CHICAGO — Abakan Inc. has added three members to its advisory board as it looks to expand and bolster relationships with its clients.

The Miami-based parent of pipe-cladding firm MesoCoat Inc. said Thursday that Sam Thomas, a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, brings expertise on global business cycles and investment strategies. His clients include steel fabrication companies, Abakan said.

Also joining the board is Vinod Gupta, chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents and the entrepreneur-in-residence at Cleveland-based nonprofit Jumpstart Entrepreneurial Network Advisors. Gupta has 14 years of materials sector experience, as well as knowledge of Indian trade relations, the company said.

Andrew Hall, founder and managing partner of Miami law firm Hall, Lamb and Hall PA, offers experience in complex litigation, including in the securities, commercial and international sectors, Abakan said. He has worked on such high-profile trials as the Watergate scandal, the Ohio savings and loan crisis and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, Abakan said.