Management
Waymon Armstrong
President, Chief Executive Officer
As founder and President of Engineering & Computer Simulations Inc. (ECS) since its inception in 1997, the firm is dedicated to utilizing PC based game technology in an advanced distributed learning environment. Before starting ECS, Mr. Armstrong directed computer-modeling activities at a multi-million dollar Program Management and Engineering Firm, and served as a project manager for large-scale crisis response teams. He has over twenty five years experience in engineering and technology related fields including twenty years in management.
Waymon attended the University of Central Florida. He serves on the Metro Orlando Military Affairs Advisory Committee, Digital Media Alliance of Florida, Valencia Community College’s Digital Media Technology Advisory Committee, Otronicon Advisory Board, Executive Committee Sunshine Chapter of AUSA, Missionary Ventures International, The College of Elders at the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando and Orlando Chamber of Commerce E Team. He has spoken at numerous conferences such as Innovations in E-Learning, IT Florida, I/ITSEC, the Synergy Summit, the Summer Computer Simulation Conference, the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the JADL Co-Lab Implementation Fest, the Otronicon, the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds, and has testified before the House Aviation Sub-committee on safety and security, and the State of Florida’s House Select Committee on security. Waymon was named as a 2007 & 2009 finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst and Young for the state of Florida. In 2010 Waymon was awarded the SBA Region, State and National Small Business Person of the year! He is married and has 3 children.
Larry Kayne
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Larry Kayne serves as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Engineering & Computer Simulations. He is responsible for day-to-day management and oversight of the company as well as implementing ECS’s business goals and strategies. As the COO, Larry interacts with Project Management staff and technical leads to provide leadership and direction for all business activities; has implemented several management and engineering processes critical to the success of winning and executing new business opportunities. Larry has over 28 years of experience in engineering, project management and cost control specializing in process engineering and integration for software intensive systems. During his career Larry has worked for both large and small businesses, in the areas of engineering, contracting, quality assurance, project and operations management. His experience in contracting, cost management and program tracking has enabled the company to achieve maximum profitability. He has degrees in Computer Science Information Technology and Business Management. He is married and has 2 children.
Joe O’Connell
Vice President, Business Development
Upon graduation from West Point in 1983, Joe served in the Artillery in both CONUS and OCONUS positions up through battalion level. Upon leaving Active Duty, Joe started his career in the US Army Reserves while gaining cross-functional experience in the Defense Industry. Joe has worked for both large and small business, providing business development and operations support for both product and service markets.
Joe continues to support the Army as a Military Academy Liaison Officer and in 2009-2010 deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the 82nd Airborne Division. Joe is a Past President of the AUSA Sunshine Chapter. He is married and has 4 children. His hobbies include golfing and traveling.
Brent Smith
Vice President, Chief Technology Officer
Brent Smith has worked with ECS since 1997. Mr. Smith performs extensive research in the areas of collaborative distributed learning architectures, distributed simulations and the use of commercial gaming technologies as educational tools for the US Military. His professional focus is on the development of technologies to enable new learning methods and tools to improve training effectiveness. As the CTO, Mr. Smith is responsible for the overall design of the company’s next generation of enterprise-wide learning technologies that support a seamless learning experience across a wide range of computing and non-computing devices and services. He also coordinates R&D activities and identifies emerging new technologies for transition into new product research, software development and technical marketing.
Matt Spruill
Vice President, Chief Technologist
Matt Spruill is ECS’s Chief Technologist and runs the Virginia Operation. Matt has been providing simulations for training in government and industry since 1998. Matt retired from the U.S. Army after 20 years of service, 10 of which involved providing LVC training solutions at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. Matt Spruill’s military experience includes; Chief of the Joint Exercise Support Division and M&S Planner at the Joint Warfighting Center, USJFCOM in Suffolk, VA providing technical exercise planning and support for all the Combatant Commands worldwide. Prior to the JWFC, Matt was Chief of the Simulations Branch for US Army Central Command, Fort McPherson, GA. Completing his service as an Army FA57 (Simulations Officer), Matt started his career as an Armor officer serving in Armor and Cavalry units for his first 8 years. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1988 and earned his MS in Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University in 1997. He has been on the I/ITSEC Simulation and the Emerging Concepts and Innovative Technologies subcommittees since 2006. Matt is also member of Senator Warner’s M&S Task Force and Congressman Forbes M&S Coalition. Matt is the co-author of “Echoes of Thunder, A Guide to the Seven Days Battles.”
Howard Mall
Vice President, Engineering
Howard Mall started work in the Simulation and Training field while completing his Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida. He took a position as one of the first members of SAIC’s research team where he eventually lead Internal Research and Development project as well as working on programs such as WARSIM. He leveraged work there for his Master’s thesis entitled “Dynamic Replanning in Battlefield Domains”. He later transferred within SAIC to develop a system that unified multiple databases under one business model for Launch Operations at the Cape Canaveral Air Station. He left SAIC for an adventure in a startup company that was commercializing business process management and measurement software. He was co-architect of the company’s initial offering and subsequently lead many efforts to develop business process management solutions for a variety of companies in banking, insurance, manufacturing, and logistics.
Over the last four years at Engineering and Computer Simulations, Inc. he has built various kinds of training systems using game technologies. He lead efforts for the Navy to develop training solutions deployed on cell phones and handheld computers. For the Army, he delivered the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) Simulation used by combat medics to learn triage and medical decision-making in a virtual tactical environment. He is currently creating the Emergency Management Nexus, a next-generation synchronous training platform for the National Guard Bureau within virtual worlds.
Shane Taber
Art Director
Shane Taber has served as a Senior Digital Artist for Engineering & Computer Simulations (ECS) since 2005. During his time at ECS, he has stepped up into the role of Art Director, and now leads the asset development team. Working closely with the team of artists, he provides the creative vision through design and pre-production, manages development tasks during production, and is intimately involved with the final integration of the real-time assets into the simulations. His professional experience includes 3D asset development for a variety of commercial and open-source game engines. Prior to working at ECS, Shane worked for two years at the Media Convergence Lab at UCF’s Institute for Simulation & Training in Orlando, where he worked on numerous simulation research projects, including the US Army’s (RDECOM) Mixed Reality MOUT project, and the MR Sea Creatures project which was exhibited in the Orlando Science Center. Shane holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Digital Media from the University of Central Florida, and also has an extensive foundation in fine art skills from attending and graduating from the prestigious Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in Palm Beach County.
