Charles Schue: Making A Difference with Sheer Tenacity

Meet Charles (Chuck) Schue, the Founder, past President, and Director of Aethera™ Technologies Limited, a forwardthinking electronics engineering firm focused on improving the success of its clients. Aethera’s technologies can be found in a wide range of industries, including aerospace; fusion energy solutions; wireless communications; manufacturing; food, food byproducts, and pharmaceuticals; oil and gas; materials transformation; and industrial products for drying, heating, and gluing.

Mr. Schue began his career in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1974 to 2000, where his expertise included engineering, operations, contracting, administration, and quality assurance. During his time in the Coast Guard, Charles built great relationships with federal and military colleagues in the Canadian Government, including Transport Canada and Canadian Coast Guard operational units in British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Nova Scotia. He also served alongside several Canadian military officers during his tenure at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

Mr. Schue is a seasoned entrepreneur. Since his first start-up in 1982, he has successfully created and operated nine companies, including Aethera™. He is a leading international expert in radio navigation systems and was recently recognized as the PNT Solutions CEO of the Year 2022 – USA. Mr. Schue is a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation and has served in various council and leadership capacities within that organization. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Mr. Schue is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality and the IEEE, and is an owner of, contributor to, or directly named in, twelve patents.

Recently we had the chance to sit down with Mr. Schue to learn more about Aethera™ Technologies Limited and how it is bringing about change with its solutions.

Talk about Aethera™ Technologies Ltd. What are its key services/products?

Aethera™ is primarily a Radio Frequency (RF) engineering company. We started our business with a laserlike focus on delivering custom hardware, software, and services into the wireless communications space. However, we quickly learned that the diverse operations, management, and engineering skills we had developed to support this industry could also form the foundation for R&D efforts in other industries.

The core technology we have developed over the past several years has evolved into multiple products and services. The technology has grown into products that are creating innovations in space propulsion; fusion energy; food, food byproducts, pharmaceuticals; and materials transformation. Although our footprint was global from the beginning, our reach now includes several new countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.

What is the change you are bringing with your brand today? Tell us about the clientele that can benefit from your offerings?

We offer our customers three things: better quality, faster operations or throughput, and competitive pricing. For example, in one of our major markets, we focus on businesses that are using older vacuum-tube technology with an eye toward replacing it with our leading-edge, solid-state technology. Our Aethera™ Power Generator (APG)-based systems are 95% efficient, require virtually no maintenance, are designed to save space and be lightweight, are extremely reliable, allow for consistent and repeatable product and process control, and are cost-effective over their entire life cycle.

As we move into a new market, we look at how our core technology can be repurposed, modified, or morphed into products that improve our customer’s success. We look at our customer’s existing technology and determine if we can increase throughput, reduce downtime and/or maintenance, increase energy efficiency, and/or save on recurring costs.

What key highlights would you like to share that fostered your growth as an Influential Leader of Canada?

Install a vision in your company, and then ensure that vision is promulgated within your company and to your partners, colleagues, vendors, and customers. Our influence is magnified by what people think about our company. When we started Aethera™, we envisioned a company with a foundation of entrepreneurial-minded professionals who, when provided the right tools, resources, and support, would help us create a culture of imagination, empowerment, and innovation. Looking back, and given that we were primarily a one-customer company at the beginning, a “one-trick” pony, as it were, this seems a truly ambitious goal. However, because of this vision, our company has grown in both size and scope.

Leverage the opportunities that the government provides and turn them into ways to showcase your people, products, and expertise to the whole world. The Canadian government, at all levels, supports SMEs. We have been fortunate to be the recipient of government grants that, in turn, allowed us to hire more staff and develop products that are sold around the world. When I travel around the world, I get to influence existing and potential customers to buy Canadian products and services.

Publish, speak, and share your expertise with others. It takes a lot of time, but it helps establish you as an expert or authority and subsequently allows you to influence how markets are made.

What were the major challenges during the initial days of Aethera™? How did you overcome them?

At the start, we were all working out of our homes, eventually finding rented office space in the Bayer’s Lake area. This worked well for functions that could be performed in offices but was not practical for our R&D, laboratory, and fabrication functions. One of our first struggles was finding a sufficient office, light industrial, and laboratory space to lease, especially given our unique electrical power requirements. When our current facility on Crane Lake Drive became available, we opted to purchase the building and renovate it to suit our needs. We are looking at purchasing a larger space nearby that will accommodate our growth for the near term.

Finding people to fill all the vacancies we have, especially in engineering and operations, was difficult from our beginnings and remains difficult today. We are currently seeking engineers, technicians, software developers, and operations program/project managers at all levels, who can meet our required qualifications and, equally as important, have the right chemistry and cultural fit with our superb team.

Because I live in the USA and was not able to work in Nova Scotia on a continual basis, I needed to look for someone locally to lead the company. This led me to resign as President in 2017 and turn the daily leadership of the company over to Kirk Zwicker. As with almost all of my other entrepreneurial efforts, once a gifted and talented leader surfaces within the company or is brought in from outside, it’s time to move on and let them take the reins.

There is a phenomenon known as the ”Founder’s Syndrome,” whereby the founder(s) of the company cannot or will not provide the mentorship that leads to an appropriate successor. This often leads to superior performers leaving because they do not have the opportunity to achieve their personal growth goals. I work very hard to try and not let this happen in my companies.

What is so exclusive about Aethera™ Technologies that make it stand out in the industry? What people’s problems has it successfully solved?

What makes us so exclusive is that we are often the first entrant into the markets that are looking to update or replace their vacuum-tube RF generator technology with our advanced solid-state offerings. Once we are able to demonstrate our technology, customers immediately want to be the first to implement it because it provides them significant advantages in throughput, availability, reliability, and product quality.

The technical expertise to operate and maintain vacuumtube technology is becoming scarce, and it is difficult to find people who are willing to learn it. One way to resolve this problem is for companies to modernize their technology. Then they have a better opportunity to attract and retain the staff they need to operate and maintain their equipment. Additionally, the considerably higher reliability of our solid-state equipment significantly reduces the time their staff spends on maintenance.

What would you like to be remembered for by your peers and the new entrepreneurs?

I would like to be remembered for providing mentorship and the opportunity for others to achieve their goals, whether those goals are personal or professional. I am currently mentoring three start-up companies (in which I have no ownership stake) in the hospitality, healthcare, and marketing fields. One of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits is to “sharpen the saw”. To me, this means constantly learning, and a great way to learn is to teach. Whether you are an old or new entrepreneur, you should constantly learn and then pass along your knowledge to others.

Do you believe in giving back to society? If yes, how?

Absolutely. One of the first things I started at Aethera™ was investing part of our profits each year into local charities. This in and of itself is not necessarily special. What is special is that we designate a profit share for each full-time and part-time employee and then allow them to select the charity that will receive the funds. Every year, the generosity and caring nature of our employees is exemplified in the effort they spend in determining what organization or cause receives their share of the charitable contributions.