Management team

Nigel Toon

Chief Executive Officer & President

Nigel Toon joined picoChip from Icera, which he co-founded in 2002. While there he was responsible for sales and marketing and was a member of the Board of Directors. He played a key role in growing Icera into a global leader in wireless technology. Prior to founding Icera, Mr Toon served at Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR), latterly as Vice President and Managing Director for the company's European business unit; a post he assumed in 1998, having previously held the roles of Managing Director, Marketing Director, Regional Sales Manager and Field Applications Engineer. Mr Toon's early career included business development and engineering roles with Standard Microsystems, Memec PLC and GEC. He studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Heriot Watt University and is a Member of the IEEE.

Dr. Douglas Pulley

Chief Technical Officer

Dr. Douglas Pulley has fifteen years' experience of air interface design and wireless system architecture at companies such as Vodafone, Lucent Technologies and Oak Technology before joining picoChip in December 2000. He has been responsible for the systems aspects of air interface implementation in RF, ASIC and DSP devices as well as the deployment, operation and performance optimization of wireless networks. Dr. Pulley was a founding director and member of the executive board of the UK's Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Personal Communications.

Iain Silvester

Chief Financial Officer

Iain Silvester joined picoChip after holding the position of Finance Director at Bristol, UK-based video compression technology specialist Motion Media plc, where he managed the company's flotation on the official list of the LSE (London Stock Exchange). Mr Silvester is a chartered accountant, and began his career with Ernst & Young. Prior to joining Motion Media he was Finance Director of Chemical Design Holdings plc, an AIM-listed drug discovery software company, and managed its subsequent acquisition by Oxford Molecular Group.

Steve Laurenson

Vice President Engineering

Steve Laurenson joined picoChip from Agere Systems (formerly Lucent Technologies Microelectronics), where, amongst other roles, he established the company's 50-strong European GSM Development Centre. In this role, and subsequently as Agere's Mobile Terminal Division's Technical Services Director, he has extensive experience in directing teams to develop, deploy and support handset reference designs. Educated at the University of Manchester and a fellow of the University of Essex, Mr Laurenson previously held positions at GEC Hirst Research, Fujitsu Microelectronics, and Pulse Engineering.

Rupert Baines

Vice President of Marketing

Rupert Baines has eighteen years' experience in technology marketing, working on commercializing many leading-edge technologies. He spent six years with Analog Devices in Boston, working on semiconductors for GSM and wireless infrastructure before managing the company's broadband product line and holding responsibility for the industry-standard ADSL chipset. He has also worked for operators, most recently as Director of Product Development and Strategy for Atlantic Telecom, where he ran a large pan-European DSL rollout and trialled wireless broadband deployments.

Dave Hutton

Vice President Worldwide Sales

Dave Hutton has spent over 23 years in sales and marketing positions in the semiconductor and wireless industries. Prior to joining picoChip, he ran the European sales operations of Pericom Semiconductor. Mr Hutton began his career as a design engineer. He spent nine years at Texas Instruments in Sales Management and Systems Marketing before moving to IDT, where he was European Sales Director. More recently he worked for European-based semiconductor IP start-ups Silaria and Siroyan, where he was Vice President of Sales.

Jackie Barker

Vice President of Operations

Jackie Barker joined picoChip from high-performance computing specialists Clearspeed, where she was responsible for supply chain strategy. Her previous roles include an extended spell at Hewlett Packard, during which she led a move to lean manufacturing and managed ASIC procurement strategy. A specialist in supply chain management, Ms Barker has nearly 20 years' experience in a range of strategic and operational roles. She is responsible for managing picoChip's activities as it becomes a high volume manufacturer. She holds a BSc in Economics and Politics and an Executive MBA, both from Bath University.

Will Robbins

Vice President of Silicon, Tools and Platforms

Will Robbins was one of the founding team at picoChip and has over seventeen years' experience in semiconductor design and design management . In recent years he has managed semiconductor design projects that have consistently produced "right first time" silicon for highly complex devices. Mr Robbins is named as inventor or co-inventor in 29 US patents. Most recently design manager at Oak Technology, he has worked in a number of other companies including INMOS, Brooktree and ST Microelectronics.

David Maidment

Vice President of Product Management

David Maidment is responsible for overseeing all picoArray and picoXcell product lines at picoChip. He has 15 years’ experience in engineering, engineering management and product management, encompassing all of the major global cellular technologies including 2G, 3G, WiMAX and LTE.

Mr Maidment started his career at Hitachi, before moving on to Philips Semiconductors where he worked on handset system solutions, supplying optimized reference solutions into high volume applications. He holds a B.Eng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and is a certified PMI Project Management Professional (PMP).

Laura Dumpleton

Vice President of Human Resources

Laura Dumpleton has over 20 years' experience of devising and implementing human resource strategy in the manufacturing and service sectors, with a strong track record of building, developing and facilitating teams across all levels of business.

Prior to joining picoChip in 2007, Ms Dumpleton headed human resources at Praxis High Integrity Systems (now Altran Praxis), a specialist systems and software house, focused on the engineering of systems with demanding safety, security or innovation requirements, employing 250 consultants in the transport, aerospace and defence, nuclear and finance industries. A Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, her previous experience includes United Milk Plc, PNC Telecom, Reebok, and Allied Domecq Pensions.