GSA Silicon Series Luncheon | Santa Clara Speakers

Sanjeev Athalye

Sanjeev Athalye is director of product management at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. In this role Sanjeev focuses on WAN modem technology in the CDMA2000 and LTE areas. Prior to his product management role, he spent over 10 years in various wireless engineering and R&D roles spanning systems test, systems engineering and standardization of CDMA- and OFDMA-based air interface and network technologies.

Sanjeev holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Bombay.

Jim Feldhan

Jim Feldhan founded Semico Research in 1994. A 20-year veteran of the semiconductor industry, he brings his management, forecasting and modeling expertise to Semico, along with a reputation of quality research. Jim designed and developed the research methodologies and report structures, which are the basis for Semico's Custom Research and Portfolio Services. Jim also develops Semico's overall economic outlook as well as performing various semiconductor consulting and forecasting. With a focus on quality, Semico Research has grown to the largest semiconductor-focused consulting and research firm.

Jim was formerly the Executive Vice-President and General Manager at In-Stat. As a member of the start-up team there, Feldhan was responsible for the design, methodologies, and implementation of research that was the basis for the Semiconductor Services.

Mr. Feldhan also held various management, marketing and manufacturing positions at GTE Microcircuits and Greyhound/Dial Corporation. Jim received a BS in Business with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Arizona and a MS in Marketing focusing on quantitative statistics and market research from the University of Arizona.

Raouf Halim

Raouf Halim is chief executive officer of Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MSPD), a leading supplier of communications semiconductor and software solutions for network infrastructure equipment. He directs an experienced management team and oversees Mindspeed's strategic direction. The company's award-winning product portfolio includes high-performance analog transmission and switching solutions, multiservice access products designed to support voice and data services across wireline and wireless networks, and Wide Area Network (WAN) communications solutions.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of Mindspeed, Mr.Halim was senior vice president and general manager of the Network Access division of Conexant Systems, formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. This division was spun off from Conexant as Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. in June 2003. Mr. Halim joined Rockwell in 1991 and held a number of increasingly senior business and technical positions, including vice president, VLSI engineering. He began his career at Hayes Microcomputer Products, where he was responsible for advanced product definition, and development of custom VLSI high-speed modem ASICs.

Mr. Halim is actively involved in a number of business associations and community organizations. He currently serves several advisory roles within the University California, Irvine: The Foundation - Board of Trustees, Chief Executive Roundtable, School of Engineering Leadership Council, Engineering Advisory Board and the Roundtable Steering Committee.

Mr. Halim earned a bachelor's of science degree in communications and electro physics from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, and a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Lars Johnsson

Lars Johnsson is Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Beceem Communications, where he is responsible for Product Marketing and Management, Ecosystem Partnerships, Program Management, Business Development and Marcom. Prior to Beceem, Johnsson co-founded Flarion Technologies, the pioneer of OFDMA-based mobile broadband technology. At Flarion, which he helped spin out off Lucent Bell Labs, he was responsible for technology marketing, the product roadmap and the business model until the company was acquired by Qualcomm. Previously, he worked in Lucent's New Ventures Group driving wireless startup activities. Johnsson received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, his M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany and his M.B.A. in technology management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Arpit Joshipura

Arpit is currently Ericsson's driver of Convergence Vision and Transformation Strategy to Operators and outbound audience worldwide including Silicon Valley Ecosystem partners. Focus areas include All-IP End to End Convergence across Fixed and Mobile architectures (eg 4G/SAE/EPC, IPTV, Backhaul, Edge, Metro, Applications).

Arpit moved to Ericsson from Redback where he was the VP of Product Management, Marketing, Standards and Solutions (CTO/CMO Role), responsible for the strategic success of Redback's flagship SmartEdge router family and its acquisition through Ericsson. Prior to Redback, Mr. Joshipura was the Vice President of Portfolio Management CIENA/ONI focusing on Metro Ethernet and Optical Architectures. He has also held senior leadership positions in Engineering at Caspian Networks and Nortel Networks.

He has an M.B.A., M.S. in computer engineering from North Carolina State University, B.S. in electrical engineering.

Sandeep Vij

Mr. Vij brings to MIPS Technologies more than 20 years of senior-level management and marketing experience in the semiconductor industry. Prior to joining MIPS, he was Vice President and General Manager of the Broadband and Consumer Division of Cavium Networks, a leading provider of highly-integrated semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing in networking, communications, and connected home applications.

Prior to Cavium, Mr. Vij was on the executive staff of Xilinx Inc. for 12 years, where he was instrumental in growing the company's business by 3X to over $1.8 billion per year and enabling it to become the industry's largest programmable logic vendor. Mr. Vij also held roles at Xilinx as Vice President and General Manager of its General Products Division, and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Services and Support. Prior to Xilinx, Mr. Vij spent five years in various senior roles at Altera Corporation.

Mr. Vij is a graduate of General Electric's Edison Engineering Program and Advanced Courses in Engineering. He sits on the Board of Directors of Coherent Inc. He holds an MSEE from Stanford University and a BSEE from San Jose State University.

Richard Yeh

As marketing director for Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.'s System LSI business, Richard Yeh has over 15 years of leadership experience in both marketing and engineering roles in high tech industry. His focus is on new business development and strategic alliances for low-power mobile and media System-on-Chip (SOC) solutions.

Yeh authored a comprehensive report with Strategies Unlimited in 2002 on the value proposition of features including MP3, imaging, and GPS in 2.5G and 3G mobile handsets. He also was a key contributing author and editor for chapters on the wireless value chain and applications in the book, "Kellogg on Innovation and Technology."

Yeh received a B.S. from the University of Illinois, a M.S. from M.I.T., and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.