David Cowan is the CEO and founder of inch-inc. a product development firm with a diverse portfolio including digital X-ray systems, wireless MP3 players and aircraft wing deicing systems. He has also held executive positions at IBM, and Electrokinetics (Razorfish) and has taught Product Design at The Cooper Union school of Engineering. David, who is 49 years old, holds 6 U.S. patents and licensed an award winning CD jewelbox to Sony. Beginning his career in Silicon Valley, David managed a group of 11 engineers developing IBM’s first generation of thin-film disk drives. In 1987, he joined IBM’s Marketing Group in New York City. In 1990 David founded inch-inc. to help companies develop new products with exceptional features and easy-to-use interfaces that differentiate them from competing products. He is a two-time winner of the International Design Magazine’s annual award and has been featured in: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and The Design Museum (London). David received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MS in Engineering Product Design from Stanford University.
Petar Miskovic is a Mechanical Engineer and a CAD expert. Petar has helped develop high-end audio systems, high efficiency CMH lighting fixtures (which use 1/3 the electricity of standard lighting), automotive accessories and a sofa shaped like a mobius strip. Petar earned his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Cooper Union, where he designed and built both the suspension system for Cooper Union’s 2007 SAE Baja off-road competition car, and the suspension analysis software. He also developed a Snapple cap with an automatic straw, an automated fishing rod for paraplegics, an engine air intake manifold, and a deflection detecting device for wing de-icing systems. Petar was born in Montenegro, is fluent in Serbian, and grew up in NYC, graduating from Bronx Science. Petar loves modifying cars, playing basketball, and tinkering with DAW’s.
Pepin Gelardi returned to NY at the beginning of 2008 to pursue a career in product design and development. Previously he had been living in Milan, Italy studying industrial design and indulging in his passion for pasta. Pepin has also studied Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University and has worked as a product engineer and a graphic designer. In his spare time, he imagines new kinds of pastas, pasta sauces and systems for making and cooking pasta.