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The company has hired David Seaton, formerly chief financial officer of  ArmorGroup International PLC, to perform the duties for which Volkmann was previously responsible on an interim basis until a replacement is appointed.

Before his appointment as chief financial officer in November 2007 Volkmann was the chief operating officer of Enstrom Candies Inc.

He was previously a founding member of and vice president of finance and administration for Tellme Networks Inc. from its inception.

In this position, he was responsible for the finance, accounting, human resources and information systems departments for the company as well as the development and implementation of a capital structure strategy which secured over US$240M in financing from major corporate investors.

Volkmann was earlier a member of the senior management team at Netscape Communications where he held various management positions including senior director of finance for Netscape Netcenter Web Portal and director of finance for the enterprise software division.

He has also served in key finance posts for National Semiconductor and Hitachi Data Systems Inc.

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Armor Designs (LSE:ADID) specialises in the research, testing, development and commercialisation of composite armour products.

Each of the products being developed by the group, in whole or in part, is based upon a generic synthetic manufacturing process called VCM.

The VCM process was originally developed by Dr. James St. Ville and involves the creation of a computerised model into which can be inputted the specific tolerances and design constraints of a proposed product. 

The model then adjusts the composition of the material until the required properties are achieved, through 3D design optimisation. 

The VCM process gives the group the potential to rapidly develop new composite armour products which might consist of various materials, such as metals, ceramics, resins and/or fibres, which in combination might share the same or better resistance to penetration as existing armour equivalents but which are, potentially, lighter and more versatile.

The VCM technology is the subject of several US and international patents and patent applications, which are owned by Aztec and which are exclusively licensed to Armor Designs subsidiary, Armor Designs LLC in the field of use of synthetic armour.

In addition, the Group's body armour has been tested at the H. P. White test centre, which is the test center for the US National Institute of Justice (NIJ). 

The group is in negotiations with a US and an overseas military procurement office to supply body armour plates and anticipates the announcement of binding contracts in 2008.

Armor Designs was admitted to AIM on 31 December 2007, when the firm acknowledged that there had been speculation in the press regarding the future revenues and profitability of the company.

The company has not made any statement or released any information regarding future revenues and/or profits and said that any speculation as to the same should be disregarded.

Armor Designs raised $16 million, before expenses, by issuing 1,600,000 common shares at a price of $10 per share.

One of the firm’s non-executive directors is Air Chief Marshall Sir Richard Johns, previously a NATO commander-in-chief responsible for bringing to full operational capability the new regional command of allied forces in North West Europe.

Sir Richard was also the Director of Operations in the National Joint Headquarters for all British forces deployed to the Middle East during the first Gulf War.

In 1997, he was appointed Chief of the Air Staff, responsible for the operational efficiency and morale of the Royal Air Force.

On retirement in April 2000, Sir Richard was appointed by the Queen as Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle, a position which he still holds.

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