Advisory Board

The DESIGN West Advisory Board is made up of industry professionals who volunteer each year to help develop the 150+ ESC conference sessions. They work to ensure that the quality of the content is technical, relevant, and timely and provides practical takeaways that attendees can apply immediately. Read about the members of the Design West Advisory Board.

Ian Dees

By day, Ian Dees slings code, tests, and puns at a Portland-area test equipment manufacturer. By night, he dons a cape and keeps watch as Sidekick Man, protecting the city from closet monsters. Ian is the author of Scripted GUI Testing With Ruby and co-author of the upcoming Cucumber Recipes, both published by the Pragmatic Programmers.

Karen Field

A former mechanical design engineer, Karen Field brings more than 20 years of experience working in media targeted at electronics and electromechanical design engineers, including EE Times, Electronics Weekly, and EDN. Currently Senior Vice President- Content, UBM Electronics, a hallmark of Fields’ work has been the creation of highly unique cutting-edge media. In addition to heading up content strategy and vision for UBM Electronics, she is currently focusing on mobile apps, the creation of new professional networking experiences for design engineers, and developing innovative programming and user experiences at DESIGN West. Field holds a BSME from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Boston University.

Jack Ganssle

Jack Ganssle, Chief Engineer of the Ganssle Group, writes for embedded.com and has written six books on embedded systems and one on his sailing fiascos. He started developing embedded systems in the early '70s using the 8008. Since then, he's started and sold three electronics companies, including one of the bigger embedded tool businesses. He's developed or managed more than 100 embedded products, from deep sea navigational gear to the White House security system. Ganssle now gives seminars to companies worldwide about better ways to develop embedded systems.

Bill Gatliff

Bill Gatliff, independent consultant and contributing editor for embedded.com, makes Free and Open Source technology work for embedded systems. Specializing in Linux kernel porting and real-time applications for more than a decade, Bill also provides some of the most sought-after, in-depth, up-to-date consulting and training on topics related to real-world embedded platforms and applications. His background includes automotive, industrial, aerospace, and medical devices. Bill is a contributing editor to Embedded Systems Design Magazine, and a member of the Advisory Board to the Embedded Systems Conference.

Mark Kraeling

Mark Kraeling, Product Manager at GE Transportation, is a long-time advisory board member and speaker at the Embedded Systems Conference. He is currently a product manager at GE Transportation in Melbourne, Florida. At GE he is involved with advanced product development in real-time controls, wireless, and communication systems. He has been developing embedded software for the automotive and transportation industries since the early 1990s. Mark holds a BSEE from Rose-Hulman, an MBA from Johns Hopkins, and is working on an MSE from Arizona State.

Matt Liberty

Matt Liberty is the founder of Jetperch LLC which provides DSP, FPGA and embedded software-consulting services. Before founding Jetperch, Matt was the core inventor and developer of Hillcrest Labs’ Freespace® motion control technology. Over the span of 8 years, he was granted 12 US patents related to motion control. Before Hillcrest, Matt developed telecommunications equipment for two other startups: Megisto and Salix Technologies. Matt holds a degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University.

Max Maxfield

In addition to being a hero, trendsetter, and leader of fashion, Clive “Max” Maxfield is widely regarded as an expert in all aspects of electronics (at least by his mother). Currently Editor-in-Chief, All Programmable Planet, Max received his BSc in Control Engineering in 1980 from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, UK. He began his career as a designer of central processing units (CPUs) for mainframe computers. Over the years, Max has designed everything from silicon chips to circuit boards, and from brainwave amplifiers to steampunk "Display-O-Meters." He has also been at the forefront of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) for more than 20 years. Max is the author and/or co-author of a number of books, including Designus Maximus Unleashed (banned in Alabama), Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics), EDA: Where Electronics Begins, FPGAs: Instant Access, and How Computers Do Math.

Rick Merritt

Editor at large, EE Times

Rick Merritt has worked for EE Times for 21 years in a variety of editorial roles. He currently acts as a reporter in Silicon Valley covering a wide range of events and issues of interest to EE Times’ readers. Previously, Rick was the founding editor of OEM Magazine, a spin off from EE Times that won a Jesse H. Neal award for investigative reporting in 1996 and Folio Magazine's Editorial Excellence award in 1995. It was also a runner up for best trade magazine in the Computer Press Association awards in 1996. Rick started his B2B reporting career working from 1988-1991 at Asian Computer Monthly, a regional magazine for IT managers that was based in Hong Kong.

Rob Oshana

Rob Oshana is the Director of Global Software R&D for Networking and Multimedia at Freescale Semiconductor and a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. He has over 25 years of experience in the real-time embedded industry both in application as well as tools technology development. He is also a Senior Member of IEEE and an adjunct professor at SMU where he teaches various courses in software engineering, and is widely published in the field.

Dan Saks

Dan Saks is the president of Saks & Associates, which offers training and consulting in C and C++ and their use in developing embedded systems. He writes the “Programming Pointers” column for Embedded.com online and is a frequent contributor to Dr. Dobb’s online. He has written columns for several other publications including Embedded Systems Design, The C/C++ Users Journal, The C++ Report, and Software Development. With Thomas Plum, he wrote C++ Programming Guidelines, which won a 1992 Computer Language Magazine Productivity Award. Dan served as secretary of the ANSI and ISO C++ standards committees and as a member of the ANSI C standards committee. More recently, he contributed to the CERT Secure C Coding Standard and the CERT Secure C++ Coding Standard. He is also a Microsoft MVP.

Chris Shore

Chris Shore, Training Manager at ARM, has 12 years of experience in training ARM's customers and engineers all over the world. He has taught and addressed conferences on every continent except Antarctica—opportunities there are limited but it's surely only a matter of time! Shore has worked in the melting pot, which is the "Cambridge Phenomenon" for over 25 years. He is a Chartered Engineer and holds an MA in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Steve Taranovich

Senior Editor, Analog, Power and Design Ideas, EDN

Steve Taranovich is a contributing editor with 40 years of experience in the electronics industry. Steve received his MSEE from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York, and his BEEE from New York University, Bronx, New York. He is also chairman of the Educational Activities Committee for IEEE Long Island. . His expertise is in analog with a diverse embedded processing education as it relates to analog design from his years at Texas Instruments. Steve was a circuit design engineer for his first 16 years in electronics. He then served as one of the first field application engineers with Burr-Brown Corp and also became one of their first global account managers, traveling to Europe, India and China. Traveling around the globe, Steve made some long-lasting friendships and sampled some very unique exotic foods such as alligator, rattlesnake, wild boar and ostrich as well as tripe (those of you who are not Italian or Chinese know what this is!)

Adrian Valenzuela

Marketing Director, Sitara ARM Processors at Texas Instruments

Adrian Valenzuela is the director of marketing for Texas Instruments’ ARM microprocessors. Adrian has a wealth of experience in bringing innovative embedded technologies to high-growth markets and fostering a community for open-source development. Adrian received his BS and Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University. During his time at Rice, he was an active researcher in areas of wireless sensor networks and low-power embedded system design.

Colin Walls

Embedded Software Technologist, Mentor

Colin Walls has over thirty years’ experience in the electronics industry, largely involved with embedded software - very much a pioneer in this specialty. He has been a frequent presenter at conferences and seminars including: Embedded Systems Conference, San Jose and Boston; Embedded World, Nuremberg; ARM Developers Conference; Mentor Graphics events world-wide. Colin has authored a great many technical articles and one of the first books on embedded software ["Programming Dedicated Microprocessors"; Macmillan Education, 1986]. His most recent publication is "Embedded Software: The Works", which addresses a wide range of embedded software topics. He is an embedded software technologist with Mentor Embedded [the Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division] and maintains a blog at http://blogs.mentor.com/colinwalls. Colin is based in the UK, where he lives with his family. Away from work, his main interests are photography, reading/writing, and food and drink.

Elecia “El” White

Elecia White has worked on DNA scanners, inertial measurement units for airplanes and race cars, toys for preschoolers, a gunshot location system for catching criminals and assorted other medical and consumer devices. She is the author of O’Reilly’s Making Embedded Systems and founder of Logical Elegance, an embedded software consulting company based in San Jose. Elecia has developed strong skills in signal processing, hardware integration, complex system design and performance. Having been through FAA and FDA certification processes, she understands the importance of producing quality designs and how they lead to quality implementations. Elecia has spent several years in management roles but enjoys hands-on engineering and the thrill of delivering excellent products. While continuing to provide leadership and mentoring, she prefers to focus on the technical aspects of a project. A graduate of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA, Elecia enjoys sharing her passion for science, engineering and interesting gizmos, particularly how these things can make the world a better place.