It's been eating me up all day, so to highlight the arrogance/ignorance of some posters, see the below lists.
Anyone self-righteous enough to vote no should also note that Sean Hehir will not be required to be re-elected, so if all of your blame is directed at him, enjoy seeing your portfolio get hammered whilst the company is run the same way as before...wait...isn't that what you're already upset about anyway?
The 1st being leaders who you are suggesting don't warrant their remuneration.
People who you suggest should work harder and for less money, or replace them with someone less qualified who'll take less money?
Definitely sounds like a great idea to incentivise them to sell more IP.
The 2nd being the board who you would smugly either vote to spill; as a middle-finger-gesture, or truly want to see replaced.
I assume you all have similar or greater experience in the industry. Can you offer a suggestion for better candidates and what they can SPECIFICALLY implement to force prospects to buy Brainchip IP?
Leaders:
Sean Hehir
CEO
Mr. Hehir has managed large global teams and been responsible for explosive revenue growth for global enterprise organizations such as Compaq and HP, as well as smaller, fast-growing companies like Fusion-io. Hehir is industry-recognized as a builder of trusted Strategic Alliances across diverse partners such as Systems Integrators, ISVs, and OEMs. He received his BS from the University of Massachusetts and MBA from Georgia State University.
Anil Mankar
Chief Development Officer
Anil Mankar has spent 40 years developing products in the semiconductor industry. At Western Digital, Mr. Mankar developed PC core Logic chipsets. During his years at Conexant Systems Inc. in the position of VP of Engineering, he developed multiple products across industry segments and later became the company’s Chief Development Officer overseeing all product development for V92 Modem, DSL, Set-top boxes, PC audio, and video ‘System on a Chip’ products. Mr. Mankar was SVP of VLSI Engineering at Mindspeed Technologies, responsible for Wireless and VOIP infrastructure product development.
Ken Scarince
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Scarince most recently served as a consultant at 8020 Consulting, working on all aspects of finance at a variety of companies globally. Previously Mr. Scarince served as Controller at Virgin Galactic and Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer at Virgin America. He began his career as a senior auditor at Deloitte and Touche. Mr. Scarince received his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Marquette University and his Masters Degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Nandan Nayampally
Chief Marketing Officer
Nandan Nayampally is an entrepreneurial executive with over 25 years of success in building or growing disruptive businesses with industry-wide impact. Nandan was most recently at Amazon leading the delivery of Alexa AI tools for Echo, FireTV and other consumer devices. Prior to that he spent more than 15 years at Arm Inc. including roles as GM developing Arm’s CPU and broader IP portfolio into an industry leader that is built into over 100B chips. He started his career at AMD on their very successful Athlon processor program. He also helped grow product lines in startup businesses such as Silicon Metrics and Denali Software which had successful acquisitions down the road.
Nandan has a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engg from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and an MA in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.
Rob Telson
Vice President of Ecosystems & Partnerships
Rob brings over 20 years of sales expertise in licensing intellectual property and selling EDA technology across multiple vertical markets. Rob has had success developing sales and support organizations at small, midsize, and large companies. At ARM, a global semiconductor and software design company, Mr. Telson was Vice President of Foundry Sales worldwide and prior was Vice President of Sales for the Americas. Most recently at Synopsys, he was responsible for building and developing a business focused on disruptive technologies in the semiconductor space. Rob holds a BS in political science from the University of Arizona and a Program for Leadership Development certificate from Harvard Business School.
Tony Lewis
Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Tony Lewis is an executive, scientist and entrepreneur specializing in brain-inspired AI and robotics. Tony was Global Head of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Compute Lab at HP, Inc. At Qualcomm, Inc Tony headed Neuromorphic, Deep Learning and Robotics efforts. Tony has held faculty positions or held leadership positions at UCLA, UIUC, and the Univ. of Arizona. Tony holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Science in Cybernetics/Applied Math from UCLA.
Steve Thorne
Vice President of Sales
Steve Thorne is a senior sales and marketing executive with over 28 years’ experience in AI and Data Center solutions within Habana Labs and Intel Corporation. In his last role as Head of Global Sales for Habana Labs he spearheaded the successful launch and ramp of three innovative Habana Gaudi AI accelerator systems into the market. At Intel he held multiple leadership roles for the Intel Xeon processor family and led teams to deliver on more than 25 product introductions in top Hyperscale CSP, OEM and Enterprise accounts. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Georgia Tech.
Todd Vierra
Vice President of Customer Engagement
With over 27 years of Technical Sales Leadership experience, including 15+ years at ARM, Todd Vierra has led dynamic technical and support teams across diverse sectors, including Machine Learning, IoT, and automotive. Prior to this, he honed his skills in ASIC design and implementation. Vierra holds an MBA and a BSCE from Coleman University. Over the past 3 years at BrainChip, he has immersed himself in AI/ML, establishing himself as a technical leader in the industry.
Board:
Peter van der Made
Peter van der Made has been at the forefront of computer innovation for 40 years. Mr. van der Made is the inventor of a computer immune system and founded vCIS Technology where he served as CTO and later Chief Scientist when it was acquired by Internet Security Systems and subsequently IBM.
Previously, he founded PolyGraphic Systems, and designed a high resolution, high-speed color Graphics Accelerator board and subsequent chip for IBM PC graphics. Mr. van der Made published a book, Higher Intelligence, which describes the architecture of the brain from a computer science perspective. Mr. van der Made designed the first generations of digital neuromorphic devices on which the Akida chip is based between 2004 and 2008, when he applied for a patent on this technology which was subsequently granted. He is actively involved in the design of the next generation of Akida chips and continues his research in advanced neuromorphic architectures.
Antonio J. Viana
In addition to serving as the independent non-executive Chair of the Brainchip board of directors, Mr. Viana is also a non-executive Director of Arteris Inc., a leading provider of
network-on-chip (NoC) interconnect and other SOC-Fabric
intellectual property (IP). Mr. Viana also chairs the Nomination and Governance committee for Arteris Inc. and is a member of both the Audit and Renumeration committees. In 1999, Mr. Viana joined ARM Holdings, the global leader in semiconductor IP, serving in a number of leadership positions, most notably as the Global Director of the ARM Foundry Program and President of Commercial and Global Development. He was appointed to the ARM executive team as Executive VP of worldwide sales in 2008. At the beginning of 2013, his executive duties were expanded to include all of commercial and global development. Mr. Viana has also worked with Hughes Aircraft, Silicon Graphics, Encore Industries and was Senior VP of worldwide sales at Tensilica Inc. Most recently, Mr. Viana served as the Executive Chairman of QuantalRF AG, an emerging Swiss RF semiconductor company developing transformative wireless communication solutions.
Pia Turcinov AM
Ms. Turcinov is the Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee. In 2023, Ms. Turcinov was recognized for her significant service to technology and innovation, and to women in STEM, by the award of Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia. With a focus on opportunities which innovation, technology and diversification offer, Ms. Turcinov has 30 years experience across private, not-for-profit and government sectors. Commencing her career as a corporate lawyer, Ms. Turcinov, later practiced commercial law in Western Australia. Her career progression evolved from legal advisor to commercial director, holding both senior-level positions and providing leadership and governance as a company director across a wide-range of businesses. She has also facilitated innovation through a number of State and Federal Government initiatives. Ms. Turcinov shares her expertise as an advisor, mentor and facilitator, as well as a keynote speaker on topics relating to future skills, innovation, diversity and STEM. As the mother of three daughters, she remains an ever-enthusiastic champion for diversity, equality and enabling female entrepreneurship. Ms. Turcinov was awarded the 2018 Excellence in Gender Equity Promotion Award by the United Nations Association of Australia (WA Division) Inc. In 2023, Pia was recognized for her significant service to technology and innovation, and to women in STEM, by the award of Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
Duy-Loan Le
Ms. Le has a remarkable professional history, both technologically and in executive management, having retired from Texas Instruments (TI) as a Senior Fellow after 35 years. While at TI, she led the global R&D, manufacturing operation and high-volume production of TI’s multi-billion-dollar memory, DSP, and base station product lines. Ms. Le holds 24 patents and serves on the board of two universities. In addition to BrainChip, she currently serves on the boards of Wolfspeed, National Instruments, Ballard Power Systems and Atomera. She was inducted into Women in Technology Hall of Fame and became the first engineer to be inducted into Asian Hall of Fame. She received numerous recognitions for her philanthropic contributions worldwide, including Congressional Special Recognition. Ms. Le serves on the BrainChip board as a non-executive director and is a member of the Audit & Risk and Remuneration & Nominations Committees.