Local entrepreneur Dr. Dante Battocchi is joining his wife Holly Anderson Battocchi to work full-time as the Chief Technology Officer of Elinor Specialty Coatings LLC. Dr. Battocchi leaves behind his job of 8 years as Associate Director of Center for Surface Protection Coatings and Polymeric Materials at North Dakota State University.

“After years of working on Elinor part time and on a full time job it became very difficult to perform both efficiently,” Battocchi said. “Now it is a good time to finish the development of Elinor materials and to focus my attention, and join Holly, on market introduction.”

Elinor Specialty Coatings is a Fargo-based company founded by the Battochi’s in 2006, that focuses on creating protective metal coatings against rust and other types of wear. The company’s current product line consists of protectors for bronze, magnesium, and aluminum metals. These protectors are used to in a variety of ways, from preserving historical works of art to manufacturing American-made magnesium products.

Holly Anderson Battocchi presented the company, which is comprised of her, Dante, and one intern, at 1 Million Cups in February 2014. In the past year, the company has made large steps forward – progress that Dante Battocchi hopes to continue as he joins full-time. He and his wife both have high hopes for 2015.

“We are selling our product and growing our distribution base,” he said, highlighting some company goals for the year. “We want to continue serving the customers we already identify and look for more. In addition, we want to start a pilot manufacturing for test and small batches, that may interest other start-ups in our field, and help us with custom orders.”

Sounds like this startup is putting the petal to the metal this year! *ba-dum-tshh*

Learn more about Elinor Specialty Coatings here.

Photos courtesy of NDSU and Elinor Specialty Coatings.

Cover photo courtesy of newswise.com.