Michael Eilts, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mike and four others founded WDT in 2000 in Norman, Oklahoma. The founders of WDT all came from meteorological research organizations in Norman and WDT continues to maintain relationships with these research organizations to extract new technologies from them. Before founding WDT in April, 2000, Mike was employed with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) for 18 years, the last 7 as Assistant Director. While at NSSL, Mike managed a Division that grew from 20 to 100 people when he left in 2000. Mike has written over 75 papers in meteorological journals and conference proceedings and is internationally recognized for his knowledge of Doppler radar and its application to precipitation estimation and hydrology, severe weather warning and aviation hazard detection and prediction.

Fellow, American Meteorological Society
Senior Executive Fellows Program Graduate, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Master of Business Administration, Human Resource Management, Finance, University of Oklahoma
Master of Science, Meteorology, University of Oklahoma
Bachelor of Science, Meteorology, University of Oklahoma

Kirk Whitener, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Kirk is responsible for WDT's financial reporting; banking relationships, administrative matters, participates in strategic planning and is secretary on WDT's Board of Directors. Kirk was one of WDT's founding officers in 2000. Kirk has worked for 25 years in a variety of industries including public accounting where he began his career in 1982 with the then Big 8 accounting firm of KPMG LLP (formerly Peat Marwick Mitchell) where he worked for 7 years leaving the firm in 1989 as an audit manager. During the late 1980's and 1990's, Kirk served as controller, director of finance and CFO for two Oklahoma manufacturing companies. In a two-year hiatus from WDT from July 2005 to June 2007, Kirk worked for the public accounting firm of BKD LLP as a senior audit manager. During that time, Kirk stayed close to WDT's senior management team offering advice and support on key strategic issues while also continuing to monitor WDT's financial reporting. Kirk became a Certified Public Accountant in 1983 and a Certified Management Accountant in 1990 after earning a Bachelor's Degree in Accountancy from the University of Oklahoma.

Certified Public Accountant
Certified Management Accountant
Bachelor of Science, Accounting, University of Oklahoma

JT Johnson, Chief Technology Officer.

In this role, JT is the development leader for all aspects of WDT's global value-added weather systems and services. Before co-founding WDT, JT was an algorithm developer and project manager at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) for thirteen years, including a 20-month stint as the Science and Operations Officer in the National Weather Service Olympic Weather Support Office for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He is a graduate of the Council for Excellence in Government Fellows Progam.

Master of Science, Meteorology, University of Oklahoma
Bachelor of Science, Meteorology, University of Oklahoma