Team - STSC-USA

Our Team

Expert Team

Knowledge | Skills | Experience

Our leadership team of highly skilled individuals with the knowledge and relevant industry experience is well suited to bring green, cost-effective urban transit solutions to cities, hospitals, universities, industrial campuses, retail complexes, and other use cases.

John Mardirosian

Executive VP Projects Director

John Mardirosian is a co-founder of Sunshine Transport Solutions Corp (STSC) and the Executive VP Program Director, responsible for systems Implementation. John brings more than 40 years of experience in electrical, software, mechanical, systems, and test engineering and decades of experience forming teams and providing senior program management leadership in programs utilizing teams of over 100 people from multiple geographic locations. In addition, John brings a clear focus on profitability, economic viability, and business.

John’s experience spans the transportation, aerospace, weather radar, medical device, and healthcare industries as well as significant work in government military contract proposals, oversight, and evaluations. In addition, John’s experience includes dozens of programs managed under the most stringent government regulatory environments and safety-critical development (DoD, ASCE APM, FAA, FDA).

Within the transportation space, John has worked to develop a Personal Rapid Transit system, the Raytheon PRT200, for the Village of Rosemont, near Chicago, IL.

The PRT2000 effort culminated in an operational system that successfully passed the final System Acceptance Test running seven days a week, 16 hours a day, without a failure. John has also contributed to proposals for other PRT systems (the Ultra PRT for Dubai, UAE). John holds patents in Carrier Recovery design for line-of-sight microwave radio systems and novel user interfaces for medical devices.

John holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Masters in Electrical Engineering from California Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare from Boston University. John is also a licensed electrician in Massachusetts. Throughout his career, John has held positions with Altran, Philips Medical, MITRE, Foliage, Raytheon, TRW, ESL Inc., and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Anthony Buffa is a co-founder of Sunshine Transport Solutions Corporation (STSC) serving as Chairman and CEO. Anthony brings more than 40 years of experience in transportation and environmental investing, entrepreneurship, and investing in and serving as a co-founder, lead and co-lead investor, board of director member, board chairman, and in interim executive leadership roles as Chairman, President & CEO in several companies in which his private investment firm or employer were the control and or co-control shareholder and lead investor.

Anthony is the Founder and Managing Partner of Endeavor Capital Management Holdings, LLC ( (ECMH)www.endeavorcap.com)). ECMH was founded by Anthony in 1988 as a family office and private investment management company following his first ten years of experience in commercial and investment banking, and venture small buyout investment management. The ECMH team currently own and operate several companies, two of which Anthony is the President and CEO. These two companies, www.hazmatbuildings.com and www.longlifedowels.com are involved in the infrastructure industry, principally in the United States.

ECMH is comprised of a team of seasoned operating executives with extensive operating and executive leadership positions in both smaller growth companies and larger public enterprises in infrastructure, information technology, health care, communications, and finance industries.

ECMH and its portfolio company’s teams’ core competencies are building the leadership, human and financial capital structures, and cultures of emerging growth companies to support enduring enterprise resiliency and success.

During Anthony’s 42 years in the private equity-venture capital and developmental capital industry he and his partners have invested in, successfully exited, and helped to finance dozens of earlier-stage companies in a wide range of technology-based industries.

Anthony and the portfolio companies in which he has invested have been involved in numerous private and public equity fundings; including being a lead and co-lead investor in companies that have completed successful initial public offerings to raise both primary and secondary capital on the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange.

Commencing in the mid-1970s, Anthony started his career at the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and Venezuela, leading to his entry into the venture world with New Court Securities Corporation renamed Rothschild, Inc and the National Bank of Detroit’s venture capital subsidiary Michigan Capital and Service, Inc. Anthony was a co-founding general partner of Edelson Technology Partners in 1985 which managed strategic corporate development capital for AT&T, Viacom, 3M, Ford Motor Company, EG&G, and other corporate investors.

Anthony holds a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and pursued studies in economics at the University of Bologna and the John Hopkins SAIC Graduate Center in Bologna, Italy. Anthony has lived and worked several United States including, New York, Michigan, Conneticut, California, Indiana, as well as Italy and Venezuela. Anthony is fluent in engilsh, Italian and spanish.

Anthony Buffa

Chairman & CEO

Ward Urban

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Ward Urban joined Sunshine Transport Solutions (STSC) as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Ward has over 35 years of experience as a senior transactor, financial manager (CFO, Treasurer, VP-Finance, VP-Corporate Development) and advisor/consultant to early stage and small-to medium-sized private and public companies with specific skill sets including corporate banking, leveraged finance, mergers/acquisitions, treasury/treasury operations and general financial management.

Ward has significant experience in private equity investing, corporate M&A and corporate finance in the role of principal investor, corporate manager and banker. He has assumed leadership roles within early-stage to private equity backed to international organizations.

Ward has completed over $1 billion of private and public debt and equity financings including traditional and leveraged finance bank and lease facilities, high yield bond issues, venture capital fundings, and IPO/equity placements both as a borrower/issuer and underwriter/agent at The Bank of New York, Citibank Leveraged Capital, Regions Business Capital, Acorn Capital, Mitsubishi International, MHC Investments and various companies as CFO/Treasurer. Ward founded a middle market focused, client-driven financial and business advisory firm, Bison Partners, that provides debt and equity capital raising services and CFO services for US-based private equity sponsored and privately-held companies. He also co-founded a $150 million private equity fund, Red Diamond Capital Partners, for a major global trading and investment company, Mitsubishi International, and served as Board member of Mitsubishi’s portfolio companies and its venture capital group.

As the Treasurer and VP-Corporate Development, Ward was instrumental in repositioning a highly leveraged public company, American Banknote Corporation, from a traditional domestic security printing focus through debt financings, strategic acquisitions, operational restructurings, and an IPO spin-off into a multinational printing/credit card manufacturing, fulfillment, and services company.

Ward has initiated and implemented capital raising strategies, business development planning, budget/cash flow/financial forecasts, new management systems/policies and financial reporting as a senior manager and advisor/consultant for both startup and established organizations.

Ward earned a Master of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth in 1988 and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hamilton College in 1982.

Ward has worked closely with the ECMH team during the last seventeen years.

Nick Garzilli is a co-founder of Sunshine Transport Solutions Corporation (STSC) serving as Executive VP–Business Development. Nick has more than a decade of experience in transportation innovation and entrepreneurship.

Anthony was introduced to Nick’s interest in transportation innovation by the CEO of another e-mobility firm in which ECMH has been invested since 2017. Nick had developed relationships with John Mardirosian and Mike Teske, leading to EMCH and Nick inviting John and Mike to collaborate as co-founders of STSC in February 2021.

Throughout Nick’s career, he has been passionate about innovation in transportation. As an entrepreneur and e-mobility visionary, Nick has served as co-founder, EVP, COO, in other e-mobility companies.

Nick recognizes the needs of communities for green transit solutions and evolves solutions to meet those needs in collaboration with industry and corporate leaders. Nick’s motivation is to commercialize the technology of tomorrow today through commercially viable strategic partnerships with other transportation industry participants.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Southern California.

Nick Garzilli

Executive VP – Business Development

Mike Teske

Executive VP - Design and Safety

Mike Teske joined Sunshine Transport Solutions Corp (STSC) in the role of Executive VP-Design and Safety as one of the Founders. Mike brings more than 40 years of experience in the design, development, installation, operation, and maintenance of complex thrill rides, and amusement rides.

Mike is also currently Technical Director at Celtic Engineering. Mike’s experience includes being the past Technical Director responsible for opening five major theme parks in the US and Europe and being responsible for engineering, safety, and opening 110 major attractions.

Mike Teske brings an excellent record for safety and engineering oversight for demanding high g-force, high-speed amusement rides. Mike is highly effective in managing professional collaborations with key people from business as well as city and state government officials and has worked with manufacturing companies building to the highest standards of safety.

Some of Mike’s experiences include designing and building rides for Disney World and Universal Studios and being the Park Technical Manager for Disney’s EPCOT. Mike was also key in defining, building, and certifying SlotZilla, a zip line rider in The Fremont Experience. Most recently, Mike was involved in designing, installing, and certification a new external glass elevator on One Vanderbilt in NYC.

Beyond his working activities, Mike has also served on the ASTM International Committee F24 on Amusement Rides and Devices and has been recognized by ASTM for his contributions; Mike is devoted to the development and application of standards that ensure public safety. Mike received their Standards Development Award in 2013.

Mike holds an Associate of Arts in Mechanical Engineering from Valencia Community College, Orlando, FL. Mike also owns and produced multiple Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile certified GT40’s which were the 1966-67 Ford Factory championship racing.

Throughout his career, Mike has held positions with Celtic Engineering, Inc, Rethink Leisure & Entertainment, LLC, The Nassal Company, Celtic Engineering, Inc., Skyline Franchising LLC, Dollywood/Dollywood Splash Country, Vekoma Rides USA, Earl Teske Consulting, Universal Studios Orlando, and Walt Disney Company.