# Bob Gardyne > Product Development Leader - Fractional/Full-Time VP/Director/Sr. Mgr. Engineering Location: Oakland, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/bobgardyne Engineering leader and executive with 35+ years building and scaling multidisciplinary teams across hardware, firmware, software, mechanical, and systems design. I thrive in startup and growth environments, having co-founded a company, led organizations of up to 42 people, and delivered over a dozen product families generating $1B+ in revenue. My track record spans DSP and processor systems, real-time video, audio, optics, FPGA/ASIC development, EMC/Safety certification (FCC, UL, CE, ISO 60601/13485) in chips, boards, boxes, and racks, with enterprise application platforms supporting iOS and Android mobile apps. I’m driven by the challenge of turning breakthrough concepts into manufacturable, market-ready products. from first prototypes through high-volume production and acquisition. • At Xros, a MEMS-based optical switching startup spun out of Stanford, I partnered with Tim Slater (then a Stanford post-doc) to take a handful of prototype MEMS mirrors to production-ready 288- and 1152-port optical cross-connects. The three-rack system integrated 200V static drive, 10 mV precision strain sensing, and nearly 300 ADI 21065 DSPs controlling more than 4,600 MEMS mirrors — contributing to our $3.25B acquisition by Nortel. • With Digidesign's Venue, I brought Pro Tools plug-ins to the concert and house of worship markets, achieving industry dominance for three consecutive years. I heard Tom Petty play with Stevie Nicks at UC Berkeley's Greek Theater on the Venue system and was honored to hold Digidesign's technical Oscar for sound. I want those levels of engineering impact and joy again. So, I now aim to replicate that zero-to-scale success with innovators who need both speed and disciplined execution. My broad engineering management skills apply across broad domains including AI, robotics, drones, advanced instrumentation, automotive systems, medical devices, and industrial platforms. I can take a handful of innovators to a fully staffed design organization with proven processes and inspirational culture. While open to a fractional or consulting capacity, I know the greatest impact I can bring comes from a full-time commitment to building and leading the engineering team and the company to revenue. ## Work Experience ### Director Electronics/Multidisciplinary Engineering | Fractional CTO | Advisor @ A Gardyne LLC Jan 2025 – Present | Oakland, CA Fractional CTO for confidential electric motor startup: - prototype motor, motor controller, and test fixture design review - product-market fit retargeted to a specific high-volume commercial market - design, specification, and calibration of motor efficiency lab good to 0.5% accuracy Founder coaching and pitch deck work for Los Angeles startups resulting in a $15M contract. ### Senior Director Engineering and Product Development @ Broadata Communications, Inc. Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | Torrance, California, United States Advanced Video/Audio Platforms for Medical and Pro A/V Markets | Team: 15 engineers • Led team from schematics through full bring-up for AMD/Xilinx Zynq-7000-based 4K60 video system, achieving 1st-pass functionality on complex three-board design • Built a 1,100-document 60601/13485-compliant Design History File for nine products to pass a two-day customer and ISO audit, enabling re-qualification with top-tier customer • Authored 23-page Wireless Tech Comparison, a 26-page SOW, and a PCBA Failure Analysis • Founded structured project meetings and executive project tracker to replace weekly 3-hour, drove methodical multi-staff design reviews, trained staff on hiring/interview methods ### CTO / Head of Product/ Co-Founder @ Oneva, Inc. Jan 2014 – Jan 2024 | Oakland, CA CTO/Head of Product: UX, design,specification, development, test, debug, release and daily operations of mobile and back-end technology and staff for three-way trusted in-home and remote care on a enterprise-grade platform with provider and customer mobile applications. Security and privacy governance. Direct marketing, collateral design and production, COO: caregiver recruiting and training, client onboarding, customer service, daily operations Founder responsibilities: Fundraising, pitch deck, partnership development, business models, and pricing analysis ### VP Engineering @ Jupiter Systems Jan 2011 – Jan 2014 | Hayward, CA Jupiter Systems is the leading worldwide supplier of display wall processors for command and control applications. At Jupiter, I'm responsible for engineering design, development, release and support of all systems, software, firmware, boards, FPGAs, mechanical, test & regulatory. Drove Jupiter’s next gen PCIeGen3/GPU architecture and implementation. Drove development & release of Canvas - enterprise client-server collaboration application for Display Wall Processor, PC clients and mobile (IOS/Android) – H.264 multicast, HLS streaming, WPF annotate, chat & invites, role/object-based security. HDCP system architect. ### Vice President Engineering @ RGB Spectrum Jan 2007 – Jan 2011 | Alameda, CA Created hockey stick growth to 2x revenue from 2007-2011 with refresh and expansion of established product lines and creation of two new product families (Switcher & Control Applications). Responsible for all software, firmware, boards, FPGAs, mechanical, test & regulatory for video product line including client-server control room application software, HDMI/HDCP compliant video wall processors and multi-format digital video switchers, and compression/recording/streaming devices. Personally drove hiring of 29 over 4 years to double engineering staff; created Test, GUI, and Engineering Services groups; tripled FW staff. Created highly loyal team. ### Director of Hardware Engineering @ Digidesign Jan 2002 – Jan 2007 | Daly City, CA Director w/ one manager, staff of 18, responsible for hardware specification, design, verification, and regulatory & environmental certification for professional and consumer audio products including PCBAs, FPGAs, firmware & cables. Hardware Team Lead for Venue Livesound/Concert product (project manager for last year of development and through NPI). • Drove Digidesign from $80M revenue to $200M by shipping 11 major consumer & studio products in five years with focus on NPI, time-to-market, COGS, and design for offshore mfg to achieve consistent 50-60% gross margins. • Saved a failing Digidesign Venue project targeted at new Livesound concert business segment. Turnaround resulted in market dominance displacing arch-competitor Yamaha, and generating $15M in the first two years, now over $30M/yr. ### Director of Hardware Engineering @ Digidesign Jan 2002 – Jan 2007 ### Director of Hardware Engineering @ Nortel Networks Jan 1999 – Jan 2002 | Santa Clara, CA Nortel Networks acquired Xros for $3.25B in May 2000. Director w/ two manager, staff of 17, responsible for digital & mixed (analog+highV) PCBAs, firmware, opto-electronic modules, FPGAs, backplanes, PSUs & cables for 1152 x 1152 MEMS-based redundant optical cross-connect switch. Managed fabrication and verification of five 288 port pre-production qualification units. ### Director of System Engineering & Verification @ Stellar Semiconductor Jan 1998 – Jan 1999 | Milpitas, CA Managed staff of three test and verification engineers responsible for 3D graphics core module and chip-level verification, packaging selection, and reference and engineering evaluation board design. Taped out and delivered a 400K gate 0.35u standard cell 3D graphics core to a set top box ASIC supplier. Created statement of work and schedule for 1.5M gate standard cell gaming project. Stellar Semiconductor was acquired by Broadcom in November 1999. ### Director of Hardware Engineering @ Silicon Vision Jan 1996 – Jan 1998 | Fremont, CA Managed group of four including three principal/staff engineers (Analog, ASIC/FPGA, Layout/Mechanical) responsible for all hardware & mechanical design of PC desktop and laptop cameras including ASIC, PCB, optics, plastic enclosure, cables & connectors. Conceived, developed and shipped laptop digital video camera with novel EMI shielding ferrule/camera connector. ### ASIC Design Manager @ LSI Logic Jan 1994 – Jan 1996 | Milpitas, CA Managed MPEG Source Encoder Group of Consumer Product Division with staff of eight ASIC design and verification engineers. Responsible for architecture, design, tape-out & embedded FW of HD-scalable MPEG-2 Encoder chipset: 110K gate & 250K gate ASICs w/ embedded RISC uPs and micro-coded functional units in 0.5u embedded array. Both ASICs fully functional in one revision: 720x576 & 25 fps. Evaluated, specified & ordered workstations & EDA tools for 35 person division. ### ASIC Design Engineer @ Headland Technology Jan 1992 – Jan 1994 | Fremont, CA Debugged video ASIC memory access failure by writing new simulations and comparing results with as-built observations. Designed modules for two video graphics ASICs (0.9u and 0.7u)– shipped 1M units. Took over failing BIT-BLT module to completion. Transitioned with design team from LSI Logic schematic tools to VHDL. Wrote and administered VHDL exercises for group interviews. Acquired by LSI Logic March 1994. ### Manager of Hardware Engineering @ Video Seven Jan 1990 – Jan 1992 | Cupertino, CA Managed staff of six (three Digital Engineers, one Analog Engineer, one Mfg Engineer, and one technician) responsible for design of production VGA boards for retail and OEM customers including HP, Siemens, Unisys, Zenith & Sun. VGA 1024i and VRAM II won PC Magazine awards. Merged w/ G2 to form Headland Technology. ### Hardware Staff Engineer @ Video Seven Jan 1988 – Jan 1990 | Cupertino, CA Designed special projects for Sun & Tektronix using Video7 chipsets and PLDs. Sun project (386i) provided up to four VGA windows via a framegrabber and DMA engine to the Sun bus. The Tektronix project used a triple rate 180Hz output with sequential red, green blue fields to drive a monochromatic one pel/pixel display with LCD color shutters. Video Seven merged with G2 to form Headland in March 1990. ### Firmware Design Engineer @ North Star Computers Jan 1985 – Jan 1988 | San Leandro, CA Firmware design for multi-user business computers, including EGA and VGA BIOS development, inter-processor hardware and software communications interface, protected mode BIOS development. Novelle Netware port including print spooler and hard/floppy disk drivers. ### Data Network Design Engineer @ Bank of America Jan 1982 – Jan 1985 ## Education ### BSEE in Computer Architecture & Digital Design University of California, Berkeley ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bobgardyne - Portfolio: https://www.bobgardyne.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/bobgardyne JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/bobgardyne/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13