Federico Faggin

Since 2003, Federico Faggin is president and CEO of Fovoen, Inc., a start-up company dedicated to developing and marketing advanced CMOS image sensors. Faggin co-founded Synaptics, Inc. in 1986, where he is currently chairman of the board. He served as a director, president and CEO from 1987 to 1998. He also co-founded Cygnet Technologies, Inc. in 1982 and Zilog, Inc. in 1974, serving as President and CEO in both companies. Faggin was Department Manager in Research and Development at Intel Corporation from 1970 to 1974 and led the design and development of the world's first microprocessor and more than 25 integrated circuits. In 1968, Faggin was employed by Fairchild Semiconductor and led the development of the original MOS Silicon Gate Technology and designed the world's first commercial integrated circuit to use such technology. Faggin is also a director of BlueArc, Inc., and Zilog, Inc.

Faggin is the recipient of many honors and awards including the 1988 International Marconi Fellowship Award, the 1994 IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award, and the 1997 Kyoto Prize. In addition, in 1996, Faggin was inducted in the National Inventor's Hall of Fame for the co-invention of the microprocessor. Mr. Faggin holds a Dottore in Fisica degree in physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Padua, Italy. He also holds honorary doctorate degrees in computer science from the University of Milan, Italy and in electronic engineering from the University of Rome, Italy.