
Guided by the Experts You Know and Trust
Electroless Nickel is a unique category of surface finishing with very specific perimeters and processes for success. We engaged people widely recognized as the leading experts in electroless nickel to advise the event and ensure its quality of learning.
Learn more about our EN Experts below. If you have a question you'd like to ask our experts, use the button below to be taken to our Question Portal.
2022 ENC Technical Director

Brad Durkin
Consultant & Technical Director
2022 EN Conference
40 years experience
Bachelor of Science- Chemistry, anchored with 40 years of Surface Finishing Industry experience, 5 years applicator side, 34 years supplier side including Coventya, MacDermid, and Allied Kelite. Scope of experience includes technology, technical service, marketing, global product management, research/development, and business executive management. Knowledgeable of chemical manufacturing processes for surface finishing technology.
Over career, active participation in many industry associations including NACE, SAE, ASTM & NASF, authored numerous publications including patents, industry presentations, Internal/external training modules, technology webinars, established marketing materials supporting industry including NASF Surface Technology Environmental Resource Center, Plating & Surface Finishing, Metal Finishing & Products Finishing, including many other international publications, China, India, Mexico & SE Asia.
• National Association Surface Finishers: NASF Fellow, CEF, Member Technology Advisory Committee SUR/FIN Technical Conference 9 years, including past 6 as Chairman of TAC.
• For 25 years, active member ASTM committees ASTM B08, Metallic and Inorganic Coatings, ASTM F07, Aerospace and Aircraft & ASTM G01, Corrosion of Metals.
• Memberships: Society of Automotive Engineering International (SAE), National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), ASM International & has been a member of the Electroless Nickel (EN) Steering Committee since 1993, additionally serving as Technical Director for the 2007 and 2010 EN Conference Symposiums.
2022 ENC Advisory Committee

Michael J. Aleksinas is the owner and president of Metal Chem, located in Greenville, South Carolina. He holds a B.S. Degree in Chemistry from Bucknell University, Lewisberg, Pennsylvania, and a M.S. degree in Environmental Science from the University of New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut.
For the past 45 years, Michael has been actively involved in virtually every aspect of the electroless nickel industry including research and development, sales and marketing, and the manufacture of electroless nickel chemistry.
During this time, he has authored many papers on the subject of EN which include: "Factors Affecting Quality Electroless Nickel plating of Thin Memory Disks," "Plating Thick EN Deposits without pitting," "How Duplex EN Coatings can be Advantageous," "Plating on Magnesium with EN, Fact or Fiction?," and "Waste Treatment of Electroless Nickel".
Michael is a member of the American Chemical Society and the NASF.



Phillip Brockman President and owner of Techmetals, a Nadcap, ITAR, ISO-13485, FFL, and FAA Repair Station that specializes in: anodize, Electroless Nickel, metal finishing, PVD physical vapor deposition, NDT non-destructive testing, and grinding of: large parts, difficult parts, and engineered coatings in Dayton, OH. Techmetals focus is on Aerospace, Defense, Power Generation, Medical, and Automotive.Phillip has been a past member of SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) , SPE (Society of Plastic Engineers), and IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers). Work Experience: Techmetals as plating technical, R&D, Engineering, and management. Self-employed, PE&B an engineering consulting company working with Clients Akzo-Nobel, as a Rotating equipment specialist. FCX Performance Company PPI, Office and Repair Shop Manager, Outside Sales, & Application Engineer. ITW-Hobart Manufacturing Engineer and Procurement, Dolly Inc. Industrial Engineer.

Bill Fields
NickelMan


Scott Francis is the Editor-In-Chief of Products Finishing and served previously as a writing editor for CompositesWorld. He has also edited for Writer's Digest, HOW, Popular Woodworking and has authored books on a range of topics. Scott has a bachelor’s degree in writing and editing and a minor in biology from Western Carolina University.


Matt Lindstedt is the President of Advanced Plating Technologies and has 20-years of experience in surface engineering and technical metal finishing sales. His specializes in proper design, specification, and application of coatings within a range of technically focused industries as well as engineering coating solutions to common surface engineering challenges including corrosion, wear resistance, soldering, wire bonding, ultrasonic welding, or brazing. Matt is passionate about continually growing and improving his family’s fourth-generation metal finishing business while equally improving the lives and livelihood of the company’s employees. Matt graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and earned his Professional Engineering license during his four years of service in the United States Air Force. When not working (his wife laughs), he can be found bow hunting or spending time with his family water skiing or surfing.


Matt Pankow
Plating International


Ambrose Schaffer
Macdermid Enthone


Over the past 25 years Matt has held a variety of technical, sales, marketing and executive positions in the metal finishing industry with specialization in the field of electroless plating. He founded Sirius Technology in 1991 which merged with Taskem in 2008 to form Coventya, Inc. Matt has authored and published a number of technical papers on electroless nickel plating and related subjects and holds a BS in chemistry from Syracuse University. He is currently a technical advisor to MEIS.
Matt Sisti
Macdermid Enthone
19 years experience


I am the Product Manager for the Wear Resistant Coatings group and have been with Atotech USA, LLC for almost 20 years. My specialty has been Electroless Nickel and Functional Chrome, but I have also been involved with other applications in my career as well, such as Paint Pretreatment, Zinc Plating, and Decorative Plating. I have been in the plating and surface finishing industry for around 23 years overall; I graduated in 1999 from NC State University with a BS in chemistry. My hobbies and interests outside of work include reading, building scale models, and spending time with my wife and two kids.
