At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based CEO’ operating in the Hardware space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Jack Dorsey
Co-Founder & CEO of Square
Jack Dorsey is the Co-Founder & CEO of Twitter Ventures
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About Cash App, Square, Twitter Ventures: Block is a merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company that aims to simplify commerce through technology.
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Valery Vavilov
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bitfury Group
Seasoned entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in information technology and business management. Original founding member of BitFury. Assumed the role of BitFury CEO in 2011. Prior to that, held numerous technology and business leadership positions. MS in Computer Science, Riga Transport & Telecommunication University.
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About Bitfury Group: Bitfury is the leading full service bitcoin and blockchain technology company.
Stina Ehrensvard
CEO & Co-Founder of Yubico
Internationally awarded entrepreneur, innovator and speaker with an unfaltering energy and passion for making the internet safer for all. Education in industrial product design at the University of the Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden.
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About Yubico: Yubico offers USB and wireless authentication solutions.
Jae Hoon Choi
CEO & Co-founder of Podo Labs
Jae Hoon Choi is Co-founder and CEO of Podo.
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About Exide Life Insurance, Podo Labs: We make Podo, Jack, Belle, and a whole lot more to come.
George Baker Sr.
Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of ParkHub
Entrepreneurial, practical, and a visionary. These words seem somewhat contradictory, but these words truly describe George’s leadership style. His experience and education have led him to the point where he is today – building his own brand in the parking industry and beyond. Even though he has big ideas, he possesses the pragmatism to see the limitations, challenges and obstacles at hand. He believes in others and enjoys building teams and driving innovation through collaborative effort. This team-first ethos forms the foundation upon which George built ParkHub into the successful and driven organization that it is today. George has nearly 17 years of hands-on experience in the parking realm, focusing on managing the parking operations of class-A office garage facilities and comparable top-tier parking operations across the continental United States. He prides himself on deep domain knowledge of the event parking space and providing a comprehensive suite of services both software and hardware to support his ever-growing clientele therein. In order to consistently exceed customer expectations in the event-parking space, ParkHub provides logistics and occupancy management services, as well as cutting-edge insights into parking management. Truly, George is reshaping the parking universe, one satisfied customer at a time. When he’s not modernizing the parking world, he’s at his home in Dallas, Texas, spending time with his wife Chelsey and their two children, George II and Kuper. George graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor’s of Science in Regional Development | City Planning. George is a proud Eagle Scout, Past Worshipful Master of his Texas Masonic Lodge, winner of the 2016 Greater Dallas Business Ethics Award, multiple recipient of the National Parking Association 40 under 40 award, 2016 finalist of EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and devoted member his local Highland Park United Methodist Church congregation.
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About ParkHub: ParkHub is a technology company that provides software and hardware for the destination industry.
Lars Brubaker
Co-Founder & CEO of MatterHackers
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About MatterHackers: 3D Printing Software, Hardware, & Supplies
Michael Dell
CEO of Dell
Michael Dell is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important information. With revenues of $94B and 130,000 team members, Dell Technologies is one of the world’s largest IT companies serving the needs of global corporations and governments to small businesses and consumers. The company’s unique structure allows innovative, fast-moving startups to co-exist with, and leverage, the global reach and trusted reputation of the large enterprise. Michael’s story started when he founded Dell Technologies with $1000 in 1984 at the age of 19. Notably quoted as saying that “technology is about enabling human potential,” Michael’s vision of how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold forever changed the IT industry. In 1992, Michael became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Known and admired for his astute business vision and bold moves, Michael took Dell Technologies private in 2013, setting the stage to architect the largest technology deal in history with the combination of Dell, EMC and VMware in 2016 and the subsequent relisting of Dell Technologies on the public markets in 2018. Michael continues to serve as chairman of the VMware board of directors following the spin-off of VMware from Dell Technologies in 2021. In 1998, Michael formed MSD Capital, a private investment firm that exclusively manages the capital for the Dell family. And in 1999, he and his wife, Susan Dell, established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to accelerate opportunity for children growing up in urban poverty in the U.S., India and South Africa. Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. He is also a member of the Technology CEO Council and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the advisory board of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China and on the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. He is a board member of Catalyst and also served as the United Nations Foundation’s first Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship. Michael is also the author of two books, Direct from Dell and Play Nice But Win.
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About Dell, Dell Technologies, Dell Technologies Capital, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, SecureWorks, VMware: Dell transforms computing and provides high quality solutions that empower people to do more all over the world.
Jayshree Ullal
President & CEO of Arista Networks
As President and CEO of Arista for over a decade, Jayshree Ullal is responsible for Arista’s business and thought leadership in cloud networking. She led the company to a historic and successful IPO in June 2014 from zero to a multibillion-dollar business. Formerly Jayshree was Senior Vice President at Cisco, responsible for a $10B business in datacenter, switching and services. With more than 30 years of networking experience, she is the recipient of numerous awards including E&Y’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2015, Barron’s “World’s Best CEOs” in 2018 and one of Fortune’s “Top 20 Business persons” in 2019. Jayshree holds a B.S. in Engineering (Electrical) and an M.S. degree in engineering management. She is a recipient of the SFSU and SCU Distinguished Alumni Awards in 2013 and 2016.
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About Arista Networks, StorSimple: Arista Networks is a computer networking firm delivering cloud networking solutions for large data center and computer environments.
Robert Jamieson
Chief Executive Officer of CSM International
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About CSM International: CSM International focuses on providing consulting and professional services to help companies actively manage their growing digital risks.
Stephen Balaban
Co-Founder & CEO of Lambda
Stephen Balaban is the Co-Founder & CEO at Lambda.
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About Lambda, Lambda: Lambda provides Deep Learning servers, workstations, and GPU cloud services to Microsoft, Tencent, MIT, Princeton, Airbus, and more.
Steven K. Sprague
CEO & Co-Founder of Rivetz
Steven Sprague is the CEO of Rivetz Corp. and one of the principle industry evangelists for the application of trusted computing technology. Steven has a strong technical foundation in the principles, capabilities and business models of incorporating trusted hardware into everyday computing, and is skilled at translating these concepts into layman’s terms. Steven is the co-founder of Rivetz Corp. a new company focused on the use of trusted computing and TEE for the consumer market. Rivetz is also playing an important role in providing the key technologies for the protection of private keys and secure instructions for Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. Steven graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. He enjoys farming in Western Massachusetts with his wife, two daughters, and a few too many horses.
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About NKrypt, Rivetz: Rivetz is a developer of a hardware-based cyber-security system used to offer a simplified approach to cybersecurity.
Rajiv Khemani
Co-founder & CEO of Innovium
Rajiv Khemani is Founder and CEO of Innovium, a venture funded startup based in Silicon Valley (www.innovium.com). As a partner at Moment Ventures, he is also an investor in several software-based infrastructure startups. Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Cavium, a leading public semiconductor company that provides solutions for data-center, enterprise and mobile applications. Rajiv joined Cavium in 2003 and held senior executive roles leading marketing, sales, engineering and operations. He helped drive the company from an early startup stage to profitability, IPO and a valuation of over $2.5 billion. Prior to Cavium, Rajiv spent 5 years at Intel, where he was GM of the network processor business and led the business to achieve industry leading market share. He joined Intel as a result of acquisition of his startup company, Netboost. Before that, he held engineering and marketing management roles at Netapp and Sun Microsystems (now Oracle). Rajiv has also served on the Management Board of the Stanford Business School. He holds an MBA from Stanford University, a BS in Computer Science from IIT Delhi and an MS in Computer Science from New York University. His hobbies include golf, traveling and hiking.
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About Innovium: Innovium develops switching silicon solutions for cloud and edge data centers.
Vijay Chattha
Founder and CEO of VSC
Vijay Chattha joined VSC Consulting as Founder / CEO in 2002.
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About BlackMahal, The100kPledge, VSC, Wareness.io: We are a band of strategists, storytellers and data nerds obsessed with helping Davids crush a sea of Goliaths.
Arvind Lakshmikumar
CEO of Tonbo Imaging
Arvind Lakshmikumar is the founder and CEO of Tonbo Imaging. He is an established domain expert in applied imaging technologies, computer vision, robotics and intelligent systems. He has been a principal investigator and program director for a number of international military and scientific programs (DARPA, NASA, US Army, AFRL, NSF, and DRDO) in the areas of vision and imaging and also serves on program committees of major computer vision and robotics conferences. Arvind has been a principal investigator and lead sub-contractor on multiple next-generation military programs. Arvind did his doctoral work in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University and has Masters Degrees in Computer Science, Electronics and Chemistry from BITS, Pilani. He has leadership experience both at entrepreneurial and global corporation levels Prior to founding Tonbo Imaging, Arvind was the head of technology and operations at Sarnoff Corporation.
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About Tonbo Imaging: Tonbo Imaging offers advanced imaging and sensor systems for military reconnaissance and the security of critical industrial establishments.
Jonathan Badal
CEO of OpenTrons
Jon leads Opentrons’ business operations and growth. Jon is also a Board Member at Genspace and has been an advisor to OpenTrons since the company’s beginning. Jon joins us from Amazon, where he was the VP of Strategy at comiXology (exited to Amazon in 2014). As an early employee at comiXology, he helped the company become the leading platform for discovering, buying, and reading digital comic books and #1 Top Grossing non-game iPad app. Prior to comiXology, Jon was an analyst at early-stage VC, Rose Tech Ventures, and graduated from Columbia Unversity as a History major.
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About OpenTrons: OpenTrons is a developer of a pipetting robot technology designed to automate experiments.
Robert Playter
CEO of Boston Dynamics
Dr. Robert Playter is CEO of Boston Dynamics. Under his leadership, Boston Dynamics is transforming its world-leading robotics R&D into an industry-leading commercial organization with its first robot offering, Spot. Previously, as Chief Operating Officer, he spearheaded Boston Dynamics’ entrance into logistics automation with the development of the robot Handle, and acquisition of the deep-learning computer vision software known as Pick. Dr. Playter has over 30 years of experience researching, developing, and commercializing advanced mobile robots. He led Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot programs, including the creation of the PETMAN and Atlas robots, as well as the development of Boston Dynamics’ physics-based simulation software, Digital Biomechanics. An NCAA Division I National Champion gymnast while studying at The Ohio State University, Playter became interested in exploring robotics inspired by human biomechanics. He received his PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT in 1994. As part of his PhD thesis on robot gymnastics, performed at the MIT Leg Lab, he programmed a bipedal robot to do the world’s first 3D robotic somersault.
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About Boston Dynamics: Boston Dynamics is an engineering company that specializes in building dynamic robots and software for human simulation.
Alessandro Parimbelli
Executive Vice President, CEO, Enterprise and Infrastructure of Jabil
Alessandro Parimbelli was named Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise & Infrastructure on October 2, 2014. Mr. Parimbelli joined Jabil in 1998 as a Test Engineering Manager. At Jabil, Mr. Parimbelli served in business management positions in Boise, Idaho and Paris, France before being promoted to Vice President, Global Business Units in September 2006. From 2010 through 2012 Parimbelli was Senior Vice President, Global Business Units, responsible for Jabil’s High Velocity business. Prior to joining Jabil. Mr. Parimbelli held various engineering positions within Hewlett-Packard, Italy and other software engineering companies. He holds an MBA from Colorado State University and a Software Engineering degree from Politecnico of Milan, Italy.
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About Jabil: Jabil is a product solutions company providing comprehensive design, manufacturing, supply chain and product management services.
Kenny Wilson
Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer Jabil Green Point of Jabil
Kenny Wilson was appointed executive vice president and CEO of Jabil Green Point in 2017. Mr. Wilson brings with him more than 35 years of electronics and optics industry experience. He first joined Jabil in 2000 as business unit manager, and has held various leadership roles, including vice president of global business units, running businesses such as consumer electronics and telecommunications. Mr. Wilson was most recently senior vice president of the telecommunications infrastructure sector within Jabil’s Enterprise & Infrastructure Division. Prior to Jabil, he spent eight years at Motorola, where he served as operations director in their handset division. Mr. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering and a MBA from Edinburgh Business School.
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About Jabil: Jabil is a product solutions company providing comprehensive design, manufacturing, supply chain and product management services.
Steve Borges
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Healthcare of Jabil
Steve Borges serves as the CEO of Nypro Healthcare and is a Jabil Executive Vice President. With over 20+ years of global experience in Business Development, Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain Management he consistently leads and develops new operations and processes that contribute to top-line growth and bottom-line profitability. In Steve’s 22-year history with Jabil he has led successful growth efforts in various diverse markets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management from Fitchburg State College.
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About Jabil: Jabil is a product solutions company providing comprehensive design, manufacturing, supply chain and product management services.
Michael J. Loparco
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Engineered Solutions Group of Jabil
Michael J. Loparco was named Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer, Engineered Solutions Group in January 2016. Previously, Mr. Loparco has served as Executive Vice President, CEO, Industrial & Energy, Senior Vice President of Jabil’s High Velocity business and held a variety of global management positions. Before joining Jabil in 1999, Mr. Loparco was an attorney at Holland & Knight, LLP, practicing Corporate and Commercial Litigation, and was a Certified Mediator in the judicial circuits of the State of Florida. He holds a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Stetson University College of Law; and attended Florida State University, College of Law, while serving in the Committee of Business and Professional Regulation for the FL House of Representatives. He holds a B.A. in International Business, with minor degrees in Spanish and Business Management, from Eckerd College.
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About Jabil: Jabil is a product solutions company providing comprehensive design, manufacturing, supply chain and product management services.
Jorge Heraud
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Blue River Technology
Jorge is the co-founder and CEO of Blue River Technology Inc. (www.bluerivert.com), a start-up company that intends to revolutionize weeding and dramatically reduce chemical use.
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About Blue River Technology: Blue River Technology employs computer vision and robotics technologies to build intelligent solutions for the agricultural industries.
Kelly Peng
Founder, CEO & CTO (Electrical / Optical / Software Engineer) of Kura Technologies
Kelly Peng is the CEO, CTO, and Founder of Kura Technologies.
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About Greylock, Kura Technologies, Particle House (AKA Inventor Lab), Radio Astronomy Lab, Stanford University, The AAT Project (American’s Amazing Teen): Kura Tech is a tech firm and platform that produces compact AR glasses, with customized displays, optics, ASICs, system.
Kwindla Kramer
Co-founder & CEO of Daily.co
Kwindla Hultman Kramer is CEO of Oblong Industries, developer of the g-speak Spatial Operating Environment. Oblong was responsible for the gestural interfaces in the film Minority Report, and the company’s current customers and partners include Boeing, GE, Saudi Aramco and others. Kwin’s background is in programming, hardware design, and the development of large-scale systems architectures. Before helping to start Oblong he served as the founding CTO of AllAfrica.com, one of the web’s largest content aggregators and a two-time webby award nominee. Kwin holds degrees from the MIT Media Laboratory and Harvard College and lives in Los Angeles.
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About Daily.co: Daily.co offers video chat as an API.
Nicholas Woodman
Owner, CEO & Founder of GoPro
While the eight-person staff of GoPro was enjoying the success of their first HD HERO camera in 2009, founder and CEO Nick Woodman realized one thing: to support his vision, he was going to need a bigger staff. But before Woodman could think bigger, he had to start out small. After receiving a degree in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego, Woodman founded an online promotions company, Fun Bug. In 2001, Woodman sold Fun Bug and took off surfing and traveling the world. The decision inspired more than the personal – Woodman’s passion for surfing sparked the idea to create the now-popular wearable and gear mountable camera and in 2002, Woodman founded GoPro. After years of research and planning, the company released its first product, the GoPro HERO, a 35mm film-based camera that was worn on the wrist. Made up of some of Woodman’s friends and family members, the early GoPro team established the company as a true innovator by continually iterating on the product, moving from a film-based camera to a digital still and video camera. A lifetime extreme sports enthusiast, Woodman was learning how to race cars when he was compelled to move the camera from his wrist to the top of his car. This simple idea led to an array of camera mounting devices – for everything from helmets to surfboards, and even dog collars.
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About GoPro: GoPro is a brand of personal cameras used in extreme action video photography.
Khalil Zahar
Co-founder and CEO of FightCamp
Co-Founder @ FightCamp (Hykso), YC alum (W16), M.A.Sc. @ University of Toronto, Djaying whenever I can
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About FightCamp: FightCamp provides on-demand boxing and HIIT workouts with motion trackers on wrists that track every punch thrown and every rep completed.
Vikas Gupta
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Wonder Workshop
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About Wonder Workshop: Wonder Workshop provides a platform that makes programming fun and accessible for children while they play.
Jeff Russakow
CEO of Boosted USA
Jeff Russakow is CEO of Boosted, a leading provider of lightweight, portable, high-performance electric vehicles, and an innovator in fast, fun, simple “last-mile” transportation. The company is well-known for it’s first commercial product, the Boosted Board, a premier electric longboard used by riders worldwide to speed their commutes and daily trips about town. The company is now navigating the dual challenges of extraordinary hyper-growth and international expansion, while continuing to explore new and innovative ways to get folks where they need to be. Jeff began his career as a PhD in robotics and autonomous systems; spent many formative years as a management consultant and then senior executive in large-scale tech companies including SAP, Adobe, Symantec, and Yahoo!; and in the last several years has been the CEO of three high-growth companies.
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About Boosted USA: Boosted USA builds and develops lightweight, wireless, and remote-controlled motorized electric longboards.
Usama Abid
Co-founder & CEO of Inventhub
Usama Abid is a technology entrepreneur. As an engineer-turned-entrepreneur, he has dedicated himself to improving the hardware design process, and is an active contributor to the open-source community. His company, InventHub, Inc., is founded on the idea that innovation can happen at scale if: one, engineers are provided with a new way to collaborate; and two, the open-source community is empowered with resources. Prior to InventHub, Usama founded DIY GEEKS, a startup that focuses on robotics education in his native Pakistan, where Usama helped cultivate the community and ushered in a love of making with his self-learning DIY kits, workshops and seminars. He was recognized by TechJuice in 2018 as one of Pakistan’s “25 Under 25” — an annual list of those helping to change the landscape in the country’s startup ecosystem. His work has been featured in numerous tech blogs and magazines, including TechJuice, StartUp Magazine, Geo TV.
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About Inventhub: Inventhub is an electronics design collaboration and data management platform that helps maximize product quality.
Lisa Su
Chief Executive Officer of AMD
Dr. Su is AMD’s President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD, a leading semiconductor manufacturer. Previously she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from July 2014 to October 2014 and Senior Vice President and General Manager, Global Business Units from January 2012 to July 2014. Prior to joining AMD in January 2012, Dr. Su served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Networking and Multimedia at Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. from 2008 to 2011 prior to that, as Chief Technology Officer from 2007 to 2008. Dr. Su also spent 13 years with IBM in various engineering and business leadership positions; and was a member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments in the Semiconductor Process and Device Center. Ms. Su also serves as a director of AMD.
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About AMD: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a semiconductor company that designs and develops graphics units, processors, and media solutions.
Daniela Perdomo
Co-founder & CEO of goTenna
Daniela Perdomo is founder and CEO of goTenna, which is advancing universal access to connectivity by decentralizing it. goTenna’s mesh networks are used by consumers as well as the U.N., Google, FEMA, Raytheon, the French Army, US Special Operations Forces & the City of New York. Daniela Perdomo is founder & CEO of goTenna, which is advancing universal access to connectivity by decentralizing it. goTenna’s specialized hardware pairs with regular smartphones to create long-range, mobile mesh networks independent of traditional communications networks. goTenna’s technology is used by consumers as well as the United Nations, Google, FEMA, Raytheon, the French Army, US Special Operations Forces, and the City of New York.
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About goTenna: GoTenna is advancing universal access to connectivity by building intelligent and scalable mobile mesh networks.
Renee James
Founder , Chairman & CEO of Ampere Computing
Renée James is President of Intel Corporation and is part of the company’s Executive Office. Renée has broad knowledge of the computing industry, spanning hardware, manufacturing, security, software and services, which she developed through product R&D leadership positions at Intel and as chairman of Intel’s software subsidiaries. Renée has also been an overall leader in the development and implementation of the corporate strategy. During her 25 plus year career at Intel, Renée has spearheaded the company’s strategic expansion into providing proprietary and open source software and services for applications in enterprise, security and cloud-based computing. In her most recent role as executive vice president and general manager of the Software and Services Group, she was responsible for Intel’s global software and services strategy, revenue, profit, and product R&D. In this role, Renée led Intel’s strategic relationships with the world’s leading device and enterprise operating systems companies. Previously, she was the director and COO of Intel Online Services, Intel’s datacenter services business. Early in her career Renée also served as chief of staff for former Intel CEO Andy Grove. Renée is Vice Chair of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. She served 7 years as independent director on the VMware Inc. Board of Directors and was a member of the Audit Committee. She is also a member of the C200 and a non-executive director of Sabre Corporation. Most recently Renée was nominated to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list, ranking 21st and was named on Forbes 100 list at number 37. She holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Oregon.
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About Ampere Computing, Intel, The Carlyle Group: Ampere Computing develops data center processors for cloud servers.
Phillip Walker
CEO, Co-Founder, Board Member of Transcend Robotics
A serial entrepreneur who values hitting milestones for investors and producing scalable results.
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About Transcend Robotics: Transcend Robotics is a startup that develops ground-based mobile robots.
Jonathon Perrelli
CEO & Co-Founder of LifeFuels
Jonathon’s newest project and startup is LifeFuels, a beverage technology company created with the goal of helping people feel their best, from the inside out. Jonathon and his team will be launching the world’s first portable beverage maker, which makes drinks on the go tailored to match your activity and lifestyle, in 2018. Inspiration for Fortify Ventures and Distilled Intelligence came from Jonathon’s 18 years as an entrepreneur and angel investor. As a native Washingtonian, Jonathon is a key player in the thriving startup technology ecosystem in our nation’s capital. He is dedicated to and passionate about startupland. Jonathon is a proud graduate of Virginia Tech and alumnus of UUNET.
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About LifeFuels, SecureForce: LifeFuels is changing the way consumers approach hydration and nutrition by empowering them to create personalized beverages on the go.
Dan Shapiro
CEO of Glowforge
Dan Shapiro is the CEO and primary turtle wrangler at Robot Turtles, a company created when he accidentally launched the bestselling board game in Kickstarter. He has previously spent time leading a Google subsidiary that operates comparison shopping products. Dan Shapiro joined Google when they bought his previous company, Sparkbuy, a comparison shopping website, where he was founder and CEO. Before Sparkbuy, Dan Shapiro was founder and CEO of Ontela, a pioneering mobile imaging company, where he was named CEO of the Year by MobileBeat. Ontela was frequently recognized including the Dow Jones Top 10 in Wireless list, the CTIA award for Best Social Networking Application, and Breakthrough Startup of the Year by the WTIA. Prior to founding Ontela, Dan Shapiro managed development of the RealArcade service at RealNetworks, enabling thousands of end-users to play classic games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, and Rollercoaster Tycoon on their desktops. He arrived at RealNetworks by way of Wildseed, where he managed software development for the Identity Cellular Phone. Dan Shapiro started his career at Microsoft working on Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. Dan Shapiro’s articles have been published in the Washington Post, Wireless Week, and the Seattle PI, and he is a frequent speaker at conferences and events. He serves on the board of the non-profit Washington Technology Industry Association. He is a mentor for the Founder’s Institute, 500 Startups, and Techstars. Dan Shapiro has been awarded eleven U.S. patents, and received his B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College.
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About Glowforge, Robot Turtles, Sparkbuy: Glowforge is a manufacturer of 3D laser printers intended to offer printing services on a wide range of materials and many more.
Colin Angle
Chairman, CEO and Founder of iRobot
Colin Angle is incurably optimistic about the future of people and robotics. A robot builder from MIT who wanted to change the world by making practical robotics a mainstream reality, Colin envisions a world where intelligent and and purpose-first robots help people do more. As a visionary at the forefront of the growing home robot industry, today Colin serves as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the iconic consumer robot company he founded in 1990: iRobot. He is an industry pioneer and one of the world’s leading authorities on practical robots. Under Colin’s leadership, iRobot has grown from a MIT startup to become the global leader in consumer robots, with $884 million in revenue and more than 1,000 employees in twelve countries. In 2002, iRobot established the home robot category with the creation of the award-winning Roomba robot vacuum. The company’s product line, including the Roomba and the Braava family of robot mops, made practical home robots a reality for the first time and have become the most successful consumer robots in history, with more than 25 million sold worldwide.
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About iRobot, Ixcela, Robots in Service of the Environment, Science From Scientists: iRobot is an American technology company that designs and builds behavior-based AI robots.
Alan Chan
Co-Founder & CEO of Joy
Alan Chan is the Cofounder & CEO of Joy (https://joy.co)
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About Joy: Joy is the first Smart Photo Album – an all-in-one hardware, software and cloud solution for families to organize and relive their memories.
Stephen Luczo
CEO of Seagate Technology
Stephen Luczo serves as the Chairman of the Board, CEO and President. Luzco joined us in October 1993 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. In September 1997, Luczo was promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of our predecessor, Seagate Technology, Inc. and, in July 1998, he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer. Luczo resigned as our Chief Executive Officer, effective 3 July 2004, but retained his position as Chairman of the Board. In January 2009, Luczo was appointed President and CEO. Prior to joining us, Luczo was Senior Managing Director of the Global Technology Group of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm, from February 1992 to October 1993.
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About Bridge Budapest, Seagate Technology: Seagate offers consumers and businesses with data storage solutions to create, share, and preserve digital content.
Jesper Andersen
CEO & President of Infoblox
A seasoned networking and software industry executive with a track record of building large businesses, Jesper is the leader of Infoblox, responsible for the company’s continuing growth and innovation. Prior to joining Infoblox in December 2014, he served in a number of roles at Cisco Systems, including senior vice president for network management. Previously, he held senior management positions at Oracle, PeopleSoft, Pivotal Software and Computer Resources International.
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About Infoblox: Infoblox develops network identity solutions enabling businesses to automate network control functions to reduce costs and boost security.
Nicholas Harris
Founder, CEO of Lightmatter
Nick Harris is the CEO and co-founder of Lightmatter, where his team is leading the evolution of computing, reducing its impact on our planet, and enabling the next great leaps in human progress through silicon photonics. Prior to founding Lightmatter, Nick was an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow and National Science Foundation Fellow at MIT, where he received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Nick has authored 67 academic articles and 13 patents, and his doctoral thesis was titled “Programmable nanophotonics for quantum information processing and artificial intelligence.” Nick was previously an R&D engineer working on DRAM and NAND circuits and device physics at Micron Technologies.
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About Lightmatter: Lightmatter uses light to create photonic compute chips specialized for AI.
John Goscha
Founder and CEO of Native Voice
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About Lucidity Lights, Native Voice: Native Voice is a software SDK for audio device manufacturers to integrate their SDK to create the next generation of listening devices.
Sanjay Mehrotra
President and CEO of Micron Technology
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About Micron Technology: Micron Technology is a semiconductor company that produces DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips.
Maxim Lobovsky
Co-Founder and CEO of Formlabs
Maxim Lobovsky launched a successful career as an entrepreneur and startup founder by age 25. As a Program in Media Arts and Sciences master’s student at MIT’s Media Lab, Lobovsky enjoyed access to three-dimensional printers to create necessary components for his projects, designed and printed to spec. Lobovsky could see the potential applications of 3D printing for designers, architects, engineers, and other small businesses;however, the machines he used were prohibitively expensive. After graduating, Lobovsky worked with two of his friends to create the first small-scale, affordable 3D printer for “prosumers,” or professional consumers, and thus was born his startup, Formlabs. Once they had a prototype, called the Form 1, Lobovsky and Formlabs’ co-founders began a Kickstarter campaign, using the power of crowdsourced funding to finance the production of commercial models. Formlabs raised more than $1 million in a week, and nearly $3 million overall—30 times their original fundraising goal. The Form 1 is compatible with CAD software, and uses stereolithography technology to print layers as thin as .001 inches.
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About Formlabs: Formlabs develops accessible 3D fabrication systems designed for printing intricate figures.
Mark Haidar
Co-Founder & CEO of Vinli
Mark Haidar is a serial entrepreneur who combines advanced technological skills with astute business knowledge. Throughout his career, Mark was able to build more than 42 different notable products and grow several technology-based businesses. Mark started his first technology company in Lebanon at age 17. By the age of 21, he had built the first fully integrated web-based university management system in Lebanon, the first 3D game engine built locally in the Middle East, the first wireless application protocol based internet-to-home remote control system in Lebanon, and won a People’s Choice Award for Best Web Product in the Middle East for transforming municipality records from paper to digital. In 2006, Mark moved to the US and led the development of a state of the art research and development project for the US Army Tank Automotive Research Development Engineering Center (TARDEC). He was able to successfully create an original service-oriented intra and inter-vehicle communication system for transportation, robotic, and military systems that enhanced each vehicle’s situation assessment and awareness in military combats and have the potential to help create safer and more efficient highway systems. With a huge demand for innovative and scalable technology solutions, Mark co-founded Dialexa, a global product-focused technology innovation and development company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dialexa has been growing at an exponential rate with clients ranging from venture-backed startups to Fortune 20 companies and governments around the world. In 2014, Dialexa started a division under the name of Dialexa Labs, a self-funded venture lab that develops internal products or services that spins out new companies. In September 2014, Dialexa Labs launched Vinli, the first connected car technology platform at Techcrunch Disrupt. Mark is currently serving as the CEO of Vinli. Mark also serves on the board of directors for Dialexa Labs portfolio companies Robin and Silvr. Mark has numerous journal publications, pending patents, and is a regular speaker at global technology conferences. Most recently Mark founded Peace.Report, an online news aggregator that focuses on current conflicts around the world. It collects news articles that promote peace. Peace.Report is scheduled to go live early 2015. Mark has also launched LISA (Levant International Startup Association), which helps startups in the Levant region to launch and scale their companies in international markets. Mark is trilingual and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
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About Dialexa, LISA, Robin Autopilot, Vinli: Vinli is a universal car-to-cloud data computing platform that turns any car into a connected car.
Jake Rubin
Founder & CEO of HaptX
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About HaptX: HaptX is a leading haptics company that brings realistic touch to virtual reality for the first time with HaptX Gloves.
Thomas Giacomini
President & CEO of JBT Corporation
Thomas Giacomini was appointed JBT Corporation’s President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2013 and was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2014. Prior to joining JBT, he served as Vice President (since February 2008) of Dover Corporation, a diversified global manufacturer, and President and Chief Executive Officer (since November 2011) of Dover Engineered Systems. Prior to serving in these roles, Giacomini served as President (from April 2009 to November 2011) and Chief Executive Officer (from July 2009 to November 2011) of Dover Industrial Products and President (from October 2007 to July 2009) of Dover’s Material Handling Platform. Giacomini joined Dover in 2003 following its acquisition of Warn Industries, an industrial manufacturer specializing in vehicle performance enhancing equipment. During his 12 year tenure at Warn Industries he held a variety of leadership roles including President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Warn Industries, Giacomini held various roles at TRW, Inc. Giacomini holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Michigan (Dearborn).
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About JBT Corporation: JBT Corporation is a global technology solutions provider to the food processing and air transportation industries.
Brian Deck
Interim President And CEO of JBT Corporation
Brian Deck was appointed as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of JBT Corporation in February 2014, and became Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of JBT in May 2014. Prior to joining JBT, Deck served as Chief Financial Officer of National Material L.P., a private diversified industrial holding company (since May 2011). He served as Vice President of Finance and Treasury (from November 2007 to May 2011) and as Director, Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis (from August 2005 to November 2007) of Ryerson Inc., a metals distributor and processor. Prior to his service with Ryerson, Deck had increasing responsibilities with General Electric Capital, Bank One (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.) and Cole Taylor Bank. Deck holds an MBA with a concentration in finance from DePaul University in Chicago, and a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois.
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About JBT Corporation: JBT Corporation is a global technology solutions provider to the food processing and air transportation industries.
Liam Casey
Founder & CEO of PCH International
Liam is the founder and CEO of PCH. He has lived 23 years in China and is recognized as a thought leader in new product introductions, supply chain orchestration, sustainability and startup initiatives. He is on the boards of the California College for the Arts, and UC Berkeley Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation.
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About PCH International: PCH provides a unique, intelligent, end-to-end product development and supply chain orchestration platform for the world’s best brands.
Chuck Robbins
Chairman & CEO of Cisco
As CEO, Robbins leads an Executive Leadership Team focused on Ciscos vision to change the way the world works, lives, plays and learns. Under his leadership, Cisco is empowering its customers to create and deliver value as every country, city and company becomes digital. In his previous role as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for Cisco, Robbins led the company’s Worldwide Sales and Partner Organizations, and helped drive and execute many of the companys investment areas and strategy shifts. He also sponsored the security and collaboration businesses at the executive level and was a key champion for the Sourcefire and Meraki acquisitions.
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About Cisco: Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, and other technology services and products.
Joseph Huang
CEO of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Thomas Williams
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Parker Hannifin
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About Parker Hannifin: Parker Hannifin is the world’s leading diversified manufacturer of motion.
Shantanu Bala
Co-founder & CEO of Somatic Labs
Co-Founder & CEO at Somatic Labs
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About Somatic Labs: Somatic Labs builds wearable haptic devices that augment human perception.
Hector Hoyos
Founder, Chairman, CEO & CTO of Hoyos Corporation
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About Hoyos Corporation: Hoyos is an identity management technology solution company focused on developing systems for access control and the identity market.
Jake Duneier
Founder & CEO of Purple Technologies
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About Clyde Duneier, Inc., Purple Technologies: Purple Technologies creates beautiful products that enhance the human experience.
Bracken Darrell
CEO of Logitech
Bracken Darrell joined Logitech as president in 2012 and became chief executive officer a year later. In this role he has led a transformation of Logitech. He is a proponent of the importance of the liberal arts and design in business, especially of their role in innovating product experiences for consumers. He is an English major from Hendrix College. Bracken brings to Logitech experience in product and brand building through design. He has worked around the world on iconic brands like Old Spice, Gillette and Braun, for which he was president. He has spent time at P&G, GE, Gillette, and Whirlpool. Since he took over five years ago, Logitech has been a top performer on the SIX Swiss stock exchange and on the NASDAQ. The company’s stock price and profits have more than quadrupled in the same period.
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About Logitech: Logitech designs and manufactures personal peripherals for the needs of personal computer and laptop users.
Blake Moret
President & Chief Executive Officer of Rockwell Automation
Blake Moret Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Rockwell Automation
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About Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Automation: Rockwell Automation specializes in industrial automation and information, makes its customers more productive.
Cedric Bru
CEO & President of Taulia
Cedric Bru is President and CEO of Taulia, the Fintech company revolutionizing cash flows and supplier financing. He has more than 20 years of experience and a proven executive management track in financial services and technology companies like Visa and Hewlett-Packard. Cedric holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. In addition to his dedication to his career, Cedric is passionate about his family, art, and a good game of rugby, tennis, or golf.
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About Taulia: Taulia is a FinTech startup that provides working capital management and electronic invoicing services for supply chain companies.
Hugo Fiennes
Founder & CEO of Electric Imp
Hugo Fiennes is CEO and Co-founder of Electric Imp, an innovative and powerful Internet of Things-based cloud service and hardware platform that makes it simple to connect devices to the Internet. Hugo began developing hardware and software for early ARM-based computers in the late 1980s and has been building useful and successful things ever since. After designing many MP3 players for Rio, Hugo led Apple’s hardware team through the first four generations of the groundbreaking iPhone, and was then an early advisor to Nest Labs, architecting the hardware for their first thermostat product before starting Electric Imp in 2011. He graduated first honors from University of Warwick in Coventry, England with a degree in Computer Systems Engineering.
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About Electric Imp: Electric Imp provides a secure IoT platform, connecting cloud services with the real world
Troy Harvey
CEO of PassiveLogic
Troy Harvey is the CEO of PassiveLogic, who is developing an artificial intelligence driven building automation platform built on the fundamental foundations of physics. Troy has over 20 years of vision and leadership, building and delivering game-changing products by blending new cutting-edge technology and mentoring new talent. Holding the unique cross-over expertise in the fields of high-performance building engineering and product development, Troy is a passionate and opinionated technologist with a strong vision for the disruptive power of technology. An entrepreneur who enjoys translating business opportunity into usable and beautiful products.
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About PassiveLogic: PassiveLogic – the world’s first fully autonomous buildings platform.
Hugo de Gentile
Co-Founder & CEO of Willo
Hugo de Gentile is the Co-Founder and CEO at Willo
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About Willo: Willo develops technology in oral health that automatically empowers everyone to achieve the best at-home clean possible.
Andrew Feldman
CEO & Co-Founder of Cerebras Systems
Andrew is co-founder and CEO of Cerebras Systems. He is an entrepreneur dedicated to pushing boundaries in the compute space. Prior to Cerebras, he co-founded and was CEO of SeaMicro, a pioneer of energy-efficient, high-bandwidth microservers. SeaMicro was acquired by AMD in 2012 for $357M. Before SeaMicro, Andrew was the Vice President of Product Management, Marketing and BD at Force10 Networks which was later sold to Dell Computing for $800M. Prior to Force10 Networks, Andrew was the Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development at RiverStone Networks from the company’s inception through IPO in 2001. Andrew holds an MBA from Stanford University.
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About Cerebras Systems: Cerebras Systems develops computing chips with the sole purpose of accelerating AI.
Gabriel Halimi
Co-Founder & CEO of Flo Technologies
Gabriel is a former law partner turned corporate operations executive, with extensive startup experience, including in business development and brand marketing.
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About Flo Technologies: Flo prevents water damage and unnecessary water waste in homes with its Flo by Moen smart home water monitoring and leak protection system.
Kevin Weiss
Chief Executive Officer of Spireon
Kevin Weiss is Spireon’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Spireon, Kevin served as CEO of Unitrends, a global technology company that delivers end-to-end business recovery solutions. Prior to Unitrends, Kevin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of multiple private-equity owned technology-enabled companies following his role as President of McAfee and senior sales and marketing leadership roles at IBM.
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About Spireon: Spireon connects companies to their mobile assets and workforce through game-changing information platforms.
Bicheng Han
CEO of BrainCo
Bicheng Han is the founder and CEO of Brainco. He founded the company in 2014. A year after, Han founded BrainRobotics. Han earned his PhD from Harvard University, Center of Brain Science. He is a brain science, medical device expert.
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About BrainCo, BrainRobotics, Harvard University: BrainCo strives to apply brain machine interface (BMI) and neurofeedback training to optimize the potential of the human brain.
Brian Gerkey
Chief Executive Officer, Founder of Open Robotics
Brian Gerkey is CEO of Open Robotics. Prior to joining Open Robotics, Brian was Director of Open Source Development at Willow Garage. Previously, Brian was a Computer Scientist in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI, and before that, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford University. Brian received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2003, his M.S. in Computer Science from USC in 2000, and his B.S.E. in Computer Engineering, with a secondary major in Mathematics and a minor in Robotics and Automation, from Tulane University in 1998. Among other accolades, Brian was recognized by MIT Technology Review with the TR35 award and by Silicon Valley Business Journal with their 40 Under 40 award.
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About Open Robotics: Open Robotics support the development, distribution, and adoption of open software and hardware for use in robotics.
Jonathan Sawyer
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Xetawave
Jonathan Sawyer is the Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer/Chief Technology Officer at Xetawave. Jonathan has pushed the limits over a period of three decades in the design and development of new and innovative, industry-changing wireless technologies. He is renowned in his approach for always thinking out of the box and questioning conventional wisdom. Prior to XetaWave, Jonathan co-founded FreeWave Technologies in 1993. In addition to his responsibilities as CTO, he co-managed FreeWave. Jonathan designed the very first FHSS products which employed modulation, hopping speeds and over-the-air protocols which are still considered state of the art to this day. In his 17 years at FreeWave, he designed every radio and grew the company culminating with an investment by TA Associates of $113M in 2007. During the 3 years following the acquisition, Jonathan worked to expand the management and technical team of FreeWave to ensure its continued scalability and growth from its entrepreneurial roots. Prior to FreeWave, in 1986 and as co-founder of Inovonics, Jonathan developed a unique narrow pulse wireless technology to enable low power, unlicensed devices to achieve a range of miles versus feet, a first within the industry. This technology is still in use today. In 2005, Inovonics was sold to Roper Industries for over $45 million. In the late 1980s, while director of hardware engineering for Clinicom, Jonathan pioneered the first WIFI type network at 900 MHz for use in handheld computers within a hospital environment. Jonathan’s 900 MHz technology produced an aggregate bandwidth of over 15MB and extended the range of this technology to allow a single access point to provide wireless coverage across multiple floors within a hospital. During this time, he developed much of the Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technologies and protocols used today. Jonathan received several patents for his work.
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About Xetawave: XetaWave is a wireless network equipment company providing data-centric wireless radios for communication networks.
Max Skibinsky
CEO and Co-Founder of Vault12
Max Skibinsky is serial entrepreneur, angel investor & start-up mentor. He is currently a Venture Partner with Andreessen Horowitz. Max was founder and CEO of Hive7, a social gaming company known for its smash hit game “Knighthood” that grown to 6M players on Facebook. In 2010 Hive7 was sold to Playdom/Disney. Later Max become one of the co-founders of Inporia that secured funding from YCombinator, SV Angels, Clearstone & NEA to launch number of consumer products that used machine learning algorithms for online and mobile e-commerce. Max is also one of resident mentors of 500 Startups. Max holds Masters degree in theoretical physics from Moscow State University. When not designing, brainstorming, advising, and building startups Max can be found flying in general vicinity of Palo Alto airspace.
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About Vault12: Vault12 is the first to deliver decentralized digital custody to protect your most precious digital assets.
Yoshinori Yamashita
President and CEO of Ricoh Company
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About Ricoh Company: Ricoh is a global technology company provide office imaging equipment, document management systems and IT services.
Vibhu Norby
CEO of b8ta
Founder/CEO of Origami Labs (FKA Everyme) and b8ta. Previously at MySpace and Threadbox.
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About b8ta: B8ta is a software-powered retailer designed to make physical retail accessible for all.
Joseph Fasone
Founder & CEO of Pilot
Joseph is the founder of Pilot, a fiber-optic internet provider for businesses in New York City.Prior to founding Pilot, Joseph was the Director of Information Technology for WeWork from 2010-2014.
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About Pilot: Pilot is a fiber-optic ISP that raises the bar for telecom and provides better business internet.
Andreas E. Haas
Co-Founder, CEO and Lead Engineer of Modbook
Andreas E. Haas co-founded Axiotron Corp. in 2005 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr. Haas has 18 years of extensive experience in business management, marketing & product management, as well as in hard- & software development. Mr. Haas co-founded Their World Live, Inc. and served as its Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Haas also held various management positions at Apple Computer in Europe including Apple’s Portable product lines, the Newton Systems Group, and Apple Third Party Product Marketing. He served for Apple’s European Headquarters in Paris, France as Manager of the European Product Management for Professional Desktop and Server Systems heading the European Product Management teams for Desktop and Server products. He has been Director of Axiotron Corp. since August 2008. Mr. Haas holds B.S in Management Information Systems from Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in Bavaria in 1994.
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About Modbook: Welcome to the home of the Modbook Pro, a Wacom Penabled tablet computer and the one and only Mac tablet.
Dave Evans
Co-Founder, CEO of Fictiv
Dave Evans co-founded Fictiv and serves as its CEO in pursuit of his mission to democratize manufacturing. Fictiv’s virtual manufacturing platform pairs intelligent workflow and collaboration software with a global network of highly vetted manufacturers. Prior to Fictiv, Dave was the first hire at Ford’s Silicon Valley Lab which is part of Ford’s Global Research and Advanced Engineering Division. While there, Dave was Lead Hardware Engineer on OpenXC, an open source software and hardware platform to extend customer’s vehicles with custom applications and pluggable modules. In this role, he manufactured hardware for 500+ unit production runs including injection molding, PCB fabrication, box design and assembly. He was also responsible for designing, prototyping, and sourcing hardware builds at the Lab. Dave also proudly led the Stanford University Affiliates project for Ford in the mechanical engineering senior design course.
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About Fictiv: Fictiv is a Digital Manufacturing Ecosystem that delivers precision parts on-demand through its digital platform and global partner network.
Biju Nair
President & CEO of HYLA Mobile
Biju Nair has over 18 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and technology industry leader. In March 2011, Biju Nair joined Synchronoss and serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer. In this role, Biju Nair is responsible for leading the strategic vision of the company. Prior to joining Synchronoss, Biju Nair was the Chairman & CEO of Sapience Knowledge Systems, Inc., a venture backed wireless software company (acquired by Synchronoss Technologies in 2011). Previously, Biju Nair held the position of Senior Vice President & GM of the Connectivity and Security Group at Smith Micro Software (NASDAQ: SMSI) and Corporate Vice President & GM and founder of Mobility Solutions Group at PCTEL, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCTI) which was acquired by Smith Micro in 2008). Biju Nair also held senior executive positions at SAFCO Technologies and Agilent Technologies. Biju Nair holds a Master of Science degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Politechnika Warszawska and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology.
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About HYLA Mobile, Synchronoss Technologies: HYLA Mobile is a provider of mobile device trade-in and reuse solutions it enables information access for new users.
Dan Ryan
Co-Founder & CEO of VergeSense
Dan Ryan is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at VergeSense.
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About VergeSense: VergeSense is the leading workplace analytics platform and provides spatial intelligence to enterprise companies.
Johnny Hou
Founder / CEO of NZXT
Johnny Ho is a Founder and CEO at NZXT. He is also Co-Founder at Acaia. Mr. Ho received a bachelor of science in Computer Engineering at UC Irvine.
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About Acaia, NZXT: NZXT builds PC hardware for enthusiasts and gamers globally.
Chad Rigetti
Founder & CEO of Rigetti Computing
Chad Rigetti is the founder and CEO of Rigetti Computing, a full-stack quantum computing startup based in Berkeley and Fremont, Calif. The company’s product, Forest, is the world’s first full-stack programming and execution environment for hybrid classical-quantum computing. Founded in 2013, Rigetti has raised over $70 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Vy Capital, and has over 50 patent applications on file. Chad holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Yale University and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Regina.
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About Rigetti Computing: Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company that designs and manufactures integrated circuits.
Marcus Gomez
CEO and Co-founder of Luminous Computing
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About Luminous Computing: Luminous Computing develops photonics chips to handle workloads required by the artificial intelligence industry.
Charles Michael Yim
Founder and CEO of Breathometer
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About Breathometer, CMY Ventures, Cohabit Labs, Inc., Cointopia, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, VitaBowl, Walt Disney Television: Breathometer develops a breath analysis technology that helps people make smarter decisions and improve their lives.
Jason Abromaitis
Co-founder and CEO of Launchpad
Jason Abromaitis co-founded and bootstrapped Corus from 2014 to 2021. He co-founded Launchpad, the first at-home connected fitness platform for aspiring athletes in 2021.
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About Launchpad: Fast Twitch Training for athletes, driven by SpeedAI.
Christina Bellman
Founder & CEO of LEVO Oil Infusion, Inc.
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About LEVO Oil Infusion, Inc.: The world’s first automated oil infuser
Shane Wall
Special Advisor to the CEO of HP
Shane Wall is the science and technology advisor of the Hewlett-Packard.
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About Fusion Fund: HP is a manufacturer and seller of personal computers, printers, computer hardwares, and business solutions.
Subodh Kulkarni
President & CEO of CyberOptics
Subodh Kulkarni, has been a director of CyberOptics since 2009. Subodh Kulkarni has been our President and Chief Executive Officer since February 2014, was our Executive Chairman from September 2013 to February 2014 and was lead director from December 2012 until his election as Executive Chairman. Subodh Kulkarni was Chief Executive Officer from January 2013 to February 2014 of Prism Computational Sciences, a developer of software tools for scientific and commercial applications in simulation of hot gases and plasma used in many applications, including the semiconductor industry. Subodh Kulkarni was Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, OEM/Emerging Business, of Imation Corp from 2009 until 2012; Vice President, Global Commercial Business, R&D and Manufacturing of Imation from 2007 through 2009; Vice President, R&D and Manufacturing of Imation from 2006 through 2007; Vice President of R&D of Imation from March 2006 until October 2006; and Executive Director of R&D of Imation from 2004 until March 2006. Prior to 2004, Subodh Kulkarni held various research management positions with 3M Corporation, and prior to that, with IBM. Subodh Kulkarni received his B.S. in chemical engineering (first in his class) from IIT—Bombay, India, and went on to obtain a master’s degree and a PhD in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with thesis work on disilane surface decomposition—used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Subodh Kulkarni has won a number of awards for commercializing technologies he and others have developed in the electronics industry.
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About CyberOptics: CyberOptics has provided industry leading process control sensors and inspection systems, primarily focused in the electronics assembly
Ari Roisman
Co-Founder & CEO of Wristcam
A Mechanical and Energy Engineer by training and passionate entrepreneur at heart, Ari has founded several profitable ventures in a variety of industries. Since founding in 2012, he served as CEO of Glide, the pioneering video messenger for smartphones and smartwatches that supports millions of users and billions of live video exchanges. In 2016, Ari teamed up with an early Apple Watch program manager to develop Wristcam, an ultra-compact Camera System made for Apple Watch. Ari holds a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, and was selected by MIT Technology Review as one of 35 global innovators under 35.
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About Wristcam, Wristcam: Computer Vision for Wearables
Anthony J. Guzzi
President and CEO of Emcor Group
Anthony J. Guzzi has been EMCOR Group, Inc.’s President since October 2004, when he joined the Company, and since January 3, 2011, our Chief Executive Officer. He served as our Chief Operating Officer from October 2004 until January 3, 2011. From August 2001 until he joined the Company, Mr. Guzzi was President of the North American Distribution and Aftermarket Division of Carrier Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of commercial and residential HVAC and refrigeration systems and equipment and a provider of aftermarket services and components of its own products and those of other manufacturers in both the HVAC and refrigeration industry. Mr. Guzzi is also Lead Director of Hubbell International, Inc. Mr. Guzzi was elected to the Board on December 15, 2009. Mr. Guzzi has extensive knowledge of the Company’s business and, having served as a senior executive officer of Carrier Corporation, has extensive knowledge of the mechanical services business which accounts for a significant portion of the Company’s revenues and profits.
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About Emcor Group: EMCOR Group is a Fortune 500 company and global leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure.
Michael J. Parry
President and Chief Executive Officer, EMCOR Construction Services of Emcor Group
Mike draws upon 30 years experience in the design and construction services industry to set direction for our electrical and mechanical construction business in the United States. He ensures our day-to-day operations are tuned for high performance and foster consistent customer satisfaction. Mike’s expertise within the design and construction services industry includes: specialty contractor operations, complex project management, cost estimating, procurement management, and cost-control systems. In addition, Mike has effectively managed the acquisition process, selection, and post-acquisition integration activities at EMCOR. In his prior position as Executive Vice President of EMCOR’s Construction Services Division, he was responsible for the operations of the electrical company subsidiaries, including business and bidding strategy development and implementation, preparation and monitoring of budgets, project performance evaluations, implementation of financial and project control systems, and contract management support. Mike’s diverse project experience includes: environmental remediation, wastewater treatment, sludge dewatering, power generation, institutional facilities, and process plants. The services provided range from feasibility studies to engineering, design, procurement, construction management, start up, and operations support. Mike is an active member of the Construction Industry Roundtable, having held positions such as Director and President for the New York Metro Section of AACE International (formerly the Association of the Advancement of Cost Engineering), Water Environment Control Federation and the Municipal Engineers Association. With his passion for knowledge, Mike’s educational background includes an MBA in finance from New York University, a bachelor’s of electrical engineering degree from City College of New York, and a bachelor’s of science degree from the City College of New York. In addition, he’s participated in the Management Development Program at Northeastern University. Mike enjoys tennis, reading, theater, music, and traveling.
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About Emcor Group: EMCOR Group is a Fortune 500 company and global leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure.
Bill Reid
President and CEO, EMCOR Industrial Services and Ohmstede of Emcor Group
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About Emcor Group: EMCOR Group is a Fortune 500 company and global leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure.
Michael Bordes
President and Chief Executive Officer, EMCOR Building Services of Emcor Group
As leader of the EMCOR Building Services (EBS) Division— which is comprised of EMCOR Facilities Services, EMCOR Mechanical Services, EMCOR Government Services, PPM, and the subsidiaries within those businesses—Mike is the driving force behind the growth and operational excellence of EBS. Mike sets the direction for maintaining a competitive edge and exceeding client expectations, ensuring the high-quality safety and performance that customers expect from the country’s leading building services provider. Mike has more than 30 years of experience in the mechanical services, controls, and facilities industry. Prior to joining EMCOR in 2005, Mike was general manager at United Technologies—Carrier Corporation, where he managed sales and operations for its commercial mechanical and HVAC services business throughout half the United States, and the mechanical services business throughout Canada. Mike held the role of Area Manager at Siebe Environmental Controls (presently Invensys), prior to joining United Technologies. This broad scope and high caliber of experience has provided Mike the extensive skills and expertise required to oversee multiple geographic locations and challenging acquisitions while managing a wide range of professionals, from sales and operations personnel to HVAC engineers. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in general engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is active in the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), the Chicago Building Owners Association, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)—Chicago Chapter, and the Western Trades Association of Chicagoland Contractors. Mike enjoys spending time with his family and is actively involved in sports and community activities.
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About Emcor Group: EMCOR Group is a Fortune 500 company and global leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure.
Zach Supalla
Founder & CEO of Particle
Zach Supalla is the founder and CEO of Particle, an IoT startup that’s making it easier to build, connect and manage internet-connected hardware products deployed at massive scale. Supalla earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and an MEM (masters in engineering management) from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern. Before Particle, Supalla worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, advising Fortune 500 companies on strategy, operations and product development. He is a graduate of HAX, the world’s first, and most prolific hardware accelerator.
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About Particle: Particle provides hardware and software tools to help users prototype, scale, and manage IoT products.
Roland Groeneveld
CEO and Co-founder of OnLogic
Roland Groeneveld is the CEO at Logic Supply.
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About OnLogic, OnLogic: OnLogic designs highly-configurable computers engineered for reliability.
Scott N. Miller
Chief Executive Officer of Dragon Innovation
MD at Dragon Ventures.
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About Dragon Innovation, Dragon Ventures, Olin College: We help you navigate the New Product Introduction process as you launch complex products.
Meena Sankaran
Founder & CEO of KETOS
Meena Sankaran is an accomplished technology executive, business leader and evangelist driving global strategy and innovation for customer success through a variety of leadership roles. She has been a key influencer and executed on product strategy with her unique blend of business and technical acumen to customers worldwide across organizations of varied sizes. As a Social Entrepreneur, she believes in leveraging technology for challenges that bring about global change and deliver solutions to impact at a grass roots level. She has a BE in Electronics Engineering from India and MS in Electrical Engg from UTA, Texas. Her Leadership in Ketos’s engineering innovation, product & business strategy, team discipline and strong culture are instrumental in the path to success
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About KETOS: KETOS provides hardware and software analytics solutions and real-time data for usage and flow across water systems.
Daniel Nevius
Cofounder / CEO of Hedron
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About Hedron: Hedron is a satellite communications company based out of Boston that is leveraging hybrid RF-laser communications technology.
Allison Clift-Jennings
CEO & Co-Founder of Filament
Allison Clift-Jennings is the CEO and Co-Founder at Filament.
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About Filament, Tonic Audio Labs: Filament builds blockchain hardware & software solutions for enterprise and IoT.
Andrew McMahon
President, CEO & Board Director of Guardian Life
Andrew McMahon is Executive Vice President of Strategy and Customer Development of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. In this role, he is responsible for developing enterprise strategy, corporate development and advancing digital customer experience. Mr. McMahon is an insurance industry veteran having led several major business segments at AXA US, including AXA Advisors and the Financial Protection businesses before being named president and board director. He has led strategic transformation initiatives at AXA, General Electric, and as a partner at McKinsey. In the last few years, he has invested, launched and advised several InsurTech companies. Recently, he was granted a patent for an approach using artificial intelligence (AI) for financial risk assessment and insurance underwriting. Mr. McMahon is a member of the board of trustees for Fairfield University and serves as an executive advisor to Gryphon Investors, LLC, a leading private equity firm. He is also the founder of Vitae Advisors, LLC, an analytics firm built to exploit the potential power of big data as related to risk assessment and insurance underwriting. He previously served on the Board of Directors for Phoenix Life Insurance Companies, AXA Financial and the American Council of Life Insurers. Mr. McMahon has a bachelor’s of science degree from Fairfield University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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About Guardian Life: Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) is one of the country’s leading mutual insurers.
Michael Shalom
President and CEO of Intcomex
Michael F. Shalom is a co-founder of [Intcomex](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/intcomex), a company that offers IT products such as self-standing computer systems, PC components, peripherals, power protection, and backup devices. Previously, he was the CEO of IFX Corp and FirstRain.
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About Intcomex: Intcomex provides IT products such as self-standing computer systems, PC components, peripherals, power protection and backup devices.
Rahul Dewan
Founder & CEO of Duet Display
Founder at Duet Display
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About Duet Display: Duet allows users to use their iDevice as an extra display for Mac using the Lightning or 30-pin cable.
William Andregg
CEO, Co-Founder & President of Fathom Computing
William Andregg is the Co-Founder at Fathom Radiant.
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About Fathom Computing: Fathom Computing is building optics-based hardware to run artificial intelligence with unprecedented performance.
Veerbhan Kheterpal
Co-founder & CEO of quadric.io
Co-founder & CEO, quadric.io, Co-Founder, 21.co, Co-founder Fabbrix.
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About quadric.io: quadric.io is an end-to-end architecture optimized for real-time edge computing.
James P. Kavanaugh
CEO of World Wide Technology
Jim Kavanaugh co-founded World Wide Technology with David Steward in 1990. Jim and his proven management team have been the driving force behind WWT’s growth, leadership and core value system. Over the years, Jim has solidified the Company’s financial position through profitable growth and a $27.5M Venture Capital Investment that was repaid in 2005. Jim currently focuses his time in the areas of long term planning, financial performance, employee development and WWT’s continued adherence to its core value system. Prior to founding WWT, Jim worked at Future Electronics and played professional soccer. Kavanaugh holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Saint Louis University.
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About World Wide Technology: World Wide Technology is a systems integrator, provides information technology and supply chain solutions.
Robert Eck
President, Chief Executive Officer of Anixter International
Bob Eck joined Anixter in 1989 and was named President and Chief Executive Officer in 2008. Prior to that, he held various positions including Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President of Network & Security Solutions, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Solutions and Regional Vice President of Sales. Bob graduated from Marquette University in 1980, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics. Since May 2011, he has served on the Board of Directors for Ryder Systems Inc. and been a member of the Board of Trustees for Marquette University since September 2014.
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About Anixter International: Anixter is an online distributor of network & security solutions, electrical & electronic solutions and utility power solutions.
Jeffrey O’Neill
Founder/CEO of Zephyr Aerospace
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About flyClever, Zephyr Aerospace: Zephyr Aerospace designs affordable lie-flat seating solutions for transportation companies.
Venkat Mattela
CEO of Redpine Signals
Venkat Mattela is Chief Executive Officer of Redpine Signals, Inc. He has over 30 years of engineering and management experience in the semiconductor industry and drives company’s strategy, execution and R&D. Prior to Redpine, he was at Network Media Platforms Group of Analog Devices as Director and was responsible for the product, strategy and business development for media wireless connectivity solutions (WLAN, WMAN). He also led the VLSI development from concept engineering to release of multiple industry leading networking silicon products resulting in a multi-million dollar product line. Prior to joining ADI, Mr. Mattela was at Infineon Technologies as Director and was responsible for micro-architecture and design of TriCore MCU-DSP processor. He led the team to take the architecture to multiple silicon implementations. Mr. Mattela started his career at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India in January 1983 and held various engineering positions at LSI Logic, LMSI and CMC Ltd. Mr. Mattela has a Master’s Degree in Computer Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India and holds 11 US patents.
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About Redpine Signals: Redpine Signals is a wireless systems company with unique chipset and system level products for wireless networks.