Meet the Instructors

	Ray Hardee Chief Engineer & Head Instructor Course Specialization: Piping System Fundamentals, Piping System Assessment & Optimization, Pumped System Optimization Seminar, Centrifugal Pump Webinar, and FLO-Master One of the principal founders of Engineered Software, Ray Hardee is also Co-Owner and Chief Engineer. Starting in 1982 Ray was chiefly responsible for engineering and sales for Engineered Software. Prior to establishing Engineered Software, Ray had over 13 years in the power generation industry. Ray graduated with
Honors from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. Upon graduation, Ray became an officer in the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power program and qualified submarines. After the Navy, Ray worked for ces, and was involved in the start-up and test group where he would perform the pre-operational tests for both nuclear and fossil power plants. Ray has contributed dozens of articles and papers to various magazines and standards publications and has given over a thousand presentations on fluid piping around the world. In May 2008, Ray Hardee published his first book, Piping System Fundamentals: The Complete Guide to Gaining a Clear Picture of Your Piping System. In 2009, Ray was recognized by the Hydraulic Institute & Pump Systems Matter organizations for his contributions to the Optimizing Pumping Systems Guidebook, published by Hydraulic Institute.

	Jeff Sines Application Engineer & Trainer Course Specializations: Piping System Fundamentals, Piping System Assessment & Optimization, Pumped System Optimization Seminar, Centrifugal Pump Webinar, and Process Measurement & Control Webinar. Jeff Sines has over 20 years of plant operations, process engineering, and training experience. Originally trained on the enlisted side of the US Navy nuclear power program, Jeff served 4 years as a nuclear qualified electrician, during which time he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. After accepting a commission, Jeff went through the Navy nuclear power training again, this time on the officer side of the program.
Jeff served three years aboard a nuclear powered cruiser where he served as a Reactor Mechanical Division Officer and Chemistry and Radiological Controls Assistant. While aboard ship, he conducted training on various systems throughout the reactor and steam plants, as well as water chemistry and radiological controls. His 9 years of Navy experience provided Jeff with a solid background in various aspects of plant operations including electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, chemistry, materials, nuclear physics, and thermodynamics. After leaving the Navy, Jeff spent 5 years as a Mill-wide Coordinator in the pulp and paper industry with Weyerhaeuser Specialty Cellulose Fiber pulp mill in Cosmopolis, Washington. He worked closely with employees to analyze process upsets, identify root causes, coordinate repairs, and implement process improvements. Jeff spent the next 5 years as the mill's Operations Training Coordinator, where he developed and implemented a mill-wide operations training program, developed qualification standards, updated training material, and conducted classes. He also served as the commissioning and training coordinator on major equipment and DCS modernization projects throughout the mill. During the final year of mill operations, Jeff served as the Power & Recovery Department Operations Team Leader, where he supervised crews to maintain operation of high-pressure steam boilers, liquor evaporator systems, turbine generators, plant utilities, a solid waste de-watering system, and the chemical recovery plant. Jeff possesses over 600 combined hours of instructional experience, with 500 hours since joining the Engineered Software team in 2008.

	George Stephens Application Engineer & Trainer Course Specialization: Piping System Fundamentals, FLO-Master George Stephens has over 18 years of process engineering experience and has been with Engineered Software, Inc for over 8 years as a trainer for our FLO-Master seminars and Piping System Fundamentals classes. George earned his Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering, from Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, Washington.
Prior to working at Engineered Software, George specialized for 10 years, as a process control and instrumentation engineer for the Weyerhaeuser Company in their Fine Paper Division. George spent his time there conducting process audits on paper machines and training mill personnel on the installation, calibration and maintenance of field instrumentation. He designed and built specialized portable instrumentation racks with multiple sensors which could tap into the process piping at various points, and then be subsequently removed and relocated with ease. George also provided data collection, analysis and troubleshooting expertise to the Fine Paper division. George possesses over 1000 combined hours of instructional experience on the FLO-Master and Piping System Fundamental classes since joining the Engineered Software team. George is the main developer of the FLO-Master curriculum and a major contributor to the PSF instructional materials. When not training, George serves as part of the development team for the PIPE-FLO, PUMP-FLO and Insight programs as well as the point man for supporting the CONVAL program.

	Roy Lightle Application Engineer & Trainer Course Specialization: FLO-Master Hired in 2007 by Engineered Software, Inc. as an Application Engineer, Roy Lightle joined the Training team for our FLO-Master seminars. Roy earned his Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, Auburn Alabama. Roy has three years of training experience from his work at Engineered Software and as a graduate teaching assistant at Auburn University.
Roy worked for R. E. Hodges, LLC for three years as a Research & Development Engineer, providing process measurement solutions to the pulp and paper industry. Roy draws from his experience in Chemometrics and Computational Modeling while working for R. E. Hodges, LLC as well as his experience in fluid mechanics with Engineered Software. Roy is a member of AIChE, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, since 2003.

	Michael Volk Professional Engineer Course Specialization: Pump Characteristics & Applications Mike Volk, our pump course instructor, is an independent consultant who has specialized in pumps and pump systems for over 30 years. Mike received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois. He received both a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Management Science from the University of Southern California. Mike is a registered professional engineer, and has more than thirty years of practical engineering experience in the field of pumps and pump systems.
Prior to founding his own firm, Volk & Associates, Inc., in 1982, Volk had experience in pump system design for Bechtel, held various engineering and marketing positions at Goulds Pumps Vertical Pump Division in City of Industry, CA; and started up and managed a Goulds pump repair center in Houston, TX. Mike is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Pump Characteristics and Applications, published by CRC Press. In addition to teaching short courses on pumps, Mike maintains a consulting business on pumps to provide assistance on pump selection and system development, troubleshooting pumps, pump related expert witness and litigation support, and acquisition due diligence and pump marketing support. He has also represented Engineered Software with their PIPE-FLO piping design and analysis and pump selection software since 1994.