Our Team
Management Team
Chris McKinzie - Chief Executive Officer
Chris McKinzie leads the company's strategy. He is recognized as a thought leader in open innovation and software commercialization and speaks about these topics at various events around the country. He brings more than 12 years of technology management and business development experience to Fluid Innovation. Prior to co-founding Fluid, he created and managed a team to license internally developed software for SBC Communications (now AT&T), where he served as director for SBC Knowledge Ventures. He also served as director of corporate strategy for SBC. Previously, he headed business development and VAR relationships at two software start-up companies and also spent two years with the AM Fund, a venture capital firm focused on the commercialization of university research. Chris began his career with Kinetics Technology International, a large petrochemical engineering and construction firm, where he held various positions in finance, procurement and project management.
Chris holds a degree in finance from California State University - Fullerton and an MBA from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.
He is an inventor ( US Patent # 6,956,942 ). Outside of Fluid, Chris enjoys family time with his lovely wife Robin, son Carson and daughter Kate. He also tries to find time for fitness of all kinds including golf, tennis, snow skiing, trail runs and working out at the gym.
Tom Hochstatter - President, Member, Board of Directors
Tom Hochstatter is responsible for global operations at Fluid including product development, sales and financing. Tom has been leading the partnership with American Express in launching the Intellectual Property Zone. Tom has more than 25 years of sales, marketing and business development experience split between Fortune 500 companies such as Boeing, IBM/Tivoli, Microsoft, Yahoo! and numerous start-ups. He joined Fluid in 2007 after serving six years as a Director of Business Development for Yahoo!'s Search Marketing Division focused on Technology Partnerships. He is on the Board of Directors for the ROHI Foundation - a faith-based organization dedicated to serving the underprivileged along the Texas/Mexico border. He also founded Watch Your Head Productions - along with his wife and two older sons - a full service film and video production company in Austin. He is named as co-inventor on numerous pending patents.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing from Central Washington University. He has earned numerous certifications in management and negotiations from The Wharton School of Business.
Tom lives in Austin with his wife and his teenage son. He also has two boys in college, both studying Film. He enjoys coaching his son's AAU Basketball team and playing tennis and golf with an occasional ski trip squeezed in for good measure.
John Leonard - Director of Programs
John Leonard provides leadership within product management, client outreach and project management. He brings extensive experience designing and implementing enterprise class solutions to Fluid Innovation. Prior to Fluid, John was an account manager with GeoAnalytics and implemented performance and predictive analytic applications within government organizations. His past also includes business analyst, project and program management for the City of Kansas City, Missouri.
John's career started with a degree in Geography with an emphasis in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He also holds a Pragmatic Marketing Certification.
When he's not working, you can find John tinkering on his Jeep or enjoying the Austin music scene. As a past DJ, he is a lover of all things music.
Board of Directors
Chris McKinzie – CEO, co-Founder, Fluid Innovation
Tom Hochstatter - President, Fluid Innovation
Ron Baker, CEO, Patton Surgical Instruments
Ron has over 20 years of professional experience in strategy, finance and corporate development, most recently at the helm of Evolutionary Technologies, Inc. (ETI) in Austin where he led the company for three years as CEO culminating in the successful sale of the company in May 2008. Prior to ETI, Ron served as a Managing Director of Bank Street Group, a full service investment banking firm based in New York and EVP/CFO of Liveworld Inc., a publicly traded technology company based in Los Gatos, CA. Ron also has extensive experience in the medical technology industry including over five years in medical device product management at Baxter Healthcare.
He holds an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Mississippi and undergraduate degrees in economics and engineering technology from Louisiana Tech University.
