Board of Directors
Staccato’s Board of Directors truly understands the potential for UWB enabled products and is helping to ensure the company maintains its course as the industry leader, with advanced products and thought leadership.
Marty Colombatto, Chairman and CEO
Mr. Colombatto became chairman and CEO of Staccato in January 2006 after serving on Staccato's board of directors since 2004. He brings with him 20 years of experience in engineering, strategic marketing, product development, sales, and merger & acquisition strategies and tactics. Most recently, he was vice president and general manager, Networking Business Unit, Broadcom Corporation, (NASDAQ: BRCM) where he established and managed a business unit that grew to more than $400 million in revenue over a four-year period. During his tenure at Broadcom, Mr. Colombatto participated in the acquisition of several companies, five of which were assimilated into his business unit. Prior to Broadcom, Mr. Colombatto managed sales organizations in Europe and North America for LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI). Earlier in his career, he held positions as software development engineer for Reliance Electric and field sales engineer with Texas Instruments (NYSE: TSN).
Mr. Colombatto holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electronic engineering Technology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Roberto Aiello, Founder, CTO
Dr. Aiello is a co-founder and CTO at Staccato Communications. He is responsible for making Ultra-Wideband (UWB) a commercial reality. He served as CEO for the first two and half years. In his role, he led fundraising and set the company's business directions. He was previously founder, president and CEO at Fantasma Networks, a UWB product company where he led the fundraising, business planning and operations. Prior to Fantasma, Dr. Aiello had joined Interval Research, Paul Allen's research laboratory, in 1996 to work on advanced wireless technologies where he led the wireless research and built the first documented UWB network. Fantasma Networks was a spin-off of Interval. He previously held senior positions at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and the National Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory in Texas. He is a recognized leader in the UWB community and is actively involved in regulatory and standards-setting committees. Dr. Aiello has contributed to the spectrum regulations since 1996, and his efforts were instrumental in getting UWB spectrum allocated in the United States. He has currently turned his attention to worldwide regulations. He is a founding member of several standard committees, such as the UWB Working Group, the MultiBand Coalition, the MultiBand OFDM Alliance (MBOA) and now serves as an officer on the board of WiMedia.
Roberto Aiello holds a Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Trieste. He has served and serves on several advisory boards, such as iPASS. He is the author of more than 20 patents on UWB technology.
Neal Dempsey, Partner (BayPartners, Cupertino)
Mr. Dempsey is focused on communications companies in wireless along with Internet infrastructure software and networking services. He joined Bay Partners in 1989 after a varied business career including five years as Chief Executive Officer of Qubix Graphics Systems, one year as Chief Executive of Envision Technology, and several senior management positions with Zentec and Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS).
Mr. Dempsey received his BA degree from the University of Washington's School of Business Administration. He remains actively involved with the school as a member of the Business School Advisory Board, and as a director of the University's Foundation. He also serves as a Trustee at Claremont McKenna College and is Chairman of the Board of Eastfield Ming Quong, a Santa Clara-based non-profit that supports emotionally disturbed children and their families.
Jonathan Funk, Managing Director (Allegis Capital, Santa Monica)
Mr. Funk has been making venture capital investments in early stage information technology companies since 1981. Prior to co-founding Allegis Capital in 1996, he was a founding general partner with InterVen Partners, a Southern California early-stage technology venture capital firm. He has directed start-up investments in all areas of information technology, including semiconductors, CAE software, electronic assemblies and components, digital imaging systems, peripherals, digital cable programming, telecommunications and internet services. He is on the Board of Directors of ClariPhy Communications, IdeaForest.com, as well as Staccato Communications. He has previously served on the Boards of Directors of Sandpiper Networks, Rent.com, Shopzilla.com and many other public and private companies.
Mr. Funk received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. with honors from the University of Southern California.
Doug Laird, Executive (Cswitch)
Mr. Laird presently works for Charles River Ventures as an executive in residence. Previously he was a founder and executive vice president of Product Development for Transmeta Corporation. In that role, he managed various engineering organizations of the company. Prior to founding Transmeta, he led engineering organizations at Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW), LSI Logic (NYSE: LSI), Ultra Network Technologies, ROLM Mil-Spec Computers, and National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM).
Mr. Laird received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in computer science from Santa Clara University.
Bill Tai, General Partner (Charles River Venture)
Mr. Tai brings more than 17 years of operating and investing experience to CRV, most recently as managing director and general partner of Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). At IVP, he focused on early-stage investing in enabling technologies, communications equipment and wireless technologies. Over the last decade, he has worked actively with 28 private companies in their early formation, seeing the majority through public listing (15) or acquisition (5). His investment record includes Transmeta (NASDAQ: TMTA) where he was the founding VC investor, Microtune (NASDAQ: TUNE), Terayon Communications (NASDAQ: TERN) and Premisys Communications (NASDAQ: PRMS). Mr. Tai currently serves on the board of directors of three publicly listed companies and is chairman of the board at IP Infusion. Prior to joining IVP, he was founding chairman, president and CEO of iAsiaWorks (NASD: IAWK). Earlier in his career, he established Alex Brown & Sons research practice in semiconductors and was responsible for the positioning of public offerings for Atmel, Adaptec, Cirrus Logic, Dallas Semiconductor, Exar and Zilog, among others. He also held technical and marketing positions with Texas Instruments and LSI Logic.
Mr. Tai has a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Business. He is a past officer and director of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists.
Dino Vendetti, General Partner (Formative Ventures, Menlo Park)
Mr. Vendetti is focused on communications companies in the wireless, optical and data networking sectors. He joined Formative Ventures in July 2006 as a general partner, bringing with him over 20 years of operating and investment experience. Prior to joining Formative, Mr. Vendetti spent six years as a general partner at Bay Partners, an early-stage Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm with over $1 billion of capital under active management. He began his venture capital career in 1997 as an investing partner at Vulcan Ventures, the Seattle-based investment firm led by Paul Allen. Prior to Vulcan, he was Vice President and Research Analyst at Dain Rauscher, where he covered the telecom industry. Prior to embarking on a venture capital career that has spanned nearly a decade, Mr. Vendetti held a variety of key operating roles at some of the communications industry's leading companies. He was Vice President of Product Management at MetaWave (NASDAQ: MTWV), a leading developer of smart antennas for wireless networks. He also held product management and business development positions at Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and US West Cellular. He began his operating career as an engineer at TRW, where he designed satellite communication systems.
Mr. Vendetti has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from San Diego State University, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering, and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington.