Academic Training, Industrial Experience, and Technical Objectivity

Brian and Heather Cline combine 4 technical degrees with 40 years of broad-ranging industrial experience in R&D, process & product development, manufacturing, application engineering, product management, technical sales, and marketing.
 
In the year 2000, Brian and Heather Cline envisioned a business where they could utilize past academic and industrial experience, stay on the learning curve, foster CVD diamond technology, and objectively help customers to embrace advanced materials technology. This vision became Cline Innovations, and has evolved into a company that combines an offering of highly specialized, pre-owned equipment with services targeted at a core customer base in the CVD diamond community.
 
Heather Cline, President: Heather's major contribution to Cline Innovations is in the areas of daily business operations, project management, accounting, and business planning. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Ceramic Science and Engineering with the hope of one day owning her own company. In 1991, she began working in the industrial abrasives industry at Norton Company (Saint Gobain), gaining a range of experience in industrial research as well as manufacturing processes and practices. During her eight year tenure with Saint Gobain, Heather worked in R&D, manufacturing, sales & marketing, and ultimately as a product manager with responsibility for a wide range of industrial products under several brands. During the same timeframe, she received an M.S. degree in Manufacturing Management from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, further strengthening her manufacturing and business management skills. Heather co-founded Cline Innovations with Brian Cline on January 1st, 2001.
 
Brian Cline, Director of Technology & Applications: Brian brings to Cline Innovations a depth of knowledge in CVD diamond materials, applications, and process equipment. He attained his B.S. in Ceramic Science and Engineering (1990) and M.S. in Ceramic Science (1992) from Penn State University. Through his B.S. and M.S Thesis research, Brian was fortunate to be mentored by academic diamond researchers including A. Badzian, W. Drawl, R. Messier, K. Spear, and M. Frenklach at a time when the initial wave of interest in CVD diamond was reaching a peak. After leaving Penn State in 1993, Brian gained valuable industrial experience at Norton Diamond Film including roles as a Research Engineer, Microwave Plasma Lab Group Leader, and Product/Applications Engineer. Over a period of 7 years, he worked on process, product and application development of diamond thin films, freestanding (bulk) diamond, thin film and PCD-like tools, and specialty wear components. He also worked extensively on high power and large area 2.45 GHz and 915 MHz microwave process, industrial plasma equipment development, as well as adhesion technology for WC-Co/diamond interfaces. Brian was the Principal Investigator for a 2-year $4M NIST-funded Norton/Kennametal R&D joint-venture program (ATP) focused on commercialization of diamond-coated tungsten-carbide rotary tools and mechanical seals.