Lisa A. Thorburn, CTS, President
 

Lisa's forte is Technical Communications and Project and Business Management. As a principal consultant of Thorburn Associates, Lisa works to determine strategies, set overall project goals and objectives, and offer her planning expertise during design development.

One of her favorite quotes, from Teddy Roosevelt, says it all: "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for our community lives long after we're gone."

Steven J. Thorburn, PE, CTS-D, CTS-I, Principal Consultant

Steve enjoys helping others understand the principals of acoustics and audiovisual technology almost as much as he enjoys sipping a good single malt scotch.  His dual degrees in electrical engineering and technical theatre give him a balanced left brain/right brain approach to project solutions. 

Educator of the Year, two ICIA Facility Design awards, author and teacher and experience on over 2000 different projects round out his professional career.

Steve loves working in his woodshop, cooking something up on the grill, or just hiking in the woods. 

James A. Horn, CTS-D, Associate Principal

Jim brings thirty years of experience in the planetarium and specialty theatre industry to the TA team.  His professional achievements include developing the first internationally successful automation system for Zeiss Model VI Planetarium projector and all peripheral control equipment.

He successfully moved Morehead Planetarium to a facilities technical and operational level allowing it to succeed for more than two decades on the same technology base with no downtime. He was instrumental in introducing the Planetarium to film technology, served on the Board of Directors of Cinema 360, Inc., and was an incorporating member of the Board of Directors for the Large Format Cinema Association.

For relaxation, he takes his family to a beach cottage along the North Carolina ocean front.

Derek Meares, CTS-D, Associate Principal

Derek practices Design and Audiovisual and Technical System Engineering.  With a background in physics and electrical engineering as well as network design, he easily designs and manages projects that are technology driven. This includes video conferencing systems, voice and data systems, and control systems.

When not busy at TA, he enjoys ballroom dancing with his wife, and being the best dad around to his young daughters.

Lance Sturdevant, CTS-D, Senior Consultant

Lance comes to us from New Jersey with over 28 years of audiovisual engineering and design experience. He enjoys working face-to-face with clients and end users to develop strategies and solutions that best meet their AV technology needs. Some of Lance’s specialties are the design of judicial courtrooms, educational classrooms and auditoriums. When not busy designing technology implementations, Lance helps with training seminars and special exhibits at InfoComm.  

Lance also enjoys camping and fishing trips to enjoy the great outdoors in his new home state of North Carolina. You can also find him touring the winding roads on his Harley or restoring his 1968 Pontiac GTO.

Karen J. Espenhahn, CTS, Senior Consultant

Karen is a project manager with a mechanical engineering background. She has 10 years experience as a designer and project manager on defense department projects. Her design philosophy is the simplest is the best. At Thorburn Associates, Karen is applying her technical and management skills as an audio-visual consultant on corporate and municipal projects. Training rooms, conference rooms, boardrooms, council chambers, and judicial centers are key spaces in her design portfolio.  

In addition to work and family, Karen enjoys the audio-visual experience of live theater and concerts. She is attune with Andy Warhol who said "It takes a lot of work to figure out how to look so good."