Company Profile
Leadership
The Leadership Team at Freedom Electronics ensures that our products and services are backed by decades of industry-specific experience.
At the highest levels of our company, we know the fuel dispenser repair business inside and out. We understand your needs and are committed to helping you maximize profits.
John Slocum
Co-Founder
John holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering Technology and an MS degree in Technology Management both from Southern Polytechnic State University. He is a Marine Corps Veteran. His hard work and engineering skills are the basis for much of the early success of Freedom Electronics.
Rod Smith
President and Co-Founder
Rod earned his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Southern Polytechnic State University, and an MBA in Marketing from Kennesaw State University. While attending school, he bolstered his electronics know-how by working as a bench technician to help pay his tuition. Not long after graduation, Rod combined his business acumen with his affinity for electronics to start Freedom Electronics with business partners John Slocum, Tony Shealy, and Jarrett Black. Understanding early on that putting the customer first is a winning approach, Rod and team grew Freedom Electronics to its current 21,000 square foot facility in a span of only three years.
Mike Vegeais
Vice President of Sales
Mike is a resourceful, dynamic sales professional with more than 30 years experience in managing high performing sales teams to deliver revenue growth. He has proven strengths in distributor sales management, distributor channel management, business development, sales force management, and territory and account management, both domestically and internationally. Mike has held sales leadership positions with Gilbarco and PSI, a large OEM distributor.
Ryan Black
Vice President of Product Management
Ryan is a graduate of Mercer University with an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems. Since joining Freedom Electronics in 2004, Ryan has impacted many facets of the business, including IT support and sales. After 11 years with the company, Ryan switched focus to his current role leading product management. In this capacity, Ryan works closely with all departments within the organization to ensure Freedom Electronics’ product offering meets our customer needs.
Tim Gribble
Chief Financial Officer
Tim, a graduate of Gardner-Webb University, brings more than a decade of high-level accounting experience to the Freedom Electronics team. Offering a skillset that encompasses financial analysis, investments, as well as process improvement, Tim is vital to Freedom’s ability to ensure that every transaction with our company is seamless and trouble free. He also works tirelessly to ensure that Freedom Electronics maintains the financial solvency to grow and evolve with your needs.
Arjun Kumar Joginipelly
Vice President of Engineering
Arjun earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of New Orleans. Coming from a research and academic background, he brings an extremely high level of knowledge and expertise to our engineering team. As the Vice President of Engineering, he is responsible for new product development and oversees quality control process. His areas of interest include IOT, Embedded System Design, FPGAs and Image Processing.
Bob Shepard
Vice President of Marketing and Operations
Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Bio-Mechanical Engineering from Duke University, and an MBA from University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He offers decades of experience in the fuel dispenser industry, including 28 years at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, and another two at BETA Fueling Systems. Bob joined the Freedom Electronics Team in 2017, where he leverages expertise in international sales, product marketing, and engineering to better understand customer needs, ensuring our processes result in a seamless customer experience.
Sustainability
