Executive Team

Fermi Wang is a seasoned leader, a serial entrepreneur, and a video compression technology expert. He holds several digital video-related patents, including one of MPEGLA's core MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/AVC patents.

Prior to Ambarella, Wang was CEO and co-founder of Afara Websystems, which pioneered server throughput computing. Afara was acquired by Sun Microsystems in July 2002. Afara's multi-core, multi-thread CPU is the critical technology in Sun’s UltraSPARC roadmap. Before founding Afara, Wang served in senior engineering and business management roles at C-Cube Microsystems. Wang's team was responsible for developing the world’s first MPEG CODEC chip.

Les Kohn is well regarded in Silicon Valley as one of the leading chip architects in the industry. Kohn combines his wealth of experience as a silicon architect with a talent for creating innovative solutions to complex problems.

Prior to Ambarella, Kohn was CTO and co-founder at Afara. After Afara was acquired by Sun, Kohn became a fellow at Sun and continued to develop Afara’s throughput computing technology that would become the primary focus of Sun's UltraSPARC roadmap.

Kohn was also chief architect at C-Cube, where he led the development of three generations of digital video CODECs, including the first single-chip MPEG-2 and HD/multi-stream CODECs. Prior to C-Cube, Kohn was a distinguished engineer at Sun where he was the chief architect of UltraSPARC I and II, Sun's first 64-bit microprocessors. Before Sun, Kohn was chief architect of the Intel i860 and co-architected the National 32000 microprocessor family.

Didier LeGall is a visionary, pioneer and expert in the video compression industry, including authoring and co-authoring many digital-video-related patents.

Prior to Ambarella, LeGall was co-founder and CTO of C-Cube until its acquisition by LSI Logic. At LSI, LeGall served in several executive functions. Before C-Cube, LeGall managed the Visual Communication group at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) and held an adjunct professorship at Columbia University.

LeGall started the MPEG standardization effort and served as chairman of the MPEG Video Group from 1989 to 1995, delivering the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 international standards.

GEORGE LAPLANTE HAS HELD MANY SENIOR FINANCE and management positions over the course of his career. Previous to Ambarella, Laplante served as a management consultant and interim CFO to several private technology companies. Prior to these roles he served as CFO of Santur Corporation, a manufacturer of laser technology for the communication industry and from 2000 to 2006 he was CFO of 2Wire Inc., a provider of broadband services platforms. Laplante also spent 5 years in the United Kingdom as Finance Director (CFO) of Action, PLC, a publicly traded technology distribution company.

Prior to Ambarella, Chan Lee was the director of VLSI at Afara, responsible for managing both the design and verification team, and driving key design and verification methodologies. Lee spent a significant part of his career at Intel, including: manager of the silicon debug team, design manager of the first-generation Pentium 4, and manager and technical lead on the P6 (Pentium Pro).

John Ju is an expert practitioner in system-on-a-chip (SOC) development with over 20 years of experience. Ju applies this experience to ensure customer success.

Prior to Ambarella, Ju led the system team for multi-core, multi-thread processors at Afara, which was acquired by Sun in 2002. Before Afara, Ju held multiple senior management positions at C-Cube, where he was responsible for software development for multiple generations of C-Cube video processors. Prior to C-Cube, Ju pioneered MPEG video algorithm development at Sarnoff Research Lab.

Prior to joining Ambarella, Chris Day was president and CEO of Mobilygen, which was acquired by Maxim Integrated Products. Before Mobilygen, Day was general manager of media processing at NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductor), where he led TriMedia DSP efforts into video-over-IP, automotive, security, and display markets. Day has also held senior sales and marketing positions at C-Cube, AuraVision, Motorola, and Hitachi.

Prior to joining Ambarella, Zemo Yang was senior manager of operations at S3 Graphics, which was acquired by VIA Technology. After the acquisition, Yang led S3's operations transition from the U.S. to Taiwan. Before S3, Yang was a section head of packaging technology at Philips and represented Philips on the JEDEC JC15 committee for three years. Before Philips, Yang worked at National Semiconductor, where he was chosen as Semiconductor Research Corporation industry mentor.

Prior to joining Ambarella, Michael Morehead was vice president and general counsel of Leadis Technology, a supplier of semiconductor devices for consumer electronic products. Before joining Leadis, Morehead was a corporate and securities attorney with Cooley Godward LLP, where he represented technology companies on a broad spectrum of issues and transactions.