Larry Schwerin - CEO

Larry brings more than 25 years of firsthand experience in telecommunications, technology, and venture capital to his role as President and CEO.

Most recently, Larry was General Partner at Vanguard Ventures where he sat on the Board of Directors at Capella. Larry was President and CEO of CenCom V, a venture/corporate sponsored business accelerator focused on the telecommunications market. Prior to CenCom V, Larry was founder and General Manager of Lucent Technologies' Wireless Broadband Networks Division, responsible for developing a market leadership position for wireless broadband services around the world. Larry spent twelve years at Bell Laboratories where he was Director of AT&T's Global Fiber Access Systems.

Larry graduated with highest honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University, and achieved highest honors with a Master in Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

Bruce Gray - President

Before joining Capella, Bruce held several senior consulting positions with major semiconductor companies and has had over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He was the CEO of Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd (a semiconductor foundry), had been their President/COO, and EVP for Manufacturing Operations during his tenure with the company. Mr. Gray was previously the President/COO and acting CEO of Xicor, Inc., and prior to Xicor, he had worked at National Semiconductor Corporation for over 25 years, where his last position was Managing Director of the Advanced Technology Group in Santa Clara, CA. Bruce was also a Board member of Silterra, Atlantic Quantum Sdn Bhd, Xicor, and Redwood Microsystems, Inc.

Mr. Gray has a B.S. degree in Materials Science from the Mass. Institute of Technology and he has received extensive executive management and business training from the Sloan Business School at MIT, Caltech and Western Business School. Bruce was the inventor or co-inventor of three U.S. patents and he received the Semiconductor International “Process Patent of the Year” award. In addition, he was the first Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at SEMATECH in Austin, Texas.

George Berberis - COO

Prior to Capella, Berberis was the Executive Operations Advisor at Avanex, where he was instrumental in the successful sale of the company’s French foundry, Avanex France, SA, to 3S Photonics in April 2007. Subsequently, he was retained by 3S Photonics as the Executive Advisor to the CEO where he advised on operational strategies and M&A activities.

Before joining Avanex, Berberis was vice president of manufacturing operations at JDSU, where he managed the global operations for the communications division with over 4,500 employees and 13 plants worldwide, including the management of high volume manufacturing of optical components and modules. Berberis played a key role in transitioning JDSU’s in-house manufacturing into a contract manufacturing model that resulted in significant cost reductions and higher margins.

He began his career as an Engineering Manager with Tandon/Western Digital. Later Berberis was at HMT Technology for 11 years where he led manufacturing and engineering activities and was recognized as the industry benchmark for high quality low cost operations.

Berberis holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University and a Masters in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College.

Rafael Torres - CFO

Rafael Torres brings over 17 years of experience leading the Finance and Accounting, Human Resources and Administration functions of both early and late stage public technology companies including semiconductor companies PLX Technology (PLXT) and Power Integrations (POWI).

During the past 11 years as a chief financial officer, Rafael has played a key role in the strategic management of high growth companies, successfully directing a financial turnaround and several acquisitions.

Mr. Torres earned his CPA designation while at Price Waterhouse LLP and is a graduate of Santa Clara University.

Harvey Trop - VP, Quality & Reliability

Harvey has over thirty years experience in manufacturing technology, having held positions in R&D, manufacturing engineering, technology transfer, and quality and reliability.

Prior to joining Capella, Harvey was a Director in Operations for the Optical Communications Division at JDSU, where he led key projects, including the transfer of manufacturing lines to contract manufacturers, development and implementation of Business Continuity plans, development and implementation of Product Environmental Compliance programs for RoHS and WEEE, implementation of DFX tools for product development, and was the customer quality advocate for one of JDSU’s Tier 1 customers. Prior to JDSU, Harvey spent close to twenty years at Bell Laboratories & Lucent Technologies, where he started his professional career working on process technology for telecommunication products. He holds patents for precious metal plating, III-V semiconductor etching processes, and printed circuit board technology. He is a member of the Lucent Technologies Patent Hall of Fame for development of palladium plating technology that saved AT&T over $100M in a five year period. While at Lucent Technologies, he managed a pilot line that supported new approaches to opto-electronic device packaging, and oversaw the manufacturing ramp for production of a highly successful 10Gb/s lithium niobate modulator product.

Harvey received his BS from UC Berkeley and a PhD from MIT.