About Us
Company Background
WISER Systems is a leading provider of RFID, real-time asset location and tracking solutions (RTLS) for any environment, especially in heavy metal manufacturing environments where competitive technologies perform poorly or not at all . The company developed its cutting-edge Redundant Radio Localization and Tracking (RRLT) technology to deliver exceptional precision, scalability, and reliability for indoor-outdoor positioning. WISER’s global headquarters is located in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Awards and Grants:
Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant Phase II from the United States Army (2022)
Phase I and II SBIR grants from the United States Department of Agriculture
SBIR grant from North Carolina State University’s prestigious Daugherty Endowment for Entrepreneurship
NC Tech Award (2021) for Use of Technology, Digital Transformation
Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic’s Palmetto Tech Bridge Challenge prize for positioning, navigation, and timing solutions (2021)
U.S. Air Force (AFWERX) SBIR grant for next generation asset tracking (2020)
Top 10 finalist honors in NASA’s global iTech competition (2019)
Phase I, II, and III awards in the U.S. Army’s inaugural Expeditionary Technology Search (2018)
1st place in the Industrial Internet of Things category at IoT World 2017
WISER Systems serves a diverse range of customers with autonomous locating needs in challenging or complex environments across various industries such as aviation and aerospace, automotive and heavy equipment manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, government, and U.S. Military. Whether you need to track assets in a cellular or linear manufacturing setting, WISER's asset tracking solutions are tailored to meet your specific needs.
Leadership
Elaine C. Rideout, Ph.D., is founder and CEO of WISER Systems, Inc. Dr. Rideout is a career entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience conceiving innovative ideas and moving them from abstraction to execution. She has founded and supported dozens of startups, raising more than $100 million to capitalize her business and nonprofit ventures, and employing skills that range from startup planning to product sales to executive management. A former economist, she served as founding executive of the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees and the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. She holds an MPP from University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and a Ph.D. in Psychology-Entrepreneurship from NC State University, where she is a Kauffman Fellow, a Kauffman Emerging Scholar, and an Adjunct Professor. She has authored 3 books, over 20 journal articles, and a comparable number of technical reports and white papers on topics in technology, entrepreneurship and university innovation.
Seth E. Hollar, Ph.D., is founding CTO of WISER Systems, Inc. A life-long innovator, Dr. Hollar developed one of the world’s smallest autonomous robots, co-invented the hardware platform for one of first distributed sensor network platforms (TinyOS), and has developed a variety of handheld mobile hardware solutions. Additionally, he has worked on attitude control systems for unmanned space exploration missions at Lockheed Martin, including the Mars Orbiter and Stardust platforms and was a Toshiba Fellow at their Research and Development Center in Kawasaki, Japan. He graduated from MIT with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2003, specializing in micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS). Dr. Hollar has also served as Assistant Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at NC State University and coordinates the University’s autonomous vehicle program (ECO-PRT) which is guided by WISER Systems’ RRLT technology.
Jeffrey G. Shelden, P.E., serves as President of WISER Systems, Inc. He’s a Vice President with Moffatt & Nichol, a global infrastructure advisory firm. He has worked with M&N for almost 32 years, advancing from a staff engineer to currently leading M&N’s internationally respected Coasts, Water and the Environment Practice. He is also engaged in corporate strategy and client outreach for the company. Mr. Shelden has been instrumental in helping to grow M&N from a three-office operation with less than 70 employees to its current position as an ENR top-100 design firm with over $100M in net revenues. Today the company has 800 employees in 34 offices in seven countries. Over the course of his career at Moffatt & Nichol, Mr. Shelden has led a number of major award-winning transportation, energy, and environmental design and development projects around the world, including the “Changing Course Lower Mississippi River Delta Design Competition,” the “21st Century Waterfront” urban development project in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and NC State University.
Margaret A. Hostetler, MBA, serves as Vice President of Governmental Affairs for WISER Systems, Inc. She is a retired federal government executive and 30-year veteran of Capitol Hill. During her tenure on the Hill she served on both House and Senate committees, including the House Committee on Ways & Means, the House Budget Committee, and as Fiscal Counsel to Senator Bill Roth during his Chairmanship of the Senate Government Affairs Committee and his time as Senior Senator on the Senate Finance Committee. Most recently, she worked for Chairmen Paul Ryan and Kevin Brady at the Ways and Means Committee, crafting several bills that became law. In 2007, President George Bush appointed her as Deputy Commissioner for Legislation and Regulatory Affairs to the Social Security Administration. Working with the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services, she helped enact legislation to aid in the fight against terrorism, improve immigration enforcement and create electronic health records. She received her MBA from The Wharton School of Business.
Mark Dirks is the Chief Revenue Officer for WISER Systems. Prior to joining WISER’s executive leadership, Dirks held leadership roles in global product management, marketing, sales, business development, and lean project management. His most recent experience included managing product launch and positioning strategies, partner training, channel marketing programs, and product roadmap execution as the Sr. Director of Products and Marketing at Engineered Controls International. He previously spent more than 25 years managing global business development programs in many different business units for Fortune 100 DuPont. While at DuPont, Dirks utilized his Six Sigma Black Belt methodology in lean project management and directed growth strategies in aerospace, automotive, and other industrial markets shared by many of WISER’s leading customers.
Dirk’s received his Bachelor of Science in material science from the Iowa State University.
Cris Masselle, MBA , serves as the Chief Marketing Officer at WISER Systems, Inc., bringing leadership expertise in the realm of marketing. She has held roles across various sectors, including IoT technologies, chemicals, medical devices, and biologics. At WISER, Cris is instrumental in crafting and executing holistic marketing strategies that align with overarching business goals.
Cris leads digital marketing initiatives encompassing SEO, SEM, social media, email marketing, and other online platforms, consistently staying ahead of industry trends to ensure the adoption of cutting-edge digital strategies with robust data analytics.
With more than 25 years of corporate and global marketing experience, Cris has conceptualized and directed comprehensive strategic marketing campaigns, crafting impactful marketing collateral and overseeing the cultivation of a strong brand identity, guaranteeing coherence across all touchpoints.
Cris's diverse industry background empowers her to communicate persuasively with a broad spectrum of target audiences. She holds an MBA in marketing and a BA in literature and rhetoric from Binghamton University in New York.