Silvertone Electronics is the exclusive distributor within Australia and New Zealand for both Signal Hound and Kestrel products and has been since 2014 and 2015 respectively. Although the prime objective of the company is the manufacture of large Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (“drones”) for Defence, emergency services and energy, mining and agriculture sectors, the unique skill-sets within the company as a result of the need for aviation-sector conformance requirements provide the foundation for a very successful high-end test equipment distribution and support company which services numerous defence and other government customers.
Ken Taylor
Silvertone Electronics was purchased by the current owner and Managing Director, Ken Taylor, in 2013. Ken has had extensive experience within the Commonwealth of Australia (Bureau of Meteorology; CSIRO & others) and in private industry (Tuvalu Telecommunications Corp.; British Telecom; Stratos Global Corp.; Inmarsat) in general electronics, satellite communications engineering, spectrum monitoring and management, and staff/user training. In the Pacific Islands region he has held the position of head of government radio-communications and of telecommunications regulator, and has sat on a number of ITU regional bodies and NZ government advisory panels.
Ken has extensive knowledge of satellite and general radiocommunications issues, and monitoring and control systems for communications infrastructure. As well as rebuilding the telecommunications network for the island nation of Tuvalu in the ‘90’s, he designed and project managed the build-out of satellite communications systems for the UK Government to service Pitcairn Island, and a VSAT network for New Zealand Department of Foreign Affairs.
He has participated in government and regional working groups (ITU, TUANZ, PITA, etc.), provided Parliamentary and Cabinet-level briefings, is a member of the IEEE and IET engineering societies, holds an MBA and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Travis Downie
Travis Downie is an aeronautical engineer with experience with the requirements for documentation and process within the aviation industry and within the Australian Air Warfare programme.
Travis is a Structural Engineer and Project Manager with key client and sub-contractor management experience. He has been involved in a number of major engineering design and manufacturing projects including aircraft structures, aeromedical fit-outs and the ADF air warfare destroyer program. He has extensive experience in providing technical support and a common interface for contractors and major stakeholders for projects of various sizes both internally and on-site for clients. With strong commercial acumen and project management instincts, he has the ability to cut through complex compliance processes and technical issues to quickly arrive at practical solutions and targeted design decisions.
He has a diverse range of industry experience, providing him with exceptional team collaboration and communication skills at all levels within an organisation. His involvement with the aviation industry, both as a Pilot and a design engineer, has given him extensive exposure to controlled, safe and regulated working environments. His previous experience in mining, manufacture and steel fabrication makes him a well-rounded engineer and project manager with an understanding of all processes of mechanical design, analysis, procurement, construction and operational implementation.
Sam Cowan
Sam Cowan is our Avionics Engineer and has an exclusive background in Avionics. He is our enabler of Autonomous Flight for our UAV platforms and will steer the development of our future autonomous flight in house developments.
He was previously an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer – Avionics with Rex Airlines where he was involved in Saab 340 heavy maintenance, C checks, avionics installations & modifications and line maintenance, and also Piper Warrior and Piper Seminole maintenance, 100 hourly checks, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.
He completed various electronics and embedded programming projects including a mock PA system for flight attendant training, an RS422 comm’s system for remotely communicating with flight data recorders and an automatic oil bath controller for testing thermal switches. He has designed and operated various electronic systems for our UAV program, such as embedded computers, autopilots and communications systems. He has also been technical lead for a UAV project in Vanuatu aimed at mapping and disaster recovery operations.
Gerry Gerlach
Gerry Gerlach has been a business advisor for 30 years assisting clients to improve their business practices with particular focus on change management activities designed to help them grow and improve efficiencies in their business. Most of this time was spent in Sydney acting for over 400 small companies in many aspects of their business, with both domestic and international exposure. He moved to Wagga Wagga 10 years ago for a tree change and has settled there and has been busy helping local businesses.
From 2010 until 2014 he was involved in assisting a local business expand its footprint of business into the Solar Industry and other Energy Efficient Products with this culminating in the opening of Planet Power Riverina in August 2010, where he operated as General Manager until 2014.
In 2015 he consulted to Silvertone Electronics to develop a Strategic Plan for its completion of Proof of concept and in July 2016 took on the role of CEO to see that 3 year plan to fruition. He has remained with the company as it develops its international footprint and global identity.
Gerry has extensive financial, planning and business change strategic expertise as well as a broad experience dealing with the varied compliance issues of participation in Government schemes, like the EMDG, NSW S&RD Small Business High Growth Grants, AusIndustry R&D programs and many more.