and an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Polytechnic University.

Ron Hayes – Chief Engineer
Ron Hayes has over 25 years of experience in developing electromechanical mechanisms for challenging requirements including space-qualified systems.  His responsibilities include ensuring that projects are planned and conducted with sound engineering practices, reviewing technical concepts for major projects, resolution of technical issues, and business development tasks.  Mr. Hayes’ experience spans mechanical design, electrical design, system design and integration, standard testing practices, materials, manufacturing techniques, software design, root cause analysis, mathematical modeling and computer simulation. He was previously the Chief Engineer for Electro-Mechanical Systems at SpaceDev – Starsys Inc., a Senior Design Engineer at Electrotec Corp and a Research Scientist in Analytical Services and Materials at Langley Research Center. He has played a lead role in providing dozens of spacecraft mechanisms for flight missions; including solar array drives, gimbals, and other electro-mechanical mechanisms incorporating motors, transmissions, bearings, slip rings, cable wraps and twist capsule assemblies, potentiometers, and other subsystems. He holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  

Erik Mumm – Vice President & Director, Flight Systems
Erik Mumm has over eight years experience in electro-mechanical systems design, development, and test for NASA programs. In tandem with the Chief Engineer, Mr. Mumm chairs internal design reviews and ensures Honeybee’s technical standards are followed and continuously improved upon. Most recently he has acted as technical lead on a robotic Sample Manipulation System for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory. His responsibilities since joining Honeybee in 2002 include mechanism and systems design of flight hardware, controls and software development, flight operations support, extensive laboratory and field testing. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska.

Kris Zacny – Vice President & Director, Exploration Technology
Dr. Kris Zacny focuses on robotic terrestrial and extraterrestrial drilling, excavation and geotechnical systems, as well as sample acquisition, transfer and processing technologies. In his previous capacity as an engineer in the South African mines, Dr. Zacny managed numerous mining projects and underground production. Dr. Zacny received his Ph. D. in 2005 from the University of California, Berkeley in Mars drilling. He received a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Cape Town in 1997 and ME in Petroleum Engineering from University of California, Berkeley in 2001. Dr Zacny has over 100 publications, including an edited book, “Drilling in Extreme Environments: Penetration and Sampling on Earth and Other Planets.”  He has been a Principal Investigator and a Co-Investigator of over 50 NASA and Department of Defense funded projects and participated in several drilling expeditions in Antarctica, the Atacama Desert, Mauna Kea, the Mojave Desert and the Arctic. Dr. Zacny has over 15 NASA New Technology Records and three NASA Group Achievement Awards.