Marvell Co-Founders Dr. Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai Honored with the 2013 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award by the Global Semiconductor Alliance
Marvell Co-Founders recognized for their lifetime achievements, innovations and leadership in the semiconductor industry
Santa Clara, California (December 16, 2013) – Santa Clara, California (Dec. 16, 2013) – Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) today announced its Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Sehat Sutardja, and its President and Co-Founder, Weili Dai, were named co-winners of the prestigious and widely-respected 2013 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award by the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). Dr. Sutardja and Ms. Dai were bestowed this honor because of their long-standing commitment, dedication and engineering prowess, as well as outstanding innovation and contribution to the semiconductor industry. Dr. Sutardja and Ms. Dai received the honor at GSA’s annual awards dinner celebration on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
“We are so humbled and honored to receive the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award. Since the inception of Marvell as a global semiconductor company in 1995, today, it has expanded its operations to over 18 countries. Our Marvell US operation has contributed to the creation of over 3000 highly skilled jobs. Our contribution to the US economy makes us very proud. As passionate entrepreneurs, we believe this is possible only because of the leadership of the Global Semiconductor Alliance in bringing everybody to work together in harmony to innovate, create, invent, and collaborate for the success of the global fabless semiconductor industry,” said Dr. Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai of Marvell. “On behalf of our family and the global Marvell family we are so thankful to GSA and all industry partners, customers and competitors who nominated us for this prestigious Award. We are so proud of our entire Marvell team worldwide for their contribution, invention, innovation and tireless dedication. Thanks to our customers and partners for their strong support around the world. As one of the world’s top global fabless semiconductor companies, Marvell is very passionate and committed to delivering solutions to advance the high tech industry and the ‘Connected Digital Lifestyle’ for our ecosystem partners, customers and consumers to enhance the human experience for better lives and the global economy for all. Thank you GSA for this tremendous honor.”
Established in 1999, The Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions, exemplifying how their vision and global leadership have transformed and elevated the entire semiconductor industry. According Jodi Shelton, president of Global Semiconductor Alliance, Dr. Sutardja and Ms. Dai were selected as this year’s honorees because of their exceptional success in creating Marvell, their individual contributions to today’s modern semiconductor age, as well as how they’ve continually leveraged their talents and expertise to address and overcome some of today’s most important global issues such as education and smart energy.
Dr. Sehat Sutardja is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern semiconductor age. His breakthrough designs and guiding vision have revolutionized numerous industry segments, from data storage to the high-performance, low-power chips now driving the growing global markets for mobile computing and telephony. His lifetime passion for electronics began early; he became a certified radio repair technician at age 13 and has been designing components and systems ever since. For his relentless innovation, he has been awarded more than 350 US patents, recognized as the Inventor of the Year by the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association and has been named a Fellow of IEEE. In 2012, Dr. Sutardja, was awarded the Indonesian Diaspora Lifetime Achievement Award for Global Pioneering and Innovation at the first-ever Congress of Indonesian Diaspora, presented by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. The award recognizes Dr. Sutardja’s achievements in advancing technology through innovation in engineering, driving adoption of technology into new markets and evangelizing the use of the latest technology in developing nations that will greatly impact the future.
As co-founder of Marvell, Dr. Sutardja has served as Chief Executive Officer since its inception and President from inception until July 2013. Dr. Sutardja has also served as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors from inception until 2003 and as Chairman of the Board since 2003. While remaining deeply involved in the daily challenges of running a global growth company, Dr. Sutardja participates heavily in Marvell's engineering and marketing efforts across analog, video processor, and microprocessor design while offering input across all of the company's other product lines.
Dr. Sutardja has become an internationally-recognized proponent of new energy efficiency standards for consumer electronics. To that end, he has been working with the governments in both the United States and China to establish efficiency performance standards that could produce significant cost and carbon savings.
Dr. Sutardja holds Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University.
Weili Dai is one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world today. Widely considered a technology visionary, she is the only woman co-founder of a global semiconductor company, and since it began in 1995, she has helped Marvell's rise to become one of the top semiconductor companies in the world. Ms. Dai's business acumen, strategic thinking, product leadership, endless passion and personal network have contributed greatly to Marvell's fast rise to success. Her close relationship with her customers and the foundation of the trust shared with them has given her a strong reputation for professionalism and integrity throughout the technology industry. Ms. Dai has served a pivotal role in creating some of Marvell’s most important strategic relationships and under her leadership Marvell's technology has become an integral component of many of the world's most important products in enterprise, communications, mobile computing, consumer and emerging markets. She has also become a driving force in expanding access to technology in the developing world and an ambassador of opportunity between the United States and China, particularly in the arenas of education and green technology. Ms. Dai has become a powerful advocate for the better use of technology to improve the human condition.
For her contributions to technology and society, Newsweek named Ms. Dai one of the "150 Women Who Shake the World" and was recently profiled by CNN International for the Leading Women Series: Leading the Female Tech Charge, Leading Women Principles Fair and Care, Educating for Future Success, and Leading Women Inspire Others. Additionally, Forbes Magazine lists Ms. Dai as one of the "World’s 100 Most Powerful Women".
Ms. Dai has held a number of significant positions within Marvell since she co-founded the company: she currently serves as President and has served as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the Communications Business Group. She has also been a Director and Corporate Secretary of Marvell. Prior to co-founding Marvell, Ms. Dai was involved in software development and project management at Canon Research Center America, Inc. Ms. Dai holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Ms. Dai is an active philanthropist, leading Marvell's global civic engagements, including major partnership with the One Laptop Per Child program (OLPC). She is a member of the executive committee forTechNet and Bay Area Council; sits on the board of the disaster relief organization, Give2Asia; and was named to the prestigious Committee of 100, an organization representing the most-influential Chinese Americans. Celebrated as the glue behind her company, family and community, Ms. Dai is the proud mother of two sons who are Electrical Engineering graduate students at UC Berkeley; Christopher and Nicholas are currently Ph.D candidates.
Ms. Dai was selected as the first woman commencement speaker at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Engineering graduation ceremony on May 12, 2012.
In recognition of their generosity, Sutardja Dai Hall at their alma mater UC Berkeley was named for Ms. Dai and Dr. Sutardja along with Pantas Sutardja, CTO of Marvell. Sutardja Dai Hall is home to the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS).
