Members of the management team at Alara are dedicated to developing, manufacturing, selling and servicing quality products for its customers.  We believe in putting the "Customer First" in our priorities.  

James M. Walker
President and CEO

James Walker joined the company in 1995 as Chairman of the Board. Prior to assuming the position as President and CEO in 2004, Mr. Walker was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of AlphaSmart, Inc. Prior to joining AlphaSmart, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. Mr. Walker was formerly employed by Global Village Communication as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1993 to 1996. Previous to that, Mr. Walker served as Chief Operating Officer for Fujitsu Computer Products from 1990 to 1993 and as Vice President of Finance for its parent company, Fujitsu America, from 1987 to 1990.

Mr. Walker received a BA degree in Mathematics from San Jose State University and an MBA degree from Santa Clara University.

Christopher Mitchell
Chief Scientific Officer
Joined in 1998

Dr. Mitchell's responsibilities include the design and development of new products, investigation and development of technologies leading to new products, scientific support of clinical studies, and the establishment of Alara intellectual property. Dr. Mitchell’s expertise is in the design, development, and characterization of x-ray based imaging systems. He led the development of MetriScan, and is the inventor or co-inventor on a number of patents underlying Alara technologies. Prior to joining Alara, Dr. Mitchell was with Advanced Research and Applications Corporation (ARACOR), where as Manager of the Imaging Technology Group he was responsible for numerous research and development projects in the field of medical and industrial x-ray imaging.

Dr. Mitchell received his bachelor's in applied mathematics from Weber State College; a master's in bioengineering and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Utah.

Bjarne B. Christensen

Vice President, Engineering
Joined in 2005

Mr. Christensen is responsible for Design and Development of new products for Alara from concept to final product. Mr. Christensen brings more than 25 years of management and technical leadership to Alara.

Prior to joining Alara, Mr. Christensen was Director of Engineering for Suni Imaging Microsystems, where he was in charge of the Design and Development of CCD and CMOS based products for Dental Radiography. Prior to that, he held various technical and management positions with Advanced Logical Design and Compression Labs.

Mr. Christensen received a M.S.E.E. degree from Santa Clara University.

David Butler

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Joined in 2005

Mr. Butler is responsible for all financial, operating and administrative activities including manufacturing, human resources and legal affairs. He has over 28 years of experience at technology companies such as Fujitsu, Plextor and Diamond Multimedia. Most recently he was VP of Finance at Rivio until it was sold to a for-profit subsidiary of the AICPA, and then Chief Financial Officer of Integrated Insurance Technologies Corporation.
Mr. Butler received his bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Kuldip K. Ahluwalia
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Joined in 2005

Mr. Ahluwalia joined Alara to head the Sales and Marketing Group. Prior to joining the company Kuldip K. Ahluwalia headed LaunchCommand a Strategic Marketing and Implementation firm where he helped companies re-engineer their sales and marketing groups.

Mr. Ahluwalia’s corporate background covers several years within the medical industry with companies like GE Medical, Thompson (CGR), Toshiba Medical, and Lumisys where he developed and implemented sales and marketing initiatives that helped these companies become leaders in their markets.

Mr. Ahluwalia holds a M.S. in Medical Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BSc. (Hons) in Medical Physics from the University of Salford, UK.