Tech and Web NEWS

J. Daniel McCranie executive chairman and Dr. Alexander Shubat CEO for Virage Logic

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 2, 2008

Virage Logic Corp. a Fremont-based provider of semiconductor intellectual property for the design of complex integrated circuits, bumped its CEO, J. Daniel McCranie, up to executive chairman, and promoted Dr. Alex Shubat from chief operating officer to CEO. The Fremont semiconductor technology company characterized the change in leadership as part of “transforming Virage Logic.”

Shubat a co-founder of Virage helped to start the business in 1996, and has overseen its technological innovation since then. McCranie was previously chairman of the board of directors, and the company added “executive” to the title. He’s been CEO for seven quarters, or nearly two years. Last month, Virage Logic also named Brian Sereda as its vice president of finance and CFO, replacing Christine Russell, who became executive vice president of business development.

“In the seven quarters that I have had the pleasure to serve as CEO, we have made significant progress in transforming Virage Logic from a highly specialized semiconductor IP supplier to that of a broad-line supplier of highly differentiated standard product semiconductor IP,” stated Mr. McCranie. “Today, our standard product portfolio encompasses embedded memory compilers, logic libraries, DDR memory interface and non-volatile memory solutions, as well as memory development software, embedded test and repair solutions, and semiconductor die yield enhancement tools. Our strong year-over-year revenue and earnings growth metrics are a clear reflection of our past efforts and resulting success in our transformation. For those results, I am proud and appreciative of the efforts of our talented employees, and I am especially proud of the innovation, tenacity and strong management direction provided by Alex during this entire period. It is with great confidence that I relinquish the CEO role to this very capable executive.”

Mr. McCranie concluded, “It’s important for all of our employees, our customers and our stakeholders to realize that we are in the early phases of transforming this company. Over the past year and a half, we have made good progress in building the infrastructure needed to drive a scalable and profitable business. In addition, we have now put in place an extremely capable executive team with the drive and experience needed for our future success. For the next phase of our growth, we need to execute on several critical initiatives. Amongst those initiatives are product line expansion, increased penetration at major IDMs and semiconductor foundries, and significant improvement in our overall demand creation efforts. I have committed to the company and to our board of directors that I will personally drive these three initiatives as well as the continual monitoring of our performance against the company’s traditional revenue, earnings and balance sheet objectives.”

J. Daniel McCranie Profile:

Executive Chairman
J. Daniel McCranie serves as Virage Logic’s Executive Chairman where he is responsible for leading the company’s demand creation efforts, merger and acquisition activities, and strategic direction. He joined Virage Logic as Chairman of the Board in August 2003, became Executive Chairman in March 2006, and served in that role until taking over as president and CEO in January 2007. From January 2007 until October 2008, he served as president and CEO, and in October 2008, he again became Executive Chairman.

McCranie also currently serves as Chairman of the Board for ON Semiconductor, a provider of power and data management semiconductors and standard semiconductor components. He also holds directorships at Actel, a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, and Cypress Semiconductor, a world leader in timing technology solutions.

McCranie is a 30+ year veteran of the semiconductor and communications industries. Prior to joining Virage Logic, he served as vice president of sales and marketing of Cypress Semiconductor, a San Jose-based manufacturer of semiconductors for the communications industry. He retired from that position in 2001.

From 1986 to 1993, McCranie was the chairman, president and CEO of SEEQ Technology, a supplier of mixed-signal data communications products. Leading up to his tenure at SEEQ, McCranie held positions of increasing responsibility in management, engineering, and sales and marketing at Harris Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices, American Microsystems and Philips Corporation.

McCranie earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Dr. Alexander Shubat Profile:

President and CEO

Dr. Shubat co-founded Virage Logic in 1996 and currently serves as the company’s president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Prior to taking on the role of president and CEO in October 2008, Dr. Shubat served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) where he led the company’s strategic initiative to always be first-to-market with next generation products by focusing on both organic and in-organic product line expansion and operational excellence. Prior to his role as COO, Dr. Shubat served as the company’s vice president of research and development (R&D) and chief technical officer (CTO) where he was instrumental in leading the nearly 300 person technical staff to conceive, develop and deliver the highly differentiated advanced technology solutions for which Virage Logic has become known.

Prior to co-founding Virage Logic in 1996, Dr. Shubat served as director of engineering at Waferscale Integration, a provider of Programmable uC peripherals (subsequently sold to ST). During his 10 year career at Waferscale Integration, he managed various groups including design, application-specific integrated circuit and high-speed memory.

Dr. Shubat holds more than 20 patents and has contributed to more than 25 publications. He holds an executive M.B.A. from Stanford University, a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University.

Sphere: Related Content

Like this article! ‹ Mr. Right: Can NYSE’s John Alexander Thain Work for Ken Lewis at Bank of America? Sovereign Bancorp Joseph P. Campanelli’s repulsive 8.4M parachute! ›
Share this Post: Get It Delivered To Your Inbox