OC 50 – TECHNOLOGY
WILLIAM “BILL” RAYMOND COLLOPY JR.
Vice President, General Manager,
Launch & Satellite Systems,
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems,
The Boeing Company
Born in Albuquerque, N.M., July 18, 1949
Lives in Newport Beach (Newport Bay)
Made Southland’s lead executive for new St. Louis-based Integrated Defense Systems in Boeing reorganization last year. (Former OC 50er James Albaugh now heads up unit from Missouri.) Company combined defense, space, communications businesses into new unit.
Oversees 13,000 workers, 10,800 in Orange County. Challenge: keeping Boeing’s space businesses viable until globally depressed commercial satellite market rebounds.
Brings 30 years of aerospace knowledge. As lead regional executive, handles resource, strategic planning, government, community relations.
Has open-door policy, invites diverse opinions. Regularly meets with workers at each site, including facilities in Huntington Beach, Anaheim.
Previously was CFO for Boeing Space and Communications. Oversaw group’s joint ventures, including Sea Launch, United Space Alliance, which he helped start. Also handled mergers and acquisitions for group, led team that bought Hughes Space and Communications.
From 1988 to 1998, was vice president, controller of Boeing North American’s Space Systems (former defense business of what’s now Rockwell Automation). Led finance, buying for multibillion-dollar division, which included space shuttle, global positioning satellite program and space-based missile defense, among other efforts. Under Collopy, division led company in cash generation and profit.
Started at Rockwell in 1973 as financial analyst focusing on mergers, acquisitions at Autonetics division in Anaheim. Since then, held various management posts in Anaheim, Dallas. In 1980, assigned to Space Systems as first business director of space shuttle program.
Earned bachelor’s in business from the University of Southern California in 1972, master’s in business from USC in 1973.
Wife Mary Rose, two children. Son Bill, 24, graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, daughter Amanda, 21, attends business school at USC.
Hobbies include golfing, cycling, collecting, restoring antique motorcycles with son. Has two old British Triumphs and a Norton Commando. Bought first motorbike in London when he was 19, had it shipped stateside.
,Chris Cziborr
DWIGHT WILLIAM DECKER
Chairman, CEO, Conexant Systems Inc.
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, March 18, 1950
Lives in Newport Beach (Back Bay)
Made big company small. Now trying to make it big again.
Turned OC’s largest chipmaker into five smaller ones: wireless, chip production, digital imaging, networking and modem chips (the latter two as part of Conexant). Plans to spin off networking chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies this summer.
About 100 of 725 Mindspeed workers recently cut to trim costs at unprofitable unit. Plans to provide Mindspeed with $100 million in initial funding, plus another $50 million in contingency funds.
With what’s left of Conexant, hopes to hit it big in chips for broadband modems. Conexant still largest chipmaker in OC by workers with about 1,100.
Managed to pull company through dire downturn. Minus Mindspeed, Conexant now profitable. Market value still playing catch-up: $480 million for slimmer company at recent check, down from $3 billion a year ago. During go-go days, market value was $12 billion.
Professorial, fiercely competitive, demanding. Former math teacher.
Oversaw Conexant’s first metamorphosis when it spun off in 1999 from what’s now Rockwell Automation. Nearly got fired from Rockwell a decade ago for insisting his unit shift away from bread-and-butter custom chip business to make modem chips, years before Internet entered mainstream.
Spun off Conexant with flair. Enlisted Dennis Miller as celebrity spokesman. Wanted to call company Clariant but found name was taken by Swiss chemical maker. His poodle, Nexity, got third most popular name for spinoff.
Big donor, particularly to UCI. Regularly plays in charity basketball benefit. Team lost this year.
Longtime OC executive. Became president of Rockwell’s chip business in 1995, replacing fellow OC 50er Lanny Ross, who took over for Henry Nicholas as interim CEO of rival Broadcom this year.
A long way from rural Canadian upbringing. Bachelor’s in physics, math from Montreal’s McGill University, doctorate in applied math from Caltech. Was a math prof at North Carolina State, Raleigh, 1978 to 1984. Took sabbatical with modem maker TeleBit in Silicon Valley, fell in love with corporate life. Still visits family in Canada, but prefers weather in OC.
Wife Silla, 1-year-old son. Enjoys spending time with family.
,Andrew Simons
HARSHAD K. “H.K.” DESAI
Chairman, CEO, President, QLogic Corp.
Born in Abrama, Gujarat, India,
March 13, 1946
Lives in Laguna Beach
OC’s active board member. In past year, has spearheaded turnaround effort at Irvine-based Lantronix Inc., where he’s chairman.
Day job: running QLogic, leading maker of speedy fibre channel switches, controllers, host bus adapters for servers, storage devices.
Briefly passed Broadcom as OC’s most valuable technology company last year. (Broadcom, which made move onto QLogic’s turf with buy of Santa Clara-based Gadzoox Networks in February, nearly $1 billion ahead at recent check.)
Hired in 1995 as QLogic’s interim CEO, has left clear mark. Sales for nine months through December were up 26% to $257.4 million, operating profit up 47% to $107 million. Held up well during tech’s downturn, profitable for past two years.
New threat on horizon: iSCSI, new data networking protocol backed by Broadcom, Intel, could give fibre channel a run. Desai,and former boss, fellow OC 50er, fibre channel rival Paul Folino of Emulex,say they’re ready if market moves to iSCSI.
Considers himself more engineer than executive. Doesn’t listen to music in car, opting to make calls instead.
Earned master’s in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley. Was engineering manager at Unisys for 10 years before joining QLogic in 1990. Left in 1995 to become VP with Western Digital. Lured back to QLogic a few months later after abrupt exit of then-CEO Mel Gable. Board said to have come around to his way of thinking. Post made permanent in 1996.
Thoughtful, calculated. Said to be aggressive in meetings. Shrewd questioner, deft businessman.
Longtime ally, CFO Tom Anderson, stepped down last year, replaced by Frank Calderoni.
Doesn’t like reading the news or following current events. Spends a lot of time studying new corporate governance rules,friends call him an expert. Named director of the year last year by Forum for Corporate Directors.
Wife Anjanna, two grown children. Used to like skiing and tennis, swears by golf now. Says he doesn’t travel back to native India much.
,Andrew Simons
Paul Francis Folino
Chairman, CEO, Emulex Corp.
Born in Seattle, Jan. 23, 1945
Lives in Coto de Caza
One of OC’s big givers, arts patrons. As chairman of Performing Arts Center, leading drive for $200 million expansion that includes Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater.
Also big donor to UC Irvine, Republican candidates, including President Bush. Gave $745,000 to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Prop. 49 for after-school programs. New Majority member.
Played peacemaker last year by stepping in as arts center chairman after Thomas Tierney declined nomination because of suit against Broadcom founders, center benefactors Henry Samueli, Henry Nicholas.
Overseeing another expansion: Emulex building new headquarters on Costa Mesa farmland. New campus set to hold 600 people. Company now employs 230 people in OC.
Has led Emulex’s growth from quiet maker of printer networking cards to leading maker of fibre channel gear for storage networks (along with QLogic, which Folino spun off in 1994). Counted $287 million in sales last year, up 23%. Moved company’s shares from Nasdaq to New York Stock Exchange last year.
No. 14 on BusinessWeek’s list of top paid executives in 2001 at $55 million; didn’t make this year’s list at compensation of less than $10 million. Sold off 214,000 shares in 2002,almost two-thirds of his holdings at the start of last year. Has exercised options as well, still has more than 1.3 million options.
Added chairman’s title last year, replacing founder Fred Cox, now chairman emeritus. Gave up president’s title to COO Kirk Roller.
Been around the block. In 1980s, left post at computer distributor Eczel Corp. after mismanagement by James Goldsmith,corporate raider who nearly took over Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Brought on at Emulex in 1992, just before it spun off QLogic, which now has higher market value. Oversaw executive shakeup after his arrival.
Praised for quick response to fake news release in 2000 that sent shares plummeting before he took to the airwaves.
Recently invested in an OC-based bank for small businesses, says his experience finding banking for Emulex in its early days led him to do so.
Graduated cum laude with bachelor’s from Central Washington State University. Received master’s in business from Seattle University. Prior to Emulex, worked for Boeing, Xerox, Thomas-Conrad, others. Advisory board member of JatoTech Ventures, an Austin, Texas, venture firm. Director, Chapman University, Project Tomorrow, the Mind Institute, SCR. Awarded Outstanding Patron by Arts Orange County last month.
Spent part of childhood in a housing project, now has ranch next to Celine Dion in Las Vegas. Likes golf.
Wife Daranne, daughter Courtney, 16.
,Andrew Simons
KENT BERNARD FOSTER
Chairman, CEO, Ingram Micro Inc.
Born in Concord, N.C., Sept. 23, 1943
Lives in Dallas
MICHAEL JOSEPH GRAINGER
COO, President, Ingram Micro Inc.
Born in Birmingham, Ala., June 17, 1952
Lives in San Juan Capistrano
Duo leads OC’s largest company by sales.
Foster, tall, white-haired former Air Force captain, lives and works out of Dallas home. Local lieutenant, fellow Southerner Grainger, runs company day-to-day. Foster has no plans to get a home here, one of many Ingram chiefs not to be based in OC.
Overseen a second year of big consolidation, including 12% cut in workers, closure of several facilities. For the effort, Foster got $1.7 million bonus last year on top of $1.1 million salary. Grainger got an $800,000 bonus plus a $1 million “executive retention agreement” payment.
Tech products distributor watching big customer Hewlett-Packard take business in-house. Sales down 11% last year to $22.5 billion amid industry slump. Company still employs 1,350 in OC, 12,700 worldwide.
Foster no stranger to embattled companies. Telephone industry veteran oversaw massive consolidation of GTE into Dallas headquarters, helped oversee Sprint spinoff. Left just as GTE joined Bell Atlantic to form Verizon.
Described as soft-spoken, patient, cautious, “intensely private.” Rejected several offers before signing on to replace prior Ingram chief Jerre Stead. Won praise among workers for going out of his way to listen to concerns. Pictures of friends, children, grandchildren dot office.
Both men like to have fun. At an executive retreat, Foster lightened things up by having team come in costume. His getup: 007. Grainger, Foster starred in a rap video to kick off 2003.
Grainger has regional presidents reporting to him. Runs company, deals with all issues, decides what to bring to Foster and the board. Crackerjack on the books. Moved from CFO to No. 2 spot in 2001.
Led financial aspects of company’s public debut in 1996 after selloff by Ingram Industries, where he worked before. Ingram family still controls about 70% of voting shares.
Natural-born Southerner. Loves Nascar. Says he’s “easy sell” for any sporting event. Loves University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Recently went to New Orleans for NCAA basketball final.
Bachelor’s in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University, master’s in management from USC.
Wife Donna, two children. History buff: into Civil War, WW II, watches lots of History Channel.
Foster received bachelor’s from the University of Montevallo in Alabama. Began career at GTE in Southeast in 1970 as supervising engineer, named operations VP in 1976. Until 1999, was GTE board member since 1992, vice chairman of the board since 1993.
Director, Campbell Soup, J.C. Penney, New York Life Insurance, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera. Co-chairman, Global Technology Distribution Council.
Before Ingram, spent a year with Sullivan Graphics as CFO of company’s book group. Before that, CFO for Coble Systems, truck leasing company. Began career at Price Waterhouse, 1973 to 1980.
Wife JoAnn, nickname Jodi. Two grown children.
,Andrew Simons
MATTHEW ERIC
MASSENGILL
Chairman, CEO, Western Digital Corp.
Born in Placentia, April 12, 1961
Lives in Laguna Niguel
Righted OC’s biggest wayward ship.
Two years into turnaround of disk drive maker many thought was left for dead in 2001. Last year, sales up 24% to $2.5 billion, net income of $128.8 million vs. loss of $34 million year earlier. Drive business now has run profitably for 11 straight quarters. Company as a whole in the black for six.
Reworked manufacturing in 2001, divested, closed ancillary businesses in 2002. Picked up big piece of Fujitsu’s exit from drive business,155,000-square-foot Thailand plant in late 2001. Lost-cost locale helping profits. Gives a lot of credit to Arif Shakeel, president, COO.
Wall Street approves: shares have doubled in past 10 months. Says he’s trying to convince younger analysts drives still are good business to invest in. Engineered deal with Microsoft to provide drives for Xbox game console.
Company man. Spent past 18 years at Western Digital. Began career as a product engineer. Held various engineering, marketing positions.
Named vice president, marketing for the personal storage division in 1994. Three years later was named senior vice president, general manager of now-defunct enterprise storage group. In 1999, appointed executive vice president, worldwide operations. Four months later became chief operating officer.
Took over in 2000 from longtime chief Charles Haggerty, has done what some analysts see as masterful job of stopping losses. Added chairman’s title in 2001.
Taking another stab at market for business drives where rival Seagate dominates. This time using less costly drives like those found in PCs.
Fine in casual attire. Wore Hawaiian shirt on first day as chief executive. Left Western Digital briefly in 1990 to run a ranch in Oregon.
Serves on board of OC charity Share Our Selves. Member, UCI’s Chief Executive Roundtable, executive council of TechNet’s OC chapter. Serves on US Bancorp Advisory Board.
Even-tempered, personable. Engineering degree from Purdue University in 1983, received Purdue’s Outstanding Engineering Alumni award in 1988. Wife Bernice.
,Andrew Simons
LEE DAVID ROBERTS
Chairman, CEO, FileNet Corp.
Born in Southampton, England,
Jan. 8, 1953
Lives in Irvine, Seattle
Everest had to wait.
Leader of OC’s largest software company by sales wanted to climb Mount Everest by 2002. Economic slowdown got in the way.
Spent last year keeping costs in line. Company posted 2002 sales of $347 million, up 3%. Saw an $8.3 million profit, vs. $16.6 million loss year before.
Oversees 750 OC workers, 1,700 worldwide. Putting FileNet’s $160 million in cash (at recent check) to use. Last month, moved to buy Canada’s Shana, provider of electronic forms.
Steered company from roots in document management,scanning of paper,to focus on network data.
Sells to more than 3,800 customers, including Fluor, Ingram Micro, Mercury Insurance, Orange County Superior Court, PacifiCare, Southern California Edison, UCI.
Company among the last local techs to succumb to downturn. Last year, company cut 10% of work force, or about 170 people. Cokes from vending machine, once free, now 50 cents.
In battle with IBM, others to be king of “content management”,software to handle everything from sales records to digital video clips. Big Blue upping spending on development. Oracle, Microsoft, eyeing market, on sidelines for now.
Sees content management software starting to grow by about 20% yearly starting this year. Recently launched biggest product yet, FileNet P8, for managing disparate data.
Joined as president in 1997, alongside now retired founder Ted Smith. Named CEO in 1998, chairman in 2000. Spent 20 years at IBM in a variety of sales, marketing, product, general management roles.
Earned two bachelor’s from California State San Bernardino, master’s in business from UC Riverside.
FileNet named Software Council of Southern California’s company of the year last year, Roberts CEO of the year in 2000. Nominee, this year’s AeA High-Tech Awards.
Single. Two daughters from prior marriage: Heather, 25, Hillary, 17.
Enjoys climbing, mountain biking, hiking and swimming. Has run 30 marathons, competed three times in the 100-mile run through the Sierras. Finished the Ironman Triathlon several times.
,Andrew Simons
HENRY SAMUELI
Co-Chairman, VP of R & D;,
Chief Technology Officer,
Broadcom Corp.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Sept. 20, 1954
Lives in Corona del Mar
ALAN ERNEST
“LANNY” ROSS
CEO, President, Broadcom Corp.
Born in Galena, Kan., Feb. 1, 1935
Lives in Irvine, Seattle
New times, new duo.
Ross took over after cofounder, former chief Henry Nicholas resigned in January amid family troubles, changing times at chipmaker. (Nicholas still is co-chairman but plans to give up title this month.) Ross now helping to find a permanent replacement,a task he says could take time. Seeking more toned down executive than notoriously wild Nicholas.
Gained fame at Rockwell Semiconductor, now Conexant, where he presided over chipmaker’s dominance in modem chips in early 1990s. While there, Rockwell’s chip sales grew to more than $1 billion. Retired in 1996, giving way to fellow OC 50er Dwight Decker.
Before Rockwell, had stints at National Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor.
Longtime Broadcom director, named COO in November. Has overseen restructuring of chipmaker. One of first moves was to cut 500 workers, scale back unprofitable operations acquired in the past few years.
In January, named four vice presidents reporting to him. In March, fired head of ServerWorks unit.
Bringing old-style management to once wild Broadcom. Make-over reflects Broadcom’s growth from acquisition-fueled go-go days to big chipmaker awaiting market rebound.
Samueli oversees research. After soul-searching, says he doesn’t want top job because research would suffer. Described as engineering genius. Along with Nicholas, controls more than half of company’s voting shares.
Career in research and development. Met Nicholas at TRW in 1980s. Two made 4.5 million-transistor wafer processor, faster than Pentium unveiled 10 years later. Was Nicholas’s professor at UCLA. Worked at PairGain with Nicholas in 1980s, started Broadcom in 1993.
Worst of downturn may be behind Broadcom. 2002 sales up 13% to $1.08 billion. Pro forma net loss was $54.4 million, down from $85.8 million in 2001. Posted first-quarter operating profit.
Samueli married to wife Susan, three children. Quiet, subdued. Big donor to the UCI, UCLA, Performing Arts Center. Also made Chapman donation. He and wife gave around $10 million, land for Samueli Center for Progressive Judaism in Irvine.
Ross has bachelor’s in industrial management from San Diego State. Director, Santa Clara-based Sequence Design, Irvine-based Ditrans, managing director, Mountain Shadow Ventures.
Married to wife Terri, four grown children from prior marriage. Lives in temporary Irvine residence; permanent home in Seattle.
,Andrew Simons
VINCENT “VINNY”
COBURN SMITH JR.
Chairman, CEO, Quest Software Inc.
Born in Baltimore, Feb. 8, 1964
Lives in Newport Beach
His company makes in-demand software for monitoring other software.
Takeover rumors have Sunnyvale’s Mercury Interactive eyeing Quest for growth in market for applications monitoring software,used to make sure other programs are running right.
Consolidation is coming, he says, but sees Quest staying on its own.
No stranger to deals: sold his own startup, Patrol Software, to BMC Software in 1994. Served as BMC’s director of open systems, managing sales operations. Worked at Oracle from 1987 to 1992 in sales management positions.
Unassuming, often-smiling leader. Known to wear jeans, cap in office. Likes to be called “Vinnie.” Said to be aggressive, a salesman.
Leading a comeback. Company made $11 million in 2002, vs. a $55.8 million loss year earlier. Revenue rose 5% to $258 million. Forecasting sales to grow to $290 million to $310 million.
Invested in Quest in 1995. Shook up the company, prompted departure of a founder. Left life on Colorado ski slopes to take over as chief executive from Quest cofounder David Doyle, who’s president. Became multimillionaire (and, for a few days, billionaire) in 1999 public offering.
Still plays investor. Recently took stake in Newport Beach-based Fusion International, a venture that plans to buy surfwear apparel makers, roll them up and market goods using rock stars. Owns a few chain restaurants. Says he likes to invest in different things. Active stock trader. “If I like a company, I’ll buy a 10% to 25% stake,” he says.
Spends much of off time with wife, two children, often on ski slopes. Said to be a devoted dad, protective of family privacy. Takes care of kids at work sometimes, cancels business meetings to watch them perform at school.
,Andrew Simons
JOHN TU
President, Kingston Technology Co.
Born in Chongquing, China, Aug. 21, 1941
Lives in Rolling Hills
DAVID SUN
Chief Operating Officer, Vice President,
Kingston Technology Co.
Born in Tai-Chung, Taiwan, Oct. 12, 1951
Lives in Irvine
Memory’s dynamic duo weathering industry’s near-perfect storm.
As falling chip prices crimp profits, have cut workers, benefits, lunches for workers. Year-old plant in China steadily taking on more work. About 200 jobs shifted from OC to Shanghai so far.
Tough times taken toll on fabled benevolence. Kingston didn’t make Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list last year after five straight years. (It did rank as the fifth best place to work in Britain by the Great Place to Work Europe Consortium.)
Watching sales come back after steep downturn. 2002 revenue of $1.2 billion, up 33% from a year before. Employ 800 in OC, down from 924 a year earlier. Still OC’s largest minority-owned company by sales, workers.
Company sells to big businesses needing memory, and via partnership with Intel. All sales come from memory products, packaging, since company cut computer peripherals, processor upgrades.
Pair made national news in 1996 by handing out $100 million in bonuses to workers after selling 80% of Kingston to Softbank. Two bought back Kingston in 1999 for fraction of what Softbank paid.
Both still sit in cubicles with other workers. Headquarters has strong Asian influence but is global melting pot: 18 languages spoken, English classes offered.
Sun once challenged Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy to golf to settle a lawsuit. In early 1980s, duo founded Camintonn in garage. Lugged around memory chips in back seats of their cars. Became division VPs when AST Research bought Camintonn. Left to start Kingston in 1987 after losing $7 million in Camintonn proceeds in stock market crash.
Two made wager when founding company. Tu bet Kingston wouldn’t succeed, Sun bet it would. The stakes: a new Jag. Tu paid off the bet in 1990. A few years later, Sun gave Jag to a six-year employee whose longtime dream was to own one.
Tu’s father was minister of culture in pre-communist China, mother was actress. Family fled to Taiwan in 1949. A rebellious student who loved Elvis, parents sent Tu to Germany to live with an uncle who owned Chinese restaurant. Learned enough German to start engineering apprenticeship. Came to U.S. in 1972 with first wife, opened a gift shop in Scottsdale, Ariz., dabbled in real estate.
Sun came from Taiwan in 1977, was chief Engineer at Alpha Micro Systems in Costa Mesa, 1978 to 1982. Both have electrical engineering degrees, Tu from Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany, Sun from Taiwan’s Ta-Tung Institute of Technology.
Tu’s wife Mary; two children. Sun’s wife Diana, two children. Tu plays drums, likes Elvis, says he dreams of playing with The Rolling Stones, tells jokes. Sun an avid golfer, used to smoke.
,Andrew Simons
HONORABLE MENTION
Robert G. Deuster
Chairman, CEO, President,
Newport Corp.
Bruce C. Edwards
CEO, President,
Powerwave Technologies Inc.
Wayne R. Inouye
CEO, President, eMachines Inc.
Shu Li
CEO, President,
Jazz Semiconductor Inc.
JAMES C. MADDEN V
Chairman, CEO, President,
Exult Inc.
Stephen D. Marlow
Executive VP, Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc.
Frank Perna Jr.
Chairman, CEO,
MSC.Software Corp.
James J. Peterson
CEO, President, Microsemi Corp.
