Technology >> CEO Interviews >> March 10, 2005
KRISH PANU is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of @Road, Inc. Under
his leadership @Road has raised over $225 million and went public on
September 28, 2000. Mr. Panu's career has spanned more than 20 years in
technology companies. Prior to @Road, he served as Vice President and
General Manager of the Logic Products division of Atmel Corporation, a
semiconductor manufacturer. He was responsible for managing engineering,
manufacturing, software development and marketing groups as well as the
corporate quality and reliability organization. During his seven-year
tenure, the company's revenue grew from approximately $100 million to
over $1.1 billion, and the wireless business increased to 42% of the
company's business. Mr. Panu was also a key member of the management
team which raised over $600 million in both stock and bond offerings.
Previous to Atmel, Mr. Panu had executive sales and marketing roles at
Catalyst Semiconductor, Xicor and Datapoint Corporation, and, in
addition, while at Atmel, Xicor and others he has initiated global
operations centers around the world. Mr. Panu is an active angel
investor in building technology businesses. As a result of his long,
successful experience, Mr. Panu has a broad and deep network of
relationships in both the venture capital and entrepreneur communities.
Mr. Panu holds a BS in Electrical Engineering, an MS in Computer
Engineering as well as an MBA from Wayne State University in Michigan. Profile
TWST: Could we begin with a brief historical sketch of @Road and apicture of things as they are now?
Mr. Panu: @Road is based in Silicon Valley, and in the last six years we
have created a