Xilinx

Bernard V. Vonderschmitt was an electrical engineer, most noted as a co-founder of leading FPGA producer Xilinx. Vonderschmitt graduated with a BSEE from Rose Polytechnic Institute in 1944. He also received an MSEE degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and later an honorary doctorate from... Rider University. Vonderschmitt began his career with RCA, and worked with them for 34 years, taking a short time during World War II to serve in the US Navy as an electronics officer. He holds 13 patents that cover color television and solid state electronics. After leaving RCA, he worked briefly for Zilog, before co-founding Xilinx together with Ross Freeman in 1984. With Xilinx, he pioneered the fabless business model which is now used by a large number of semiconductor companies around the world. In 2002, he retired from Xilinx, with the company entrenched as the worldwide leader in FPGA marketshare. On June 9, 2004 Vonderschmitt died in his hometown of Jasper, Indiana.
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Since January 1996, Willem P. "Wim" Roelandts has served at the helm of Xilinx as President and CEO. In August 2003, he assumed the position of... Chairman of the Board. Under Roelandts' leadership, Xilinx has doubled its revenue to over $1 billion, significantly expanding its business globally and diversifying into higher volume consumer markets. Market research firm Gartner Dataquest ranks Xilinx as the fourth largest supplier of custom logic chips in the world and the number one supplier of programmable logic chips, one of the fastest growing segments of the overall semiconductor industry. Today Xilinx is widely recognized as one of best managed and most financially sound high technology companies in the world. For four years in a row, Xilinx has been named to FORTUNE Magazine's "Top 100 Best Companies to Work For." Forbes now includes Xilinx in its list of America's 400 best big companies and Roelandts consistently ranks as one of the highest-rated chief executives in the semiconductor sector, based upon approval ratings tracked at forbes.com. Roelandts is actively involved in industry affairs, serving on the Board of Directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Technology Network, Applied Materials, and as president of the Fabless Semiconductor Association. Roelandts also frequently acts as a keynote speaker at industry conferences and trade shows and as a guest on financial and business television programs broadcast internationally. Roelandts joined Xilinx after a 30-year career in management at Hewlett-Packard Co. In his most recent position, he served as senior vice president and was responsible for all aspects of HP's then $6 billion worldwide computer systems business, including research and development, manufacturing, marketing, professional services and sales. Roelandts was born January 4, 1945, in Lennik, Belgium. He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rijks Hogere Technische School in Anderlecht, Belgium, in 1965.
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