Elwood G. "Woody" Norris (born 1938) is an American inventor and serial entrepreneur. He is founder of multiple public corporations he established to promote, fund and commercialize his inventions. Norris has held officer and director positions in all of the public companies he founded but eventually resigned from most. He currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Parametric Sound Corporation, a spin-off from LRAD Corporation.
Video Woody Norris
Career
Forgoing college, Norris joined the United States Air Force in 1956 and was trained as a nuclear weapons specialist, taking courses at the University of New Mexico. In 1959, he became the director of the Engineering Experiment Station for the University of Washington.
Norris was the winner of the 2005 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his invention of a "hypersonic sound" system which allows sound to be focused with high precision. Norris said he plans to use the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize money to establish a charitable foundation to help struggling independent inventors.
Maps Woody Norris
Companies founded
Public
- 1980: LRAD Corporation of San Diego, CA. The company was named American Technology Corporation until just after Norris's departure in March 2010 following the spin-off of part of the business into a new public company named Parametric Sound Corporation.
- 1988: e.Digital Corporation of San Diego, CA. The company was originally named Norris Communications Corporation, which later changed to Norris Communications, Inc. and in January 1999 was changed to e.Digital.
- 1992: Patriot Scientific Corporation of Carlsbad, CA
- 2000: AirScooter Corporation of Henderson, NV
- 2010: Parametric Sound Corporation of Henderson, NV. Parametric Sound Corporation was spun off from LRAD Corporation in September 2010.
Other
- 1979: Norris Industries, Inc., a Utah Corporation (entity # 727009-0142)
- 1983: Jabra Corporation, originally named Norcom Electronics Corporation, a Utah corporation (entity # 839976-0142). It was owned for a time by American Technology Corporation, which sold it to Norris Communications (now e.Digital Corporation), which sold it off to former Norris Communications employees.
- 1988: Norcom Communications Corporation, a Utah corporation (entity # 994358-0142)
- 1999: Syzygy Licensing, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company co-owned by Parametric Sound CFO James A. Barnes. It is used for licensing Norris's patents including to Parametric Sound.
- 2000: Aerotwin Motors Corporation, a Nevada corporation.
- 2001: Mt. Savage Productions, a Nevada corporation motion picture production company.
- 2005: Elwood Norris Inventions, LLC, a Nevada corporation.
- 2005: The Elwood and Stephanie Norris Foundation, a Nevada corporation.
Controversy
Norris has come under substantial criticism in the past--while he has been able to greatly enrich himself, as of February 2006, none of the several publicly traded companies he had founded had come anywhere close to profitability.
Key associates
- Robert Putnam - Became employed by Norris in 1984 after graduating from Brigham Young University in 1983. He has held various influential director or officer positions in 3 of Norris' public companies--American Technology Corporation (now LRAD Corporation), Norris Communications (now e.Digital Corporation) and Patriot Scientific Corporation. Putnam now serves as head of media & investor relations for LRAD Corporation.
- Helmult Falk (Sr.) - The sole owner of privately held Nanotronics Corporation, which he sold to Patriot Scientific Corporation. He became president and CEO of Patriot and served as such until his untimely death from cancer. Patent rights to a microprocessor technology owned by Nanotronics were later recognized as the primary asset of Patriot Scientific. Licensing of these patent rights has become the sole income for Patriot Scientific.
- Alfred H. "Fred" Falk - Began his career in 1978 working for one of Helmut Falk's earlier start-ups, DH Technology, and stayed until its sale in 1988. From 1988 - 1995 he worked at Personal Computer Products, Inc. and Resources Internationale. He joined e.Digital (Norris Communications) in 1995 as VP of corporate development. He was appointed president and director of Norris/e.Digital in January 1997 and CEO in July 1998. On July 1, 2004 Fred Falk stepped down as e.Digital's president and CEO to serve again as VP of corporate development. He was reappointed president and CEO in January 2009. Falk took courses at two California community colleges, Palomar College in San Marcos and Foothill College in Los Altos, but did not achieve a college degree.
- James "Jim" Barnes - CFO of Parametric Sound Corporation, co-owner of Syzygy Licensing, LLC, co-founder of Airscooter Corporation and associate of Woody Norris on other public and private ventures according to public records. Barnes was also a founding investor in both e.Digital Corporation and American Technology Corporation and has participated in numerous loans or equity financing deals for e.Digital.
- Jerry E. Polis - Founder, chairman, CEO and majority shareholder of ASI Technology Corporation, and associate of Woody Norris on other public and private ventures according to public records. Polis is a greater than 5% shareholder of AirScooter Corporation and formerly of e.Digital Corporation. He has participated in or been the sole source of numerous loans and equity financing deals for e.Digital.
References
External links
- Woody Norris personal website
- "Woody Norris patents". US Patent & Trademark Office.
- 2005 Video Clip of Woody Norris
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