Our Background


Advanced-Tec Materials Corporation was founded in 2004 by Francisco Torres-Aranda and his son, Francisco Torres-Aranda, Jr.  This company is dedicated to the commercialization of technologies that have been developed over the past decade by the two founders.  Mr. Torres-Aranda’s pioneering work has been featured in a Wall Street Journal front page article .  He founded an institute at Wilkes University dedicated to research into the beneficial utilization of recyclables derived from coal-fired power generation stations.
Following the untimely death of Mr. Torres-Aranda, leadership of the company was assumed by Francisco Torres-Aranda, Jr., who had been involved in the development of the technologies over a 15 year period.  George Mehalshick Sr., founder and CEO of the NewCo Electronics Corporation, and Stephen Schleicher MD, founder and director of the DermDOX Center for Dermatology, were brought on as investors and advisors.  In 2009, veteran entrepreneur and manufacturing CEO Jack St. Pierre, who founded a plastic packaging company and served as the director of the business incubator CAN BE, assumed the role of ATM’s Chief Executive Officer.  ATM was restructured as an LLC in 2009.  Two rounds of funding have been provided by the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Pennsylvania. In 2010, with the support of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Action Committee, ATM established corporate and manufacturing headquarters within a free-standing 25,000 sq. ft. plant in Hazleton, Pa.