SDForum Celebrates the Spirit of Innovation and Excellence at the Prestigious Visionary Award Ceremony

May 25, 2011

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Award Winners Include Promod Haque, Hermann Hauser, T.J. Rodgers and Bud Tribble

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SDForum, Silicon Valley’s leading source of information and education in the technology community today announced the recipients of its 14th Annual Visionary Awards. The award honorees are Dr. Hermann Hauser (Amadeus Capital Partners), Promod Haque (Norwest Venture Partners), Guy L. “Bud” Tribble, (Apple Inc.) and T.J. Rodgers, (Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.)

Each year, SDForum honors exceptional visionaries and innovators - the technology industry's leading venture capitalists, technologists, and entrepreneurs. Past recipients include: Vint Cerf, John Chambers, Jim Clark, Judy Estrin, Bill Gates, Reed Hastings, Reid Hoffman, Vinod Khosla and Michael Moritz.

The SDForum Board of Directors selects the award recipients based on their outstanding achievements and contributions to the technology industry. The 2011 Visionaries will be honored at the invitation-only ceremony on June 21st, 2011.

The 2011 Visionary Honorees:

Promod Haque, Managing Partner, Norwest Venture Partners.
Promod has more than 20 years of experience in the venture capital industry and currently serves as managing partner at Norwest Venture Partners. Promod received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delhi, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he serves on the advisory board. He has invested in more than 60 companies since he began his venture career, producing nearly $30B in exit values to date. More than twenty of his portfolio companies have gone public and nearly 35 have been acquired (or have gone public and been acquired). Promod was ranked as a top investor on the annual Forbes Midas List for nine years and in 2004 Forbes named him as the “# 1” venture capitalist based on performance over the last decade. In 2006, Promod was presented with a Global Leadership award from NASSCOM.

Dr. Hermann Hauser, Co-Founder, Amadeus Capital Partners.
Serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, Dr Hermann Hauser CBE has wide experience in developing and financing companies in the information technology sector. He co-founded the Acorn Computer Group, PLC and subsequently became vice president of research at Olivetti. During his tenure at Olivetti, he established a global network of research laboratories. Since leaving Olivetti, Hermann has founded over twenty technology companies. In 1997, he co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners. Hermann is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Academy of Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. In 2001 he was awarded an Honorary CBE for ‘innovative service to the UK enterprise sector’. In 2004 he was made a member of the Government’s Council for Science and Technology and in 2009 took over the Chair of the East of England Stem Cell Network (EESCN) and became a member of the Government advisory panel for New Industry/New Jobs. Hermann Hauser has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Loughborough, Bath and Anglia Ruskin.

Guy L. “Bud” Tribble, Vice President of Software Technology, Apple Inc.
Bud Tribble is Apple's vice president of Software Technology, where he is responsible for the long term technical direction for operating system software. Bud began his career at Apple in 1981 as a manager of the original Macintosh Software team, helping to design the Mac OS and user interface. In 1985, Bud helped found NeXT Computer, where he was vice president of Software Engineering and a key architect of the NextStep operating system. He also worked at Eazel Inc. where he was vice president of Engineering and at Sun Microsystems as chief technology officer. Bud earned a B.A. degree in Physics at the University of California, San Diego and an M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics and Physiology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

T.J. Rodgers, Founder, President, CEO, and Director, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.
Rodgers founded Cypress in 1982 and built it into an international supplier of high-performance programmable integrated circuits with nearly 3,500 employees. Cypress has been called “a quintessential entrepreneurial company” by The Wall Street Journal. Rodgers is a former chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). He sits on the board of directors of a number of Silicon Valley companies. His collected writings can be found at www.tjrodgers.cypress.com.

“Over the last 14 years SDForum has honored the individuals that have been leaders in driving global innovation,” commented Ann Winblad, Chairperson of the SDForum Board of Directors, “Our honorees illustrate how Silicon Valley’s innovation palette is ever expanding from silicon to software to the mobile world and clean technology.”

“SDForum is proud to organize this distinguished event where 250 leaders and influencers gather every year,” said Susan Lucas-Conwell, CEO of SDForum. “This exclusive awards celebration recognizes technology innovators and business leaders who continue to shape the landscape of Silicon Valley through their vision, determination, and leadership.”

The 2011 Visionary Awards ceremony will be held at a private home donated to SDForum for the occasion. The event is sponsored by Nokia, Open-First, Deloitte and NASDAQ.

About SDForum:
SDForum has been instrumental in setting the technology industry agenda for more than 25 years. As the largest and oldest not-for-profit in the valley dedicated to educating and creating relationships within the technology community, SDForum reaches 12,000 professionals annually through more than 250 events. These programs provide the latest insights on emerging technology trends and best business practices as well as exceptional access to resources for entrepreneurs. Long-standing relationships include multi-national technology enterprises (HP, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia and SAP) as well as over 30 venture capital firms, financial institutions and international organizations. For more information, visit www.sdforum.org