Management Team
DIRK LEIPOLD
An entrepreneurial inventor with 30 years of continuous leadership in standard CMOS based system solutions, Dr. Dirk Leipold envisions a world where quantum computing is available to all.
Dirk’s research interests include quantum computing, use of quantum computing for medical applications and AI and quantum communication networks to connect quantum computers directly on the qubit level. At Texas Instruments (TI), Dirk implemented a digital radio processor technology that enabled the company to create a single chip cell phone solution covering multiple wireless standards resulting in a significant boost in TI market share. He has managed large teams and facilitated worldwide technology fan-out to design centers in India and Israel, created an optical radar start-up company from scratch to a 35-employee operation and an initial product introduction, and developed a CMOS PA solution portfolio summiting the world highest volume CMOS PA technology shipping over 1 billion devices.
Dirk received his Diplom Physics degree from the University of Konstanz in 1991 and completed his Ph.D. at the Paul Scherrer Institute Zurich in 1995. Dr. Dirk Leipold created over 120 patents and patent applications to solve leading edge system solutions achieving record performance radio frequency circuits, sensor, and analog circuit solutions.
JASON LYNCH
With a 20- year career of delivering high impact results in executive management, Jason Lynch leads the Equal1 Irish operation and helps drive the company’s strategy, fundraising and scaling.
Prior to joining Equal 1, Jason held several executive management positions at Analog Devices, Hittite and Farren Technology. In these roles, he built and managed large teams comprising sales, operation and finance and was responsible for significant revenue targets. He also drove AI for predictive maintenance, made Internet of Things (IoT) a reality, using cutting-edge sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to save factory-owners millions of dollars in unplanned downtime.
Jason received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Microelectronic Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Cork and an MBA, summa cum laude from the Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.
ELENA BLOKHINA
Dr. Elena Blokhina, an expert on micro- and nanosystems, systems-on-a-chip and multi-physics systems, oversees the development of quantum software for Equal1’s qubits and quantum algorithms and is responsible for implementing the strategy and vision of the company regarding its technology and applications.
Elena is currently an Associate Professor and the coordinator of the Circuits and Systems Research Group at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of University College Dublin, Ireland. She is a senior member of IEEE, where Elena is Deputy Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I and has served in many leadership roles.
Elena received the Habilitation (D.Sc.) degree in engineering from Sorbonne University, France, in 2017, a Ph.D. in physical and mathematical sciences and the M.Sc. degree with highest honours in physics from Saratov State University, Russia. She has published over 130 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and two books.
MIKE ASKER
Bringing over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, Mike Asker is responsible for the digital architecture and leads the digital implementation of Equal1 quantum chips, including the pulse sequencer system. Mike set up most of our design infrastructure and chip design flows and led the design and implementation of the external FPGA and ADC systems used to drive and capture the output from the quantum chips, as well as the software control system which loads and executes the quantum experiments.
Previously, Mike let technical teams at Amalfi Semiconductor, Broadcom, GEC Plessey Semiconductors and Fairchild Semiconductors. At Amalfi, he taped out the first two CMOS RF PA’s and led a team to develop an automated lab test system to characterize new PAs which sped up the introduction of 2G, 3G, 4G products to the mobile market. Mike also contributed to the IEEE JTAG committee on scan test, developing an extensive range of IP for pseudo random scan pattern generation.
Mike holds a B.S. in Electronics from Bath Spa University, UK.
ROBERT BOGDAN STASZEWSKI
Robert Bogdan Staszewski, a Full Professor with University College Dublin (UCD), Dublin, Ireland and a professor at Delft University of Technology in Netherlands, is the scientific advisor for IP at Equal1. He has authored or coauthored multiple books and book chapters, and over 300 journal and conference publications.
Bogdan is the key inventor and developer of Digital RF Processor (DRP) technology, a novel all-digital transmitter and digitally-sampled receiver architecture that is suitable for the mainstream digital CMOS processes. Previously he was with Alcatel Network Systems, where he was involved in SONET cross-connect systems for optics communications, and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Texas Instruments.
Bogdan received the B.Sc., summa cum laude, M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas. He holds 180 issued U.S. patents and received the 2012 IEEE Circuits and Systems Industrial Pioneer Award [link: http://ieee-cas.org/industrial-pioneer-award-recipients]. In May 2019, the president of Poland gave him the title of Professor.
HOWARD ZARETSKY
Howard Zaretsky, principal at Zaretsky Group, provides a centralized management of all of Equal1’s IP activities, including portfolio administrations, IP litigation, IP in mergers and acquisitions, IP licensing and IP monetization in general.
Howard has been practicing intellectual property law since 1991 focusing on building patent portfolios for his clients. With over 10 years of real-world experience working in the electrical engineering field, combined with the many years of working with RF wireless and signal processing technology, Howard’s hands-on work experience brings a deep understanding of the technology to the table.
Howard holds a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, and MSEE from Polytechnic University of New York and a BEE from State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. He is a member of bar in the states of New York and Arizona, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Israel Patent Office.
Board of Directors
DECLAN O’MAHONEY
Declan O’Mahoney brings extensive international experience in technology companies.
Previously, he was CEO of of HeartSine Inc. (2012-2016), an international defibrillator company acquired by Physio-Control, Inc. Redmond, Washington and subsequently acquired by Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) in April 2016. Prior to HeartSine, he was CEO of Firecomms (2002-2011), a compound semiconductor company acquired by ZJY Corp of Zhejiang.
He is entrepreneur in residence at the Tyndall National Institute and is board director, investor and/or advisor to several technology companies including VoxPro recently acquired by Telus International (NYSE:TU), Rockley Photonics (NYSE: RKLY), SD WindEnergy Japan which acquired the wind energy division of Kingspan PLC., and TouchPress Inc. recently acquired by Team17 PLC.
DIRK LEIPOLD
An entrepreneurial inventor with 30 years of continuous leadership in standard CMOS based system solutions, Dr. Dirk Leipold envisions a world where quantum computing is available to all.
Dirk’s research interests include quantum computing, use of quantum computing for medical applications and AI and quantum communication networks to connect quantum computers directly on the qubit level. At Texas Instruments (TI), Dirk implemented a digital radio processor technology that enabled the company to create a single chip cell phone solution covering multiple wireless standards resulting in a significant boost in TI market share. He has managed large teams and facilitated worldwide technology fan-out to design centers in India and Israel, created an optical radar start-up company from scratch to a 35-employee operation and an initial product introduction, and developed a CMOS PA solution portfolio summiting the world highest volume CMOS PA technology shipping over 1 billion devices.
Dirk received his Diplom Physics degree from the University of Konstanz in 1991 and completed his Ph.D. at the Paul Scherrer Institute Zurich in 1995. Dr. Dirk Leipold created over 120 patents and patent applications to solve leading edge system solutions achieving record performance radio frequency circuits, sensor, and analog circuit solutions.
GERRY MAGUIRE
Gerry Maguire, General Partner at Atlantic Bridge, is an experienced investor, executive and design engineer with a thirty-year career in the technology industry.
Prior to joining Atlantic Bridge, he was Vice President R&D at Parthus Technologies responsible for managing a business which included divisions in Ireland, UK and USA. Gerry joined the company in 1993 and played a key role in its transition from startup to successful IPO on Nasdaq. Gerry also held senior management roles at several technology companies including Philips and Texas Instruments.
Gerry holds a B.A., BAI degree in Electronic Engineering from Trinity College Dublin and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.
CHRISTIAN REITBERGER
Dr. Christian Reitberger is a partner at the btov Industrial Tech Fund, where he has been a lead investor on numerous deep tech transactions that have the potential to improve the state of the world in a sustainable and significant way.
Previously, at pan-European venture capitalist Wellington Partners, Christian helped to build the portfolio in electronics, resource efficiency and computer vision companies. Christian also was a partner for technology investments in Europe at Apax Partners and, at McKinsey, advised clients in the areas of telecommunications, electronics, digital media and biotechnology in questions of strategy, operations as well as post-merger management; he also was a founding member of the Private Equity Practice.
Christian holds a doctorate sub auspiciis praesidentis in Physics from Vienna University.
Scientific Advisory Board
EDOARDO CHARBON
Edoardo Charbon, Ph.D. is a Full Professor and head of the Advanced Quantum Architectures laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering at EPFL in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Prof. Charbon’s research interests include quantum imaging and cryo-CMOS circuits and systems for quantum computing.
Previously, Dr. Charbon was with Cadence Design Systems, where he was responsible for analog and mixed-signal design automation tools and was the architect of the company’s initiative for electronic intellectual property (IP) protection, and Chief Architect at Canesta Inc.
ANDREW MITCHELL
Andrew Mitchell, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics in the School of Physics at University College Dublin, specializing in the theory of quantum nanoelectronic devices and strongly correlated electron systems. He also is the Director of the UCD Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science, and Technology (C-QuEST).
Mitchell earned his Ph.D. at Oxford University, and later was a Junior Research Fellow at Wadham College Oxford and a retained lecturer at Jesus College. He undertook postdoctoral research at the Universities of Cologne and Utrecht before becoming tenured faculty at UCD. In 2018 he won the prestigious Laureate Award for a major project on molecular electronics from the Irish Research Council.
SEAN MITCHELL
Sean Mitchell is a seasoned veteran in the semiconductor industry, where he has held various technical, business, marketing and general management positions, at companies that include Silicon & Software Systems and Parthus Technologies PLC. Mitchell co-founded Movidius, a leading computer vision and AI company that delivers low-power, high-performance SoC (system on a chip) platforms in the area of computer vision. Movidius was acquired by Intel in 2016. While general manager of the applications processing division at Parthus, Mitchell was part of the management team that saw the company through its successful IPO in May 2000.
He holds master’s degrees from Trinity College, Dublin in Electronic Engineering and in Management Practice.
SORIN P. VOINIGESCU
Sorin P. Voinigescu, Ph.D. is a Full Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Toronto. His research and teaching interests focus on the modelling, characterization and fabrication of nanoscale and atomic-scale electronic devices and technologies, and on design techniques and circuit topologies for mmWave DSP (digital signal processor), radio, radar and imaging integrated circuits (ICs) operating in the 50 to 1000-GHz range.
Formerly, Dr. Voinigescu, was co-founder and CTO at Quake Technologies Inc., an Ottawa-area fabless semiconductor company focusing on the design and fabrication of 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps physical layer ICs. Quake was acquired by Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC) in 2006.
