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Advising startups, Investing in projects, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Professional opportunities, Supporting my investments
Tags:
Angel investing, black swans, education, Internet Startups, lake tahoe, silicon valley, Skiing, university spin-offs
Schools:
Carleton University, Northwestern University, University of Ottawa
WORK EXPERIENCE
Employer:
Infoaxe, Inc.
Position:
Chairman
Time period:
January 2008 - May 2008
Description:
Lead investor, advisor and board chairman of Infoaxe, Inc. a recent Stanford Spin-off company operating the Web 2.0 space
Employer:
Commandcad, Inc.
Position:
Chairman & CEO
Time period:
October 2005 - May 2007
Description:
Software company operating in the semiconductor manufacturing space was spun-off of the College or Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2004. As Chairman/CEO, secured two rounds of financing, negotiated orders and managed relationships with early adopter/customers, and orchestrated the sale of the company to Cadence Design Systems resulting in a 5X return to Series A investors.
Employer:
University of California, Berkeley
Position:
Executive in Residence
Time period:
September 2003 - September 2005
Description:
At the invitation of the late Dean Richard Newton, and sponsored by Foundation Capital, served as a business advisor and bridge to financing to aspiring entrepreneurs on the UCB campus. Assisted over a dozen early stage companies in fields ranging from materials science to biotechnology. Orchestrated the spin off of CommandCAD in Sep 2004.
Employer:
Numerical Technologies
Position:
Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cadabra Business Unit
Time period:
November 2000 - December 2001
Description:
Joined Numerical Technologies (Nasdaq: NMTC) through its acquisition of Cadabra. Responsible for the Cadabra business unit which consisted of R&D, sales and marketing functions comprising 40 employees and approximately $9M in annual revenue.
Employer:
Cadabra Design Automation
Position:
Chairman/President and CEO
Time period:
January 1995 - October 2000
Description:
Founded Cadabra in late 1994 after securing angel financing and an early customer purchase agreement from Texas Instruments. Served as President and CEO from January 1995 to June 1999. As CEO, led Cadabra through seventeen consecutive quarters of profitable growth. Developed a world class software R&D team in Ottawa, Canada. Then, moved the corporate headquarters to Silicon Valley in September 1997. Established a direct sales channel in North America with offices in Santa Clara, CA and Austin, TX. Recruited industry veterans for senior positions in sales and marketing. Negotiated distribution agreements in Japan, Korea and Taiwan as well as several collaboration agreements with other EDA companies offering complementary products (e.g. Synopsys, Silicon Metrics, TMA, In-Chip). Managed the sale of Cadabra’s products to over 30 semiconductor manufacturers worldwide including Texas Instruments, Intel, LSI Logic, National Semiconductor, AMD, Nortel, Lucent, Sony, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Matsushita, NEC, ST Microelectronics, TSMC, LG and Samsung. Conceived the company’s exit strategy in early 1999 which was executed as follows. In April 1999, closed a $6.25M round of funding led by San Francisco based CMEA Ventures and included investments from Hambrecht & Quist, Synopsys (Nasdaq: SNPS) as well as industry luminaries such as Andreas Bechtolsheim (Founder of SUN/VP Cisco) and
Atiq Raza (then president/COO of AMD). In June, 1999, identified and recruited a new CEO who could better optimize shareholder value in a sale of the company.
Then, as Chairman, helped define the positioning for Cadabra as an acquisition target; co-directed the negotiations on terms with Numerical Technologies for a stock transaction valued at $130M; and directed the team of lawyers and investment bankers who finalized all the documents of this complex cross border transaction.
Employer:
Carleton University
Position:
Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics
Time period:
July 1989 - December 1994
Description:
Directed the research work of 9 graduate students and 5 research engineers in the field of Computer Aided Design of CMOS/BiCMOS integrated circuits. Created prototype software which was later licensed from the University to Cadabra Design Automation. Produced 21 refereed publications in International Journals (5) and Conference Proceedings (16). As a Faculty member, provided consulting services to Northern Telecom, DY-4 Systems, Semiconductor Insights and Mentor Graphics. Earned a promotion to Associate Professor level and was granted tenure in May 1994.
Employer:
Bell-Northern Research (Now Nortel Networks)
Position:
Member of Scientific Staff
Time period:
May 1982 - June 1989
Description:
Made significant contributions to the system specification and design of an advanced messaging system for Nortel’s DMS SuperNode family of digital switches. Awarded three U.S. patents. Won a BNR Scholarship for graduate education in 1984. On paid study leave from Sep 1984 to July 1988.
EDUCATION
University:
Northwestern University
Time period:
2002
Degree:
Kellog's Advanced Executive Program
University:
Carleton University
Time period:
1989
Degree:
Electronics, PhD
University:
Carleton University
Time period:
1986
Degree:
Electronics, MEng
University:
University of Ottawa
Time period:
1982
Degree:
EE, BA
INFORMATION
Hobbies:
Ski, golf, bicycle, windsurfing, snorkeling, hiking; collecting fine wines, persian rugs and 19th century pine furniture
