Christopher Columbus Coin Image

Homeland Security Award Columbus Scholar 2004

Field of Information Sharing
Sponsored by Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation

Ace SarichAce Sarich

Vice President
VoxTec, a Division of Marine Acoustics, Inc.
Annapolis, Maryland


Mr. Ace Sarich is the Vice President and Founder of VoxTec, a Division of Marine Acoustics, Inc. (MAI), in Annapolis, MD. VoxTec solely develops and manufactures the Phraselator®, a handheld, voice-actuated translation device being used worldwide by American soldiers and domestically in law enforcement and healthcare settings. He travels frequently to the Middle East where he trains soldiers in the field on the use of the Phraselator ®.

Mr. Sarich joined VoxTec's parent company, MAI in 1991 as a principal engineer, working primarily in the area of developing and fielding advanced military hardware. In addition to serving as program manager for voice-to-voice translation systems, he directed Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) programs in the Arabian Gulf, and a classified radical technology collaborative between government and industry.

Independently, Mr. Sarich has provided engineering, programmatic and operational consulting services to many clients, including Naval Special Warfare (NSW), Navy SEALs, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) clients. As the VP of engineering at SonoChem, Mr. Sarich directed a team of engineers and technicians and marketed a multi-fuel internal combustion engine for burning volatile industrial waste gases and liquids.

Mr. Sarich's engineering expertise is rooted in the military. Graduating with a degree in Naval Science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966, Sarich served for 20 years as a Commissioned Officer in various SEAL and EOD assignments and taught mechanical, ocean and naval engineering courses at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he twice was named top military engineering faculty member.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation is honored to have had the assistance of the following distinguished individuals serving on the Homeland Security Awards Evaluation Committee:
  • Honorable Joseph F. Bruno – Commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management, New York, New York.
  • Mildred Donlon, Ph.D. – Program Manager for the Biological Warfare Defense Program in the Defense Sciences Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia.
  • Honorable Asa Hutchinson – Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security at the Department of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C.
  • Thomas J. Price – Executive Director of the American Association of Engineering Societies, Washington, D.C.