team

John Mertel - WA7IR
President / Founder

Following his sale of Fluidmotion Inc., a company founded by John in 1994, John then co-founded and helped build SteppIR into what it is today! As COO, John led our sales, operations, engineering, and manufacturing personnel for the first phase of our growth from 2001 – 2013.  After spending four years as President of intentional3D, he returned to acquire SteppIR from Mike Mertel, with a vision towards taking the company to the next level of development.  John is our fearless leader and is leading the charge to build the framework to lead SteppIR into the next decade and beyond.  After 20+ years of experience as an entrepreneur, John still gets excited when it comes to building companies - and helping to create outstanding teams!

Jim Thomas - K7IRF
Vice President / Founder

Jim is our Vice President and Product Engineer, helping lead the development of our next generation of products and services.  Additionally, Jim is a co-founder of SteppIR Antennas along with John Mertel and Mike Mertel.  Prior to SteppIR, Jim worked at Microscan Systems, where he was the company's Chief Engineer.  At SteppIR, Jim’s primary function is to turn the product ideas into reality. Jim also has an uncanny ability to successfully troubleshoot just about anything, a valuable tool when working in the highly unpredictable field of antenna design.  When Jim is not working at SteppIR, he likes to play with his sand-rail vehicle and is sporadically working on restoring his 1967 Mustang, which he has had since high school!