The Team
Carl Dietrich, Anna Mracek Dietrich and Samuel Schweighart, three of Terrafugia’s founders, have
brought together a world-class team to bring the Transition® to fruition and build Terrafugia. Along
with Alex Min and Arun Prakash, they began developing Terrafugia and the Transition® in 2005 while
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Terrafugia Leadership consists of:
Carl Dietrich
Terrafugia’s CEO/CTO, Co-Founder, received his BS, MS and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shortly after being selected as
the 2006 winner of the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for Innovation. Carl was additionally
recognized by the Aero/Astro Department at MIT as one of sixteen exceptional graduates under the
age of 35. Carl has also been named as one of the Boston Business Journal's "40 Under 40" in 2009. He has been a private pilot since the age of seventeen.
Anna Mracek Dietrich
Terrafugia’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Co-Founder, received her Bachelors and Masters degrees
from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. With experience at both GE Aviation and
Boeing Phantom works, Anna brings project management expertise to the Transition® development
effort. Anna was one of the 10 women selected for the 6th annual Mass High Tech Women to Watch Award in 2009. She is also a private pilot.
Samuel Schweighart
Terrafugia’s VP of Engineering, Co-Founder, received his MS and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and hold his BS from the University of Illinois. Sam brings a high degree of practicality and hands-on experience to the program, having left the Charles Stark Draper
Laboratories to pursue Terrafugia. He is a private pilot and active hang glider pilot.
Col. (Ret.) Phil Meteer
Flight Test Coordinator, Test Pilot, has over 3,000 hours of flight and instruction experience in the Air
Force, including the F-4, F-16 and A-10. Phil brings both his perspective as an experienced pilot and
as an operations and systems engineer and operations manager, both in the Air Force and as a civilian. Phil has also acted as test engineer, lead test pilot and airborne mission commander for a new
infrared countermeasure system. Phil is currently working onsite at Hanscom AFB and preparing to
conduct the first flights of the Transition® Proof of Concept.
Richard Gersh
VP of Business Development, has joined Terrafugia from over 25 years of executive-level experience in
all phases of financial service company operations and risk management. Dick has his MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a M.Ed. from Suffolk University. He is pursuing a private pilot license.
Alex Min
Sales and Marketing Advisor, Co-Founder, received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management,
focusing on entrepreneurship, marketing, and finance. Alex has extensive global sales, marketing, business development, and distribution management experience.
He served in the United States Marine Corps as an attack helicopter pilot.
He is also an AOPA Life Member and an EAA Lifetime Member.
Andrew Heafitz
VP of Product Development, is another graduate of MIT with his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and recipient of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize in 2002. He brings eighteen years’ experience in composite automotive construction and testing to the Terrafugia team. Andrew has designed, built, and raced
light-weight composite solar cars across the Australian outback.
John Telfeyan
Senior Engineering Technician, comes from the high-performance competitive boating industry where
he worked his way through a world-renowned sailboat design and fabrication house over the course of
a 30 year career. During that time he worked on nine America’s Cup boats and developed significant
expertise in carbon fiber composite construction techniques. John is also a private pilot.
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