Xilinx appoints Cadence vet Gavrielov to CEO, president

With this appointment, Wim Roelandts continues as chairman of the board of programmable logic maker Xilinx.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 1/7/2008

San Jose-based Xilinx Inc. said today that it has named industry veteran Moshe Gavrielov as president and CEO, succeeding Willem (Wim) P. Roelandts who is remaining chairman of the board, effective immediately.

Gavrielov is the third Xilinx CEO in its 24-year history, and brings nearly 30 years of executive management and engineering experience in the semiconductor and software industries companies to his new position leading the programmable logic leader.

Most recently, Gavrielov served as executive VP and general manager of the verification division at Cadence Design Systems Inc., after Cadence acquired startup Verisity Ltd. in 2005 where Gavrielov spent 7 years as CEO, growing the company from a $4 million start-up, to a $70 million publicly-traded company.

Roelandts commented in a statement, “Moshe has an excellent track record in building semiconductor and software businesses, applying an outstanding blend of strategic, analytic, business and leadership skills. Equally important is his commitment to a culture of innovation that honors the contributions of each and every employee, in keeping with the core values upon which Xilinx has been built over the past 24 years. Moshe’s selection was approved unanimously by our board of directors, and we’re fully confident that he is the right person to lead Xilinx through its next stage of growth.”

Prior to Verisity, Gavrielov spent almost 10 years at LSI Logic Corp., where he served in a variety of executive management positions, including executive VP for the $1.3 billion products group, senior VP of international markets, general manager for Europe, and general manager of the ASIC division.

Gavrielov began his career in engineering and engineering management at National Semiconductor and Digital Equipment Corp. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and a master's degree in computer science from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) in Haifa, Israel. He also possesses five patents.

Roelandts was named president and CEO of Xilinx in 1996 after a 30-year management career at Hewlett-Packard Co.  Just before joining Xilinx, he served as senior VP responsible for all aspects of HP's then $6 billion worldwide computer systems business, including R&D, manufacturing, marketing, professional services and sales.

Since 2004, Roelandts has served on the board of directors for Applied Materials, Inc. For more than four years, Roelandts served as chairman of the board of the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA), where he played an instrumental role in the organization's growth and global expansion. During his tenure, FSA membership grew to nearly 500 and the organization expanded its reach into Asia and Europe. In November 2007, Roelandts assumed the post of chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Gavrielov concluded, “I’m honored and excited to assume responsibility from Wim for leading one of the most highly-respected semiconductor companies in the world. We have a great opportunity to bring the benefits of Xilinx technology to a broader range of industries and applications in the coming years, building upon a solid foundation of technology innovation and market leadership.”

For commentary on this appointment, see this Practical Chip Design blog entry by EDN Executive Editor Ron Wilson.