Meet the team
Our BlackPearl innovators are creating cross-industry transformations.
Co-Founder & President
Misti Jeter
From developing a patented multiple-effect water distillation system to supporting cancer research and awareness, Jeter is invested in finding solutions. She is no stranger to adversity and brings a sense of tenacity and determination to all areas of her life. This has resulted in numerous awards and accolades for her over 20 years of work in the oil and gas industry. In 2020, she won the Women of Distinction Award for CASA Montgomery County, was a finalist for Harvard Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award, and was recognized as the “Top 50 Women Leaders Houston” from Women We Admire in 2022.
Jeter has been passionate about her field from a very young age. As a student, she started a girls’ empowerment group focused on education and community service. She demonstrated such a distinct intelligence that she began teaching other students about Chemistry and Physics through the Education for Tomorrow Alliance.
She began her post-collegiate career conducting engagement studies for Fortune 500 companies around the country. From there, she moved into the energy industry, managing 11 out of the 18 deregulated energy markets in the US.
Always focused on innovation, Jeter worked on the first downhole survivable RFID tag, enabling readable data at temperatures of up to 200℃. Her valuable experience includes leading development teams and bringing a startup company onto the Inc. 5000 list twice.
On top of acting as Co-Founder & President of the company, Jeter is key in ideating hardware solutions through BlackPearl Technology and the Interceptor product line. Her ultimate goal, whether through cancer awareness or her role as Co-Founder & President of BlackPearl Technology, is to make a difference for those around her.
Co-Founder & VP of Innovation
David A. Smith
Smith is a man that wears multiple hats. As the Co-Founder & VP of Innovation for BlackPearl Technology Inc, he is responsible for pioneering a new generation of product development. As former Founder and CEO of Wildcat Development, he saw five consecutive years of 100% revenue growth alongside successful growth across their strategic markets. David has experienced success in achieving revenue, profit, and growth objectives while maintaining a thriving workplace environment for his employees.
Smith has designed a number of innovative products during his career, including developing the first multi-headed display technology for MS-DOS, Linux, OS/2, and Windows. Other technologies include PC graphic cards, massive storage arrays, server blades, voice over IP technology, high-temperature downhole technology, subsea inertial navigation systems, subsea acoustic disconnect systems, and more.
Smith has been a part of many successful entrepreneurial ventures including developing one of the most competitive and accurate PCI compliance testing companies used to certify financial institutions and customers for credit card processing. He was also part of the team that designed one of the first wireless credit card processing for restaurants and airplanes. His long list of accomplishments across industries establishes him as a brilliant mind and pioneer in the technological field.
Across these multiple roles, he is particularly adept at building relationships with upper-level decision-makers, and he understands the unique balance needed between being customer-focused and performance-driven. He’s been recognized as an award-winning innovator by the Houston Business Journal and Inc. 5000 Magazine.
VP of Sales & Marketing
Stephanie Chavez
Stephanie Chavez is a versatile marketing executive with over 30 years of experience in driving growth, building high-performing teams, and transforming organizational culture. As the former President of Zen Media, she achieved 6x revenue growth in three years and expanded the team from 6 to 65 members.
Stephanie is deeply committed to servant leadership and fostering healthy workplace environments. She is an esteemed member of CHIEF and the Forbes Agency Council, and serves on advisory boards for Texas Woman's University Dean's Leadership Council and The Dallas Dream Team. Currently, she leads Marketing and Sales initiatives for the BlackPearl Group of Companies and their clients.
Director of Innovation
Nick Smith
As a founding team member of BlackPearl Technology, Nick Smith is able to use his vast interdisciplinary background in his role as Director of Innovation to better understand how each sphere of knowledge informs the other. His current focus is on high-level software, low-level firmware, electronics, high-speed PCB design, high-temperature PCB design and testing, wireless RF design, and spectral analysis.
Smith grew up knowing he wanted to design, develop, make, build, and invent things that mattered to people. In college, he married his passion for physics with an emphasis on programming, which has served him well. Smith began his professional career through an internship at Wildcat Development, where he developed iPhone applications and worked with color spectrophotometers, wireless cementing tools, smartboard apps, and cross-platform mobile security apps. He joined the Computational Biophysics and Bioinformatics Research Group during his undergrad, where he worked on high-performance computing (HPC), automation, electrostatic modeling, protein folding, and protein electrostatic modeling. He later went to graduate school at Clemson, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Biophysics.
Nick is now proficient in over 20 different programming languages. His extensive knowledge of physics and mathematics coupled with programming helps him look at new product designs holistically, identifying areas for optimization and problem-solving issues. He looks forward to utilizing his knowledge base to further innovate at Interceptor and BlackPearl Technology.
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