Our Team

From watching repair personnel work on our families appliances, dismantling the family vacuum cleaner, science fair projects, watching Mr. Roger’s factory tours, or repairing and building computers… I had a big interest in learning how things work which wet my appetite for an engineering/technology career.

Innovator who gets things done.

My family transcends my professional career… I have been married to my wife Denise for 17 years and have 6 children (Emily 13, Ezra 12, Owen 10, Ava 8, Levi 6, and Keara 2).

10 years is a very long time away. If I still own it… it would certainly be an internationally respected 500+ multi-national, multi-location engineering services organization.

However, it is more likely that I would have exited and Hallsten Innovations would be owned by another entity.

In college… Chemistry.

Teachable, humble confidence, work ethic, attention to detail, smart, willingness to get their hands dirty.

Rotary Club, Grace Church, Boy Scouts

Not many… between church, kids, and work my time is consumed. I do enjoy helping my boys out with scouts and following my favorite sports teams.

With my family - I like to say that I am chaotically blessed.

Learning to become a different/improved leader based on each stage of my companies growth.

My faith and my large family.

Engineering quality.

Local & Unique. In Barberton, Ohio – my main stay is Al’s Corner Restaurant and it’s eastern European loving. In Chicago - Jerk Modern Jamaican Grill just a block away from our office.

Improved inefficiencies, saved lives and being better stewards of our environment.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
I have a few big wins centering around ERP integrations and business process re-structure. My latest adventure entailed first restructuring the configuration of a warehouse then creating a new set of processes to enable efficient and effective pick-pack and logistical functions. The entire business entity was process mapped with value stream components to enable an ERP implementation.  The organization received a new org chart with intensive change management intervention and new process training. A 165-page book emerged as the business work instruction. The ERP launched successfully, and business continuity maintained at a high level. Business performance exceeded expectations and I am understood as the architect of the business operation. I have enjoyed a few of these re-models, over the years, and seem to be good at it as I have survived!

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
Mrs. Trotter awarded me with the “reaching to new heights” award. It was given based on the reality that I was tallest in the class and she often called on me to retrieve elevated objects. She would be interested to know that I have used my gift, literally, to reach many things for many people. She would be surprised that I used my gift figuratively to enable my journey.  A few reaches required a stretch, some I couldn’t and a few more I shouldn’t.

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
I see the positive side of interconnectivity and the possibilities remain, for me, unfathomable.

Can you smell the color 9? (let's see how this gets answered. Be creative)
No, but Jim B. can so I would consult with him as an expert resource!

What keeps you grounded?
Faith in the simple concept that “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

What is your most prized possession?
I have many cherished items but not sure I have one particular item today because as a youngster I lost prized possessions, or the possession was somehow damaged or destroyed. I think my heart was broken too many times or perhaps it was a valuable lesson for me not to store-up treasures on earth.  However, others have strong opinions: my first car (78 Camaro purchased in 1985) a Buck knife given to me by my father, an Ugly Stick walleye Rod purchased as a teen. A Kubota BX Tractor that I cannot seem to live without. A Nikon 7100.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Theodore Roosevelt as he embodied many traits and interests, I find intriguing. On a personal historical level, I wish I could have better known my grandfather who was an entrepreneur/businessman in NE Ohio.

What is the best aspect about your job?
I enjoy projects and teamwork to achieve results

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
I like to create simple process maps and drawings using MS VISIO.

What is on your wishlist for new tool that you want Hallsten Innovations to invest in?
I think we need to investigate something like the Cisco Web X system to further enable virtual interactions.

How do you best communicate with customers?
Effective communication involves active listening. I prefer a phone call or in-person meetings but find increased utility in virtual settings.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
Mom is now incapable of cooking, but she made a great pumpkin pie! I have the recipe but not sure I can reproduce it. Maybe I will try one day.

Married, kids?
14 years with Kelly and a 7-year-old Aaron.

What job title SHOULD you have?
I had a boss that left the title blank, on her business card, so she could work in any position. I embrace that concept.

What type of cats do you herd?
Contractors, excavators, Landscapers, Carpenters, Nursing home staffers, workers and associates. To say I am a herder appears to place me above the herd and that is really not fair as I am part of the greater herd wandering to and fro but ultimately following my star believing I will reach the destination. I do have two Tabbies: Sadie and Winston.

Where'd you go to school?  Why'd you major in what you did?
I have many degrees indicating, in my situation, some level of miss direction, but at the time, it appeared the right course. My academic focus has been technology and business. I have always been interested in technology with a high level of mechanical aptitude from my father’s side and a natural business acuity from my mother’s side. Computers and PCs were Apple models in high school or IBM Mainframes could be found at the University of Akron. In high school I was too early for the internet and it was all about computer programming (basic) and punch cards, for mainframes, that I found undesirable. Classes were taught by the math teacher, in those days, and I was disinterested. I was interested in automobiles so I studied automotive technology as those computer cars were the frightening new reality and no one could fix those. Later I finished a BS without a clear pathway but landed in a familiar automotive business as a manager and it worked out well. Then the financial crisis of 2008 drove me back to school for re-invention.   I studied supply chain, operations management, and entrepreneurship. (University of Akron/Kent State) As a graduate assistant, I was able to sit-in on a photography class that was transformative.

What icons show up on your LinkedIn Profile that speak to your professional interests?
I think I need to get some added.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Faithful, resilient and methodical.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
We developed a MATLAB simulation for NAVSEA to demonstrate fault detection in optical fiber. We had to prove it could detect faults and communicate across those faults. This all had to be done with a 10 G
active fiber with no loss of data or reduction in rate. This required numerous capabilities of MATLAB as well as collaboration across disciplines.

We simulated an RF over fiber channel, polarized laser propagation, mode mixing, fiber non-linearities and fiber faults. The final simulation ran in five hours and demonstrated the required technical parameters for an operational system. This is when I understood the power of MATLAB.

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
That I could do the above.

Can you smell the color 9?
Yes. In fact, the sense of smell is very applicable to personal devices. Consider a health monitor that, when it detects agitation or nervousness, emits a calming aroma; or immersive AR which includes the smells of the scenario.

These devices are already on the market. If it can be digitized, it can be mapped to a smell. This is an old idea that requires good engineering of the aromatic oils, heaters and misters needed to fit the size, weight and power (SWaP) of the end device. That is what I do.

What keeps you grounded?
The knowledge that everything I know comes ultimately from God.

What is your most prized possession?
My mom’s WAC hat and tie. She served as a nurse during WWII.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Daniel. He lived among much opposition and evil yet there is not one bad thing set about him.

What is the best aspect about your job?
Learning new things and then implementing them.

What is on your wishlist for new tool that you want Hallsten Innovations to invest in?
I don’t know…I’ll start a list though.

How do you best communicate with customers?
With graphs and data. No matter how high level or big picture the discussion, it must be backed with hard data.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
She’s passed on now, but she used to make an egg and potato dish that she said was from Switzerland. (She has a Swiss heritage.) We kids always thought that she was just trying to make it sound good so we would eat it. Fast forward about 40 years and I’m watching “Rick Steve’s Europe”. He’s in Switzerland,
and lo and behold, he was served the very same thing and told that it is a signature dish of the Swiss.

Married, kids?
My wife, Sharon, works as a translator for Japanese / English. Her daughter is married with two children and her son is married with three children.

What job title SHOULD you have?
The same one I have. The title means nothing. I’m paid for work, not ego.

What is a company lunch like at Hallsten Innovations?
Not as good as lunch with my wife. (I work remotely.)

Where'd you go to school? Why'd you major in what you did?
Case Western and Cedarville College, majoring in EE and math. I’ve been interested in electronics since my high school days.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Focused, organized, confident.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
Conception and realization of nomad (security-to-go).  nomad is the culmination of all my wanderings through product development, pushing the limits of hardware, software, design, research, evangelism, and management skills...hard path, rewarding quest.

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
One of two things – either that I’m NOT a college professor in a spiffy cardigan -OR- that I’m still alive.

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
We stand at a tremendous moment of inflection in which few problems, few groups, few ideas exceed technology’s grasp.  Presence, connectedness, analytics – all of these are peeling back the mysteries and improving lives, be it incrementally or through quantum leaps.  Science fiction is becoming science fact before our eyes.

Can you smell the color 9?

• I can just start to get its scent when I’m deep in communion with the Oversoul
• Can’t really smell it, but it DOES taste like chicken
• Smells just like the color 8, just stronger
• Nine smells divine...it’s heaven scent
• No...I’m still busy trying to grasp the “speed of dark”

What keeps you grounded?
An unfortunate habit of doing barrel rolls and buzzing the tower whenever I’m at the stick.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Innovators with passion, depth, and patience.  The little-known architects of the Taj Mahal, Guttenberg, Nicola Tesla...too many to name here.

What is the best aspect about your job?
I get do what I love every day, work with people of quality and wit, and innovate in an environment conducive to making the most of my skills.

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
Tricky, this...I’ll take “tool” rather literally: beyond my hands, a Letherman tool, a wire-wrap tool, a 12W pencil soldering iron.

What is on your wishlist for new tool that you want Hallsten Innovations to invest in?
While I still haven’t gotten to explore Jon’s entire technokothica, how about a Form Labs SLA high-resolution 3D printer...for prototyping...no really, Jon, it’s crucial.

How do you best communicate with customers?
At a whiteboard, over coffee, demoing on-site -- ALWAYS BEST FACE-TO-FACE.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
I was ridiculously lucky when parents were “handed out” – Mom embodied home, hearth, and love in every way.  Her sugar cookies were divinity on earth.

Married, kids?
Neither, but I’m solely responsible for my special needs brother Brett who lives with me and keeps me (mostly) out of trouble – the deepest focus and greatest pleasure of my life.

What type of cats do you herd?
Expectations.  Joining the imagined world with the real world is an everyday ask -- making them match is the tricky bit.

Where'd you go to school?  Why'd you major in what you did?
I went to Knox College in Galesburg, IL, selected for size (four year student body < 1000), roundedness (a “classically defined” liberal-arts school with a love of ALL of the arts), and access (small classes taught by full professors and heads-of-department).  Majoring in computer science seemed a fait-accompli, a natural extension of an interest in computer technologies that started in grade school (when, it should be noted, personal computing was young...mighty young).

What job title SHOULD you have?
“Emperor”, but I’m told by my circle that this would be inadvisable.  Short of that, “Innovator”.

What icons show up on your LinkedIn profile that speak to your professional interests?
While my profile includes interesting large-scale projects, several prestigious innovation awards, and even a patent, what I really see is people, these from many professions but largely sharing common goals—learning, thinking, growing, sharing.

(Hmmmmm, that skull-and-crossbones is new...)

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Innovative, Open-minded,  “One who sees around corners” (there is a Navajo or Hopi descriptor for this)

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
My most successful project was handling, single-handedly, a Linux DVR project. My company was the first to introduce a Linux based DVR to the UK/EU market and it was a thrill to see the product in store catalogues and on the shelves of my local electronics stores.

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
For me the security aspect is paramount. I see the potential for a lot of automation in our lives, but we need to balance this convenience with a need to maintain some control over our personal data and shopping habits.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
I don’t have any particular fascination with any really historic people, however I am fascinated by the earlier achievements of some people still living like Clive Sinclair, Chris Curry and Herman Hauser. These guys were mainly responsible for the personal computer boom of the early 80’s, and therefore had a dramatic effect on my life and ultimately gave me a fulfilling career.

What is on your wishlist for new tool that you want Hallsten Innovations to invest in?
Static analysis tools

How do you best communicate with customers?
Email and skype. I find it better to keep a written record of all communication so it’s easy to refer back to previous conversations and so everyone is sure what was agreed and to be delivered.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
Sunday roast and rice pudding

What job title SHOULD you have?
I think titles are meaningless and are an affectation of corporate thinking. I simply call myself a software engineer and this neatly encompasses what I enjoy doing.

Where'd you go to school? Why'd you major in what you did?
A combination of schools in West Somerset in the UK. I studied Electronic Engineering at University and College, and this fired my passion for embedded software development. I’ve always enjoyed making things work and tinkering, so it was inevitable that I would end up as an engineer.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Loyal, trusting and unflappable.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
My most successful project was a welding machine.  Sales of 3.5 million on the first year alone.  Brought some serious value to the customer on that one.  I love seeing my stuff go out there and do well.

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
Not a thing, I’d guess.  I turned out as pretty much everyone figured I would – behind a computer.

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
Nearly infinite possibilities.  Nothing you can’t monitor, measure, or control.  Fine grained control over your environment.  Huge processing power in tiny spaces.  My first computer was a Commodore 64.  It cost hundreds of dollars and took up an entire desktop, and ran at about 1Mhz.  Now for just a few dollars you can get something over 200Mhz the size of your thumbnail.  I’m awed by just the changes I’ve seen in my own lifetime.

Can you smell the color 9?
No, but you can hear it.  It’s on the Beatles White album.

What keeps you grounded?
Being outdoors.  Riding bikes with my kids, yardwork, camping, or just sitting on the porch watching it rain.

What is your most prized possession?
A suit of 14th century armor.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Always been fond of physicists, mathematicians, and engineers.  I love hearing the personal details and life stories of the people that made our world today possible.

What is the best aspect about your job?
I get to do what I love to do.  If I couldn’t write software for a living, I’d still write but contribute to an open source project.  Some people relax by solving crossword puzzles or Sudoku, for me it’s software.

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
I love my digital oscilloscope.

How do you best communicate with customers?
Depends on the customer.  Some of them like meetings, others are fine with email.  Some like Skype.  The important thing is to focus more on listening rather than talking, no matter what the medium.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
Liver and onions.  No kidding!   That was always my favorite.

Married, kids?
Yes.  Married for 16 years now.  Two kids, 11 and 6.

What job title SHOULD you have?
I’m with Mr. Scott on this one.  “Call me Scotty. I may be captain by rank... but I never wanted to be anything else but an engineer.”

What type of cats do you herd?
Children – my house is sort of a neighborhood stop.  We’re wall to wall kids here some days.  We have actual cats here too, 3 of them.  And maybe my Saturday night game nights count, where all of my nerdy friends and I get together to play board games.  Scheduling is a bit like herding cats now that we’re all adults.

Where'd you go to school?  Why'd you major in what you did?
Akron University, BSEE.  I majored in EE because that was the only job for me.  When I was a kid, nobody on my block could throw away a TV.  I’d take it in my back yard, carefully destroy the picture tube to reduce the chance of electrical shock, then systematically disassemble it and save the parts.  I can’t remember a time before electronics and computers fascinated me.

What icons show up on your LinkedIn Profile that speak to your professional interests?
I hardly ever use LinkedIn.  I should probably update my profile, it’s been years since I’ve looked at it.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
I’d have to say enterprising, friendly, and professional.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
Designed ergonomic task and managerial contract seating. This design experience, now years ago, was a great proving ground for me personally. It was a great exercise of working in concert with a client’s engineering team and delivering an inviting, notable visual design solution that appeared simple, even as it was in fact doing very complex work delivering comfort, support and movement against a backdrop of fluctuating ergonomic and mechanical dynamics.

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
Actually, I can’t quite remember who my 6th grade teacher was! However, I DO remember creating a huge paper mache` shark for one art project. We got to hang our projects right above our desks, and I was really proud of how realistic and cool it looked – at least so I thought!

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
I’d say “unpredictability” due to the ever-present human element. Exciting advances in benefits to lifestyle, utility and entertainment – will combine with new, unforeseen consequences that affect our free time, stress and security. Even though we’ve all watched the internet evolve and are more savvy to this potential, I think the human element will still create some surprises.

What keeps you grounded?
My faith in Christ, my wife, my family, my friends, my responsibilities to my clients.

Can you smell the color 9?
Anything’s possible. This reminds me of the experimental cuisine/molecular gastronomy movement where whole new sensory experiences associated with food textures, flavors and forms are being created. Very interesting stuff, and fun – as a smell for a number might be.

What is your most prized possession?
Right off the top, I’d say the little cabin my wife and I just finished putting in on our property last summer. The work it involved was way out of proportion to its size! So for the time being, it’s the one “object” that has most recently taken the most out of us in just about every way – and therefore also the thing we’re most enjoying at the moment!

What is the best aspect about your job?
As a consultant, I enjoy the consistency of variety.

What job title SHOULD you have?
“Undercover Boss”, since I do it all anyway at my studio office, but unlike the show, for real.

What type of cats do you herd?
Never know which cats might see this bio, so I’ll pass on this one!

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
Digital drawing program Sketchbook Pro. It’s the nearest thing to drawing on paper – besides just drawing on paper!

How do you best communicate with customers?
There's connecting, then there’s communicating. So if to truly communicate, I'd say in person. For connecting and transmitting information, of course you can't argue the practicality and effectiveness of all the other electronic means we all use every day.

Where'd you go to school? Why'd you major in what you did?
Michigan State University. I discovered Industrial Design to involve a very interesting combination of processing so many things, including the technical, mechanical, scientific, cultural, social, psychological, emotional and artistic, to arrive at a product that “works” on all those levels. Love it.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Diligent, Objective & “Chicago”.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
I had the chance to upgrade a Dawson McAllister website called The Hope Line. This website is predominantly a faith based advice blog focused on helping teens cope with their problems. Over the course of a website upgrade I increased their traffic 20 fold just from site development and article structuring. 100s of thousands of new visitors found and connected with people who could help. Today that number is in the millions.

What does a world affected by IoT mean to you?
Honestly, I worry about IoT and its affect on the labor market. Some say that new industries spawn more jobs, but, the more interconnected we are (with incredibly accurate data), the more people get cut out of the loop- that's just a fact. I am raising my children to look for jobs that are technology proof. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll push my eventual grandkids to consider going Amish. (Ah, yes, a fine new leather belt and straw broom for your Grandpa...thank you kids!)

Can you smell the color 9?
What is your point, exactly?

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Philo Farnsworth, George Washington,  Pope Gregory the First, Martin Luther, Paul the Apostle, Sir Francis Bacon, Jon Adams,  and George Patton.

What is the best aspect about your job?
Wait this is work? I love the huge variety in my day to day. Art in the morning, Code in the Evening, Writing in the Afternoon. Drawing in the Morning as Big Paper Strategy.

What type of cats do you herd?
Engineering Shorthairs, Bobtail Interior Designers, Persian Executives, and Ragamuffin Entrepreneurs.

How do you best communicate with customers?
With customers I do enjoy working in Trello, and occasionally Slack. All too often, however, I just revert to PHT&W - plain honest truth infused with Wit.

Married, kids?
Since ’98, +1 son 2005, and +1 daughter 2006!

What job title SHOULD you have?
Strategic Graphic Designer.. Bestowed upon me by a client in the social justice world. It opens doors because it is interesting.

What is a company lunch like at Hallsten Innovations?
The last memorable lunch I shared with Jon Hallsten was at our first shared employer pre 9/11. I believe we often watched a young man from China eat miniature squid in his rice. Good times. That was new for us when we were newbies.

Where'd you go to school? Why'd you major in what you did?
I graduated from Grove City College -Electrical Engineering and Math, but, I should have studied art, design and business. In the end, the school of life experience filled in the gaps, as did Lynda.com (affiliate Link removed… again…)

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
I must borrow from the answer of Mister Martinez also listed here- but taking a spin on the real estate mantra as well- Chicago - Chicago - Chicago.

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
It was neat to be part of the SDK project for the Turning Technologies Response Cards. The output was well received and enabled me to help become part of and grow the business development unit of that company.

Can you smell the color 9?
It smells a little better than the number blue

What keeps you grounded?
Faith, music, and my wife

What is your most prized possession?
My grandpas 1950s Gibson archtop guitar

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
Apostle Paul and the founders of our nation

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
IDEAs coding tools

Married, kids?
20 years, 3 kids

What job title SHOULD you have?
Swiss Army Knife

Where'd you go to school? Why'd you major in what you did?
Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Chemistry

What icons show up on your LinkedIn Profile that speak to your professional interests?
Mobile, Cloud Computing, UI/UX development

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
honest, sharp, dilligent

What can you share about your most impactful and or successful professional project - design or otherwise?
A colleague and I re-designed a complete hardware audience response system... from the embedded software (RF/USB) to the low/mid level software (library) that would run on multiple OSes and act as an abstraction layer to our higher level software products at the time. It supported Over The Air updating of old to new and everything in between.

I would call it impactful from the fact that I learned a lot during the whole design/development process but not necessarily successful as the project was shelved. I’m sure I’m the engineer that has worked on something that never made it to production… right?

What would your 6th grade teacher be surprised about your current self?
I don’t think my 6th grade teacher would be much surprised, though I had several being that it was a “middle” school with periods and multiple teachers… in Texas. So maybe they’d be surprised that I moved from the Lone Star to the Buckeye state.

Can you smell the color 9? 
I don’t have a great sense of smell… so maybe color 12 and above?

What keeps you grounded?
God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

What is your most prized possession?
Prized is a strong word but I would say my iPhone… The amount of things you can do with a computer in your pocket is pretty amazing.

What historical figures do you find the most fascinating?
There are many for different reasons… but Teddy Roosevelt comes to mind. He was quite the extreme person. Also, “The Man in the Arena” speech is one of my favorites.

What is the best aspect about your job?
Right now… working at home in the same room as my wife (she’s looking over my shoulder).

But I also enjoy programming/problem solving and creating things using different technologies.

What is your favorite tool set that you use professionally?
I don’t think I have a favorite. I’ve used so many and they all have their highlights and quirks/limitations. Lately I’ve used Xcode, VS Code, and IntelliJ.

What is on your wishlist for new tool that you want Hallsten Innovations to invest in?
Teleportation device.

How do you best communicate with customers?
Depends on the customer. Different personalities and people require different forms of communication.

What is the best dish your mother cooks for you when you visit?
Entomatadas (Mexican dish). My grandma also made it before her. So good. Mexican food is the best (I’m not even being biased). Italian is a close second thanks to pizza.

Married, kids?
Married, no kids. Maybe one day.

What job title SHOULD you have?
Jack of All Trades, Master of None. I enjoy knowing a little about everything, even outside of engineering.

What type of cats do you herd?
A striped one and a black one. They are our “kids” for now. They only need herded every once in a while, mostly around 4 AM when we’re trying to sleep.

Where'd you go to school?  Why'd you major in what you did?
Youngstown State University. Majored in Electrical Engineering but have focused mostly on the software end of things. I was looking for a Computer Engineering major and this was the closest to it at YSU.

What icons show up on your LinkedIn Profile that speak to your professional interests?
LinkedIn has icons? I should pay more attention.

What are three adjectives that characterize Jon Hallsten?
Driven, Organized, and Focused.