Mr. Roy L. Clay, Sr.
CEO of ROD-L Electronics, Inc.
Roy Clay, Sr. was a key figure in the development of Hewlett-Packard’s computer division. In the early 1970’s, at the beginning of Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers selected him as the computer consultant for prospective investments in start up companies such as Tandem Computers, Compaq and Intel Corporation.
He lead the team that engineered HP’s first foray into the computer market with the development of the 2116A computer in 1966. Not only was he the first Director of the HP Research and Development Software and Hardware Group, he was a founding member of the HP Computer Division. He served as Interim General Manager following Tom Perkins of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.
Today, Roy is CEO of ROD-L Electronics, the inventor of the automated Dielectric Withstand (Hipot) Tester, and world leader in development of electrical safety testing equipment. Roy founded ROD-L Electronics, Inc. in 1977. ROD-L set the industry standard in electrical Product Safety testing by producing the world’s first Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Safety Certified Dielectric Withstand (Hipot) & Ground Continuity Testers and has since received the Consumer Product Safety Award.
His company, based in Menlo Park, California is a leader in youth development. ROD-L Electronics was the recipient of the “Dads Count Family Friendly Employer Award” issued by The County of San Mateo. Roy has worked tirelessly for over 35 years in Silicon Valley in leadership positions in community-based organizations with the objective of “improving the quality of life in the community.” He served on The City Council for The City of Palo Alto (1973-1979) and as Vice Mayor (1976-77).
Mr. Kumar Malavalli
Co-Founder of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
While growing up in India, Kumar Malavalli dreamed of coming to America. He finally arrived in Silicon Valley from Canada in 1995 to co-found Brocade Communications Systems. As CTO, he helped make Brocade one of the most technologically innovative and successful companies today.
Kumar Malavalli earned BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics at the National Institute of Engineering in Mysore, India. He has worked for ITT Communications, Amdahl, Canstar, and HP in various senior technical positions pertaining to local and wide area networks. He is one of the principal architects of Fibre Channel technology, in which he holds patents. He became Chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T11 Technical Committee, which established universal standards for Fibre Channel, and was a director of both the Fibre Channel Industry Association and the Storage Networking Industry Association.
The benefits of Fibre Channel’s technology became apparent after September 11 when, for the first time, World Trade Center companies were able to rely on the data disaster recovery features of their storage systems. Mr. Malavalli’s contributions to storage networking range from the technical to business development to marketing. Through his leadership in the industry many new companies were launched in Silicon Valley, and new departments opened up within established corporations.
Mr. Malavalli currently invests in and mentors numerous storage networking startups in Silicon Valley, and serves on the Board of Directors or Technical Advisory Board of over ten such companies. He is co-founder and partner of Pulsar Ventures, a venture fund that transfers breakthrough technologies—often in biotechnology or medicine—out of the universities and into the business world. He also has a global vision that encompasses telemedicine and education. He is a Silicon Valley Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), and Trustee of the American India Foundation (AIF).
Dr. Mihir Parikh
Founder of Asyst Technologies, Inc.
Mihir Parikh founded Asyst Technologies in April, 1984 serving as President and Chief Executive Officer until July, 1992 when he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. He now serves as Chairman.
Mihir Parikh graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.S. degree in engineering physics in 1969, and with a Ph.D. in engineering science in 1974. He received an Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley for his visionary leadership in the development of advanced semiconductor manufacturing environments.
From 1974 to 1984, Dr. Parikh held various engineering management positions with Hewlett-Packard and International Business Machines Corporation. Minienvironment and Standard Mechanical InterFace (SMIF) technology was first developed under his engineering leadership at Hewlett-Packard.
Dr. Parikh has been widely published on topics of electron beam lithography, theoretical and experimental radiation physics, applications of tunneling spectroscopy, and wafer automation and transfer systems. He is the past chairman and organizer of the ECS Symposium on “Automated IC Manufacturing” and a past organizer of a University of California at Berkeley short course in cleanroom technology. In 1999, he was a recipient of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International Award for North America for his significant contributions to the semiconductor industry. Dr. Parikh is a current board member of The Tech Museum of Innovation.