About us - Next Gen Safer

Sal Castillo

Managing Partner

Serial entrepreneur in a diverse range of endeavors. Began entrepreneurship at the age of 7 with a successful TV Guide route in Wichita Falls, Tx. From there he owned a series of businesses including restaurant/bar at age 22, tennis club at age 33, and tennis court construction company at 35.

He patented the world’s first biometric activated personal emergency alert system called SAFER (Situational Awareness to Facilitate Emergency Response). He co-founded HeartSync a biometric software development company in San Antonio, Tx with Dr. Eric Bligard to continue the development of biometric systems to assist first responders and military personnel receive assistance when they are unable or prevented from calling for help.

The stretch goal is to develop a similar system for the general public and with wearable heart monitors expects to be able to predict sudden cardiac arrest by 2022. He studied Business Management and Administration at Southern Illinois University and has a Bachelor of Science in General Nutrition from New Mexico State University.

Timothy Garcia

HeartSync Partner/Chief Legal Counsel

Judge Garcia has thirty-four years of legal experience as a private attorney, trial court judge, and appellate court judge. He was in the First Judicial District Court of Santa Fe, New Mexico from 2002-2009 and New Mexico Court of Appeals from 2009-2018. After serving over fifteen years on the bench, Judge Garcia retired from the Court of Appeals in 2018. He has a bachelor’s degree of Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of New Mexico Albuquerque.

Bernardo Pegas

HeartSync Partner/ Chief Marketing Officer

Bernardo is passionate about helping companies tell their stories. He has a background in producing videos as well as directing digital marketing campaigns. He has a clear understanding of today’s digital world and the traditional media. He has helped multiple business to spread their message in a compelling way via social media and worked with advertising agencies with producing traditional content. He understands human behavior and brings a young and fresh perspective of the world to the table. Bernardo has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Our Lady of the Lake University.

Aaron Rodriguez

HeartSync Partner/ Advisor

Majored in Information Systems and holds a Masters and Bachelors degree in Information Systems Security as well as minor degrees in Social Work and Liberal Arts. Entrepreneur and business partner in Oil/Gas chemical company. Has 15+ years in IT industry related to: set-up, testing, calibrating, sustaining, and troubleshooting medical equipment, network systems, and Mainframe systems. Account Engineer/Liaison for IBM managing Data Centers and sites such as: USAA, Frost Bank, Capital Group, Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch, and various military bases/government entities. Is currently an Audio/Video engineer and Account Liaison for Methodist Houston, Memorial Hermann Houston, UMC Lubbock, and NEA Baptist in Jonesboro. Is passionate about and pursuing degrees in Holistic Nutrition, Psychology and Social Work with focus in PTSD and mental health.

Dr. Julian Bunn

Data Science/Senior Mobile App Development - Advisor

An accomplished applied physicist, focused on computational science, with extensive expertise in sensors, sensor networks, physical systems modelling, machine learning, databases, cloud and network computing, audio, algorithm invention and pattern recognition in streams of data in motion. Julian Bunn is a Member of the Professional Staff at Caltech, where he works in the Center for Advanced Computing Research. He held a staff Physicist position at CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics, for fifteen years.

Dr. Peter Leijdekkers

Senior Biometric App Developer

Peter Leijdekkers is a talented developer with 15+ years of software and web development experience. He specializes in mobile app development and has a solid understanding of the full mobile development life cycle. He teaches mobile app development to University students and is dedicated to continuously discover, evaluate, and implement new technologies to maximize development efficiency. Peter is senior lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia and is the CEO and founder of the company myFitnessCompanion Pty Ltd. He has a Masters and PhD from the University of Twente, Netherlands.

Rhett Weiss

Chief Strategist

Successfully leading strategy, innovation, and progress for high-growth organizations. Expertise from $40+ billion in successful business, finance, real estate, and economic development projects worldwide. Strong track record of guiding start-ups, Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies, and nonprofits to achieve goals within budget and schedule. Rhett came to HeartSync after working with Amazon, Google and Cornell University. He is co-author to The Entrepreneurial Engineer, Entrepreneurial Management for Engineer and Technology Driven Entrepreneurship. He has degrees from Tulane University, College of William and Mary, and Georgetown University.

Jonathan Wan

Customer Experience Services Architect

Accomplished senior-level executive with over 20+ year track record of strategic and tactical leadership at Visa, BNPP, Bank of the West, Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab and Ogilvy Interactive. Proficient in conceptualizing new innovative, disruptive product features. Board experience and non-executive advisor to start-up businesses in innovative payments, digital health areas in Silicon Valley, Europe, Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, China). Successful project executions included launching “WF Gateway”, “mVisa” acceptance mark in India for Visa, redesigning a new digital bank in China for BNPP, launching new mobile features such as “Quick Balance” for Bank of the West, delivering P2P network at ClearXChange, “Zelle” & Real-Time Alerts for Wells Fargo. Incubated and accelerated Wells Fargo Labs to spur innovation and incubate disruptive strategies and technologies. He has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Industrial Design from San Francisco University.