Executive Bios
Michael Baron
President and CEO
Michael Baron is Coastal's President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to becoming President and CEO he was also the company’s Chief Financial Officer and he has been with Coastal Environmental Systems since 2006. Michael has over 25 years of experience in operations and financial management in high-quality manufacturing environments.
Prior to his arrival at Coastal, Michael has held the titles of President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer in both high-growth and improvement-driven companies. His background includes lean manufacturing, quality assurance and process improvement leadership. Earlier experience includes working 10 years for Unilever in various operational and financial management roles in both the U.S. and Europe.
Michael earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut and obtained his Master of Business Administration in Management from Sacred Heart University.
Patrick Kelly
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Pat Kelly plays two roles at Coastal Environmental Systems: Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and overseeing all of Coastal's international sales territories. Prior to his arrival at Coastal Environmental Systems, Pat was a high school principal for Stanford High School in Redmond.
In 1985, Don Munro brought Pat onto Coastal's sales team to further develop Coastal's market presence. Since his arrival, Pat Kelly helped Coastal Environmental Systems grow to become one of the industry's leading manufacturers of professional meteorological weather stations. Pat has also collaborated in the design and development of products like the ZENO® 3200 and the WEATHERPAK™.
Pat earned his Bachelors of Science in Biology from Seattle University.
Gary Stringer
Vice President, Programs
Gary Stringer is Coastal’s Vice President of Programs and has been with the company since 1995, when he was brought on as Senior Meteorologist and Oceanographer. Gary came from a background of meteorological and project management experience, having completed 20 years in service as a U.S. Navy Commander.
As Vice President of Programs at Coastal, Gary has coordinated with many of Coastal’s biggest clients to collect meteorological/oceanographic data from numerous Remote Processing Units. The data is then forwarded to a central site for display and distribution to users. Moving forward, Gary will continue to focus on understanding the intentions and expectations of our clients, to improve our customer relationships, and to ensure all functional and technical requirements of a contract are fulfilled.
Gary obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Oceanography from the University of Washington and later completed his Master of Science degree in Meteorology and Oceanography at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Timothy Parker
Vice President, New Product Development
Tim Parker leads Coastal's engineers in new product development and has been with Coastal since 1982. One of the first projects that Tim took on was the electronics for Coastal's first product – a complex Meteorological/ Oceanographic data buoy. Over the years he has acted as ZENO® Product Manager and Vice President of Engineering.
As ZENO® Product Manager, Tim led engineers in the development of the ZENO® 3200 and has been technical and project lead for many other contracts, large and small, that Coastal has acquired over the years. Most recently he has been the lead developer of Coastal's Aviation Weather Algorithms.
Tim obtained his Bachelors of Science degree in Physics from the University of Oregon and has also completed graduate coursework in economics.
Katherine Jones
Director, Market Development
Katherine Jones is Coastal's Market Development Director and was hired in 2011 into this business development role. In this critical position Kathy's responsibilities are growth-focused and include product/market alignment, Coastal's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process, and leading key business partnerships. Kathy brings over 25 years of Fortune 100 experience in aerospace engineering, program management, and business development to Coastal's leadership team.
Prior to joining Coastal, Kathy held the title of Senior Program Manager at Honeywell where she led customer relationships and programs with international and domestic OEMs and integrators in addition to engineering product development teams and major proposal/ business development activities. Kathy also held a variety of engineering/ systems development and team leadership positions on high technology/aircraft programs while employed with the Boeing Company.
Kathy earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and her Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. Kathy also obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington (Foster School of Business, EMBA). Kathy holds six Sigma and Program Management Institute certifications.
Paul Garner
Service Department Manager
Paul Garner has been Coastal's Service Department Manager since he joined the company in 2005. As manager, he supervises the repair and maintenance of customer equipment and provides basic equipment training, as well as both remote and on-site customer support.
Paul came to Coastal with a background in commercial and consumer electronics maintenance and repair, with 20 years of experience as Senior Electronics Technician at Stratton Electronics in Missoula, Montana. Prior to Stratton, he worked as assistant to the Station Engineer at KGRZ/KDXT in Missoula. Paul began his career by serving 6 years as an Electronics Technician in the U.S. Navy, attaining the rate of Petty Officer 1st Class.
Paul continues to learn and expand his knowledge and understanding of Coastal's product lines in order to better serve our customers.
