Jeffrey D. Buchanan has been a director of our company since September 2005. Mr. Buchanan has been a principal of Echo Advisors, Inc., a corporate consulting and advisory firm focusing on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic planning, since February 2005. Mr. Buchanan served as Executive Vice President of Three-Five Systems, Inc., a publicly traded electronic manufacturing services company, from June 1998 until February 2005; as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of that company from June 1996 until February 2005; and as Secretary of that company from May 1996 until February 2005. Mr. Buchanan served as Vice President – Finance, Administration, and Legal of that company from June 1996 until July 1998 and as Vice President – Legal and Administration of that company from May 1996 to June 1996. Mr. Buchanan served from June 1986 until May 1996 as a business lawyer with O'Connor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Killingsworth & Beshears. Mr. Buchanan was associated with the international law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine from 1984 to 1986, and he was a senior staff person at Deloitte & Touche from 1982 to 1984. Mr. Buchanan is a director of Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation, the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States, which is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market; and a director of NuVision U.S., Inc., a privately owned display company. Three-Five Systems, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on September 8, 2005. Mr. Buchanan holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Arizona State University, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona, and Masters of Law in Taxation from the University of Florida.
Nelson C. Chan has been a director of our company since February 2007. From December 2006 until August 2008, Mr. Chan was Chief Executive Officer of Magellan, a leader in the consumer, survey, GIS and OEM GPS navigation and positioning markets. Prior to joining Magellan, from 1992 through 2006, Mr. Chan served in various senior management positions with SanDisk Corporation, including most recently as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Business. From 1983 to 1992, Mr. Chan held marketing and engineering positions at Chips and Technologies, Signetics, and Delco Electronics. Mr. Chan was one of the principal organizers of the CompactFlash Association (CFA) and the MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University.
Federico Faggin co-founded our company and served as Chairman of the Board from January 1999 to October 2008. He served as a director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of our company from March 1987 to December 1998. Mr. Faggin is currently President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Foveon, Inc., a private company that develops advanced image sensing technology and in which we have an ownership interest. He is also a director of ZiLOG, Inc., a public company that is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of integrated microcontroller products. Mr. Faggin also co-founded Cygnet Technologies, Inc. in 1982 and ZiLOG, Inc. in 1974. Mr. Faggin served as Department Manager in Research and Development at Intel Corporation from 1970 to 1974 and led the design and development of the world's first microprocessor and more than 25 integrated circuits. In 1968, Mr. Faggin was employed by Fairchild Semiconductor and led the development of the original MOS Silicon Gate Technology and designed the world's first commercial integrated circuit to use such technology. He is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the 1988 International Marconi Fellowship Award, the 1994 IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award, and the 1997 Kyoto Prize. In addition, in 1996, Mr. Faggin was inducted in the National Inventor's Hall of Fame for the co-invention of the microprocessor. Mr. Faggin holds a doctorate in physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Padua, Italy. He also holds honorary doctorate degrees in computer science from the University of Milan, Italy and in electrical engineering from the University of Rome, Italy.
Keith B. Geeslin
Keith B. Geeslin has been a director of our company since 1986. Mr. Geeslin has been a General Partner of Francisco Partners, a firm specializing in structured investments in technology companies undergoing strategic, technological, and operational inflection points, since January 2004. From 2001 until October 2003, Mr. Geeslin served as Managing General Partner of the Sprout Group, a venture capital firm, with which he became associated in 1984. In addition, Mr. Geeslin served as a general or limited partner in a series of investment funds associated with the Sprout Group, a division of DLJ Capital Corporation, which is a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston (USA), Inc. Mr. Geeslin is a director of Blue Coat Systems, Inc., a public company, and several privately held companies. He has also served as a director of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists. Mr. Geeslin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters of Science degree in Engineering and Economic Systems from Stanford University and a Masters of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University.
Francis F. Lee has served as chairman of the board since October 2008. He was previously a director and Chief Executive Officer of our company from December 1998 to July 2009. He was a consultant from August 1998 to November 1998. From May 1995 until July 1998, Mr. Lee served as General Manager of NSM, a Hong Kong-based joint venture between National Semiconductor Corporation and S. Megga. Mr. Lee held a variety of executive positions for National Semiconductor from 1988 until August 1995. These positions included Vice President of Communication and Computing Group, Vice President of Quality and Reliability, Director of Standard Logic Business Unit, and various other operations and engineering management positions. Mr. Lee is a director of Foveon, Inc., a privately held company in which we have an ownership interest. Mr. Lee holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in electrical engineering from the University of California at Davis.
Richard L. Sanquini
Richard L. Sanquini has been a director of our company since 1994. Mr. Sanquini has been the Chairman of the Board of PortalPlayer, Inc., a public company that designs, develops, and markets personal media player solutions, since November 2002. Mr. Sanquini retired from National Semiconductor as Senior Vice President in January 2000. Mr. Sanquini had been with National Semiconductor since 1980, except for between March 1989 and December 1989, when he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Information Storage Devices, a semiconductor company. Mr. Sanquini also serves on the board of ZiLOG, Inc., a public company that is a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of integrated microcontroller products, and several privately held companies. Mr. Sanquini holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Wisconsin.
President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Tiernan previously served as a director and the President and Chief Operating Officer of Synaptics from July 2008 to July 2009. Mr. Tiernan served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of our company from July 2007 until July 2008 and as Senior Vice President of our company from March 2006 until July 2007. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Tiernan served as Vice President and General Manager of Symbol Technologies' Mobile Computing Division. From 1985 to 2004, Mr. Tiernan held various management and executive positions at Hewlett-Packard, including running the Network Storage business in the Americas, the Enterprise Systems business in Asia Pacific, and the PC business in Japan. Mr. Tiernan holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from California State Polytechnic University and a Masters of Science in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University.
James L. Whims
James L. Whims has been a director of our company since October 2007. Since 1996, Mr. Whims has been a Managing Director of TechFund Capital I, L.P., TechFund Capital II, L.P., and since 2001, TechFund Capital Europe, venture capital firms concentrating on high-technology enterprises. Since 1997, Mr. Whims has been a director of THQ, Inc. a leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software, which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Mr. Whims also serves on the boards of numerous private companies, including Tag Networks, NBX, and Smith and Tinker. From 1994 to 1996, Mr. Whims was Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment of America and from 1990 to 1994, Mr. Whims was Executive Vice President of The Software Toolworks Inc. Mr. Whims holds a Bachelor or Arts in economics and communications from Northwestern University and a Masters of Business Administration in finance and marketing from the University of Arizona.
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