Company Organization and Staff Qualifications

The founder and CEO of Air Chek, Inc. (est. 1985) is B. V. Alvarez. Although semi-retired, he still oversees many aspects of the business. He has over 21 years experience in passive radon test kit design and engineering; 50 years experience in manufacturing, automated equipment design, and engineering; over 20 years experience in automated radon analysis laboratory design, engineering, and operation. Mr. Alvarez has been issued a number of patents in addition to the two that cover the Air Chek radon test kits.

The Laboratory Director and Chief Scientific Consultant is J. L. Alvarez, PhD. (since 1985). Dr. Alvarez is a Certified Health Physicist with a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering and a PhD. in Physics. He has researched and measured radon and radon progeny for environmental and dosimetry purposes for over 40 years, during which he has directed a microchemistry laboratory and developed instrumentation for specialized measurements as required for laboratory projects. Dr. Alvarez has also managed large-scale measurement projects, developing sampling and analysis protocols for numerous environmental cleanup projects, as well as demonstration projects for private industry, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Air Force, and the Department of Energy. These projects have included uranium mills and mines, the Hanford Nuclear Site, Mather and Norton Air Bases, the Chariot Site in Alaska, phosphorous and phosphate plants in four different states, and measurement projects at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Alvarez was also involved in the monitoring of radiation release at Three Mile Island while establishing beta measurement protocols for the containment structure. Additionally, Dr. Alvarez has served as an independent auditor and reviewer of radiological and chemical measurements at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratory. He continues to serve on committees for the American National Standards Institute for measurement of airborne materials including radon, and for the National Academy of Science for radon and radon progeny dosimetry. Further, Dr. Alvarez has assisted in setting up and teaching courses in radon measurement. He has developed several courses for airborne radiation and radon measurement for the Department of Energy, the Health Physics Society, and private institutions. He serves on the Department of Energy Airborne Measurements working group (which he founded) and participates at least annually in working group meetings. These meetings discuss and present the latest techniques for airborne radiation and radon measurements. Dr. Alvarez has published extensively on measurement, instrumentation, air sampling, risk analysis, and interpretation of measurements at the limits of detection.

Shawn G. Price (since 1998) is our Program Manager. His responsibilities include organizing and supervising all training programs, setting up new professional inspector accounts, developing national sales programs, and daily staff supervision. Mr. Price also maintains certification listings with all regulatory organizations and obtaining certifications for new products and/or services. Mr. Price joined our team in October 1998 after managing daily activities at the US EPA's RPP (Radon Proficiency Program) for 10 years. He continues to support radon certification as a member of the Policy Advisory Board and Education Advisory Board under the National Environmental Health Association's - National Radon Proficiency Program (NEHA-NRPP). Additionally, he has worked with the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST) to develop industry standards under the Consortium of National Radon Standards, which has been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop American National Standards. Mr. Price has a B.S. in Geology.

Quality assurance activities, laboratory operation, and computer system maintenance are supervised by M. G. DeVaynes (since 1987), a Computer Hardware Engineer and Master Computer Program Engineer. Mr. DeVaynes has direct responsibility for all maintenance, calibrations, and daily operation of Air Chek's fully automated laboratory system. He has 25 years experience in computer program design and 23 years experience in computer circuitry and automated controls design. Additionally, Mr. DeVaynes has over 20 years experience at Air Chek in the following specialties: radon measurement and measurement system calibration; specialized radon measurement instrument design and engineering; automated computer-controlled laboratory data acquisition design and engineering; automated production line controls design and programming; data acquisition; computer network hardware design and engineering; computer network software design, engineering, and programming; automated communication systems design, engineering, and programming; data input software design and programming; database software design and programming; remote data gathering equipment design, programming, and calibration.

In conjunction with Mr. Shawn Price, Mr. DeVaynes operates under the direct supervision of, or as a team member of, the group headed by Mr. B.V. Alvarez and Dr. J.L. Alvarez, Ph.D. In reference to radon measurements, Mr. DeVaynes has direct responsibility for all maintenance, calibrations, and daily operation of the fully automated laboratory system.

Our information services department, headed by Eric Kuzniar (since 1999), is in charge of upgrading and maintaining our Linux-based servers, phone system, B2B applications, inter-office software, corporate database and our various web properties.

Overseeing customer service and orders is Melissa Reinke (since 2004) oversees customer service and orders. Ms. Reinke has a Bachelor's degree in Operations Management.

Our Production Manager, Judy M. Alvarez (since 1991), oversees test kit manufacturing and production.

Maggie M. Alvarez (since 2003) assists with accounting and bookkeeping tasks.

General equipment maintenance is overseen by Ted Wilson (since 2004).

Contact Info

Mail: Air Chek, Inc.
1936 Butler Bridge Rd
Fletcher, NC 28732-9365

Phone: 800-AIR-CHEK (247-2435)
(828) 684-0893

Fax: (828) 684-8498

Email: info@radon.com

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