Board of Directors

Dr. Hans P. Black

Dr. Black is a native of Europe and received his Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, from Union College in New York, where he was elected a Phi Beta Kappa scholar.  He studied law in France and subsequently graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a Doctorate in Medicine.  Dr. Black is currently Chairman and chief investment strategist of Interinvest, a global money management firm for private wealth clients which he founded in Montreal in the mid 70's, with offices in Boston and affiliate offices in Bermuda, London and Zurich.  He is a member of the board of Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., a member of the board of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a member of the board of la Fondation Institut de Cardiologie de Montreal, a member of the board of Fondation Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, a member of the Advisory Council of The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera.  In addition, he serves as chairman of the board of the Quebec-based food company, Les Aliments Soyummi Inc.

Dr. Rob Roy

 Dr. Rob Roy is a well-recognized entrepreneur in the field of wireless and VLSI design.  He was a co-founder and Chief Technology Strategist of Mobilian Corporation, a fabless company with the first chipset achieving simultaneous Wireless LAN and Bluetooth connectivity, which was acquired by Intel Corporation in September 2003.  His previous experience includes engineering and management positions at Intel, NEC, GE and AT&T Bell Labs.  Dr. Roy is also the co-chairman of the Advisory Board of Zenasis Technologies, an EDA company where he was previously serving as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.

Dr. Roy has published over 50 research papers in prestigious journals and international conferences.  He has been an adjunct faculty at Princeton University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Currently he serves as an Adjunct Professor at Amrita University, Coimbatore, India.  He is a Golden Core Member of IEEE Computer Society and has been the Chair of ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award Committee.  Dr. Roy has been granted seven US and International patents and has several applications pending.  Dr. Roy serves on the Board of Directors of Alumnus Software Limited and SimBioSys Biowares.

Dr. Roy received his B.Tech (Hons) degree in Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1984.  He also holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989 and 1992, respectively.

Mr. Roger St. Cyr

Mr. St. Cyr held a number senior financial and executive positions for North American Philips, Cambridge Electronic Industries plc, and The Roxboro Group plc. He has over 30 years experience in finance and management and is a former Certified Public Accountant. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Hartford. Mr. St. Cyr founded the Roxboro Group (now Dialight), as one of three principals, who undertook an MBO of the components group of Cambridge Electronic Industries (now Grasby). Mr. St. Cyr was a founding Director of the group and President of Dialight Corporation. The businesses were strategically restructured involving a series of divestitures and acquisitions. With his new management team and a change in corporate culture, the businesses achieved substantial profitability. These efforts were culminated in a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 1993 with a substantial return for the principals and Venture Capital Partners, Schroder Ventures.

Mr. St. Cyr then joined Pelton & Crane as head of the acquisition team with Schroder Ventures (now Permira Advisers). After the acquisition from Siemens, as President, he led a new management team which turned around a company with substantial losses to one of profitability. A trade sale in 1998 to a competitor resulted in a substantial gain for the principals and Permira Advisors.

Mr. Andy Wilson

Mr. Andy Wilson is founder and president of YTW Growth Capital Management Corporation, a venture capital company based in Toronto.  He previously had a private practice providing corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, and investment banking advisory services to mid-market clients from 1998 to 2004.  From 1993 until 1998, Mr. Wilson was with Midland Walwyn Capital Inc. (now Merrill Lynch Canada Inc.), most recently as Senior Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions.  Mr. Wilson holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and is a director of Xentel DM, Incorporated, an entertainment and sports event production and marketing company, and Broadband Learning Corporation, a distance learning company.  Both companies are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Dr. Reza Ahy

Dr. Ahy is a seasoned Chief Executive Officer with over twenty years of progressive achievements, focused on growth and results-oriented leadership plus execution for technology companies from the conception through revenue stages.  He has led major strategic partnerships and achieved design wins with many of the world's major carriers (Telefonica, VSNL,BSNL,Telmex,Sasktel,Centurytel, Etisalat,LRTC,Entel, Sprint-Nextel, and Covad).

Most recently, Dr. Ahy was the CEO, Chairman, and Founder of Aperto Networks, a WiMAX leader for Carrier Global Markets.  Prior to founding Aperto Networks, he was the VP of Engineering and CTO of RadioLAN, a networking and enterprise infrastructure company focused on WiFi solutions for the enterprise and carrier markets.  Other high level positions held by Dr. Ahy have been with Varian Research Center in the communications infrastructure and instrumentation area where he focused on next generation product development, and with Microwave Technology and Harris Corporation where he led the development of RFICs, MMICs, and subsystems for wireless communications and defense markets. 

He received his PhD.EE from Stanford University, where he was a Rockwell and Stanford Center for Integrated Systems Fellow, and his MSEE and BSEE from the University of California, San Diego.   He has been awarded more than 15 patents to date (more in process), has over 45 publications in international technical journals and conference proceedings, and has contributed as a keynote speaker at many major industry events.

Mr. Norman Steinberg

Mr. Steinberg is co-chair and a member of the Executive Committee of Ogilvy Renault, a full service business law firm where he has practiced corporate and commercial law since 1976.

In addition to conducting numerous Canadian and Canada/U.S. cross-border and international financings, Mr. Steinberg has also been involved in a number of high-profile mergers and acquisitions and privatization transactions.  He also frequently advises boards of directors on various matters.

Mr. Steinberg has sat on various public, private and not for profit bards, including Montreal Symphony Orchestra and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Foundation.  Mr. Steinberg is a long-standing member of the Advisory Committee to the Autorite des marches financiers.  Mr. Steinberg holds a B.C.L. and B.Sc. from McGill University.

Mr. David Tahmassebi

Mr. David Tahmassebi has over 15 years of experience in the marketing, sales, and engineering management of wireless and consumer-related semiconductor products.  Prior to joining WK Technology Fund, Mr. Tahmassebi served as president, CEO and co-chairman of Berkana Wireless, a fabless semiconductor start-up focused on CMOS RF transceivers for the cellular market.  In addition to raising $15M of venture funding, Mr. Tahmassebi guided company strategy and drove the efforts to transition Berkana's first product from samples into production with two major Korean handset OEMs.  His efforts ultimately resulted in the sale of the company to Qualcomm for $56M in 2005.  Earlier, Mr. Tahmassebi was co-founder, president and CEO of Resonext Communications, an 802.11 fabless semiconductor company where he raised $68M in venture funding and sold the company to RFMD for $133M after achieving a number of major design wins.  Before Resonext, Mr. Tahmassebi had full P&L responsibility for the consumer business unit at VLSI Technology where he grew annual revenue to $80M.  Mr. Tahmassebi began his career at Stanford Telecom, a leading provider of semiconductor and system solutions to the telecommunications industry and holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.