Board of Directors

Luis Arzubi

Luis's vast past experience – more than 30 years in various engineering, management and executive roles with IBM – brings a distinctive and valuable technologist and customer point of view to Tallwood's practice. Before joining Tallwood, Luis was a member of the executive team for IBM's Microelectronics Division. Most recently he served as Vice President and General Manager for the division, where he was responsible for all the semiconductor business segments. During the 1990s he played the key role in moving IBM Microelectronics into the OEM business and making it succeed. Earlier, Luis was the General Manager for IBM's Burlington, Vermont, site, where he was responsible for two mega fabs and the development lab. From 1986 through 1991, Luis was Lab Director at IBM's General Technology Division, where he was responsible for all of IBM's non-bipolar semiconductor technologies and product development activities. Luis currently serves on the boards of directors of Amulaire Thermal Technology, Cavendish Kinetics and T-RAM Semiconductor. He is the inventor of five key memory patents and has published more than two dozen technical papers. Luis holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Littoral in Argentina.

Soren Hein

Soren joined Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures in 2000. Located in Munich, Germany, he specializes in
early-stage semiconductor and component companies. Previously, Soren held a number of positions with Siemens and then Infineon, most recently as Vice President of Technology and Innovation of the Wireless Components Division. Soren holds an M.Sc. from the Technical University of Denmark, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley, and an MBA from INSEAD in France. He is the author of several patents, technical articles and a book.

Gary Rubinoff

Gary joined Summerhill Venture Partners as President and Managing Director in late 2001, and has been instrumental in building the Summerhill Venture Partners team and defining the next stage of our evolution. For the 9 years prior to Summerhill Venture Partners, Gary was a partner at J.L. Albright Venture Partners LP and Jefferson Partners LP, both communications and IT focused VC funds based in Toronto. Prior to his career in venture capital, Gary was President and General Manager of Scholz Research & Development, a Boston-based technology company. Gary's wide range of experience in finance, law and entrepreneurial management, including more than 14 years in venture capital, enables him to play a significant role in financing and growing emerging technology companies. Past investment successes include Service Soft (acquired by Kana Software, NASDAQ: KANA), Isolation Systems (acquired by Shiva/Intel, NASDAQ: INTC), I-star Internet (TSE IPO and acquired by PSI Net), and Wescam Inc. (TSE IPO: WSC). Gary began his career as a lawyer, and practiced corporate/securities law at two national law firms in Toronto. Gary received an LLB from the University of Western Ontario (1985), and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, in London Ontario (1991). Gary sits on the boards of Jumptap and Intellon. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Ontario Chapter, a Leader of Sick Kids Hospital Foundation (Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto), and an active fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes.

Paul Vroomen, President and CEO

Paul brings over 25 years of semiconductor operating experience to Sandbridge. Paul has devoted much of his career to the microprocessor and digital media-related markets. Most recently, Paul was CEO of Connex Technology, where he drove the repositioning of the company into the emerging HDTV market. Prior to Connex, Paul was CEO of SandCraft, Inc., where he converted SandCraft from an IP company into a fabless semiconductor company focusing on the networking, mass storage and printer markets. Earlier in his career, Paul served as VP/GM of Operating Divisions at Oak Technology, Inc., VLSI Technology, Inc., and VP/GM of the Computer Peripheral Division at Zilog, Inc. Paul started out his career as a chip designer in both bipolar and CMOS technologies. 

Paul holds a B.Sc Eng., cum laude, from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and an MSEE from the Philips International Institute in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.