Management Team
MARK G. HARWARD
Co-Founder, President and CEO
Mark Harward brings more than 20 years of technology management experience to Syndiant. As president and CEO, he is responsible for leading strategy development and finance. Before co-founding Syndiant in 2004, Harward, in 1999, helped found and currently serves as an outside director for KarMic Design Centre, an integrated circuit design services company. He also founded TestChip Technologies in 1994, where he served as CEO before selling the company in 2002. With both ventures, Harward built strong sales and customer relationships, and executed development projects with lean budgets.
Previously, Harward spent nine years at UTC-MOSTEK and Texas Instruments, and is a named inventor on 14 issued U.S. patents. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, and his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University, with a minor in operations research and engineering management.
KARL M. GUTTAG
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
As CTO and co-founder, Karl Guttag provides Syndiant with a wealth of technology experience gained from more than 30 years of work in the digital imaging industry. At Texas Instruments, Guttag earned the respect of his peers by becoming the youngest person elected Technical Fellow, recognition for his many contributions in digital signal processing (DSP), graphics and image processors, memory architecture and other areas. After 21 years at TI, he joined Silicon Display, Inc., where, as the head of technology, he was responsible for the architecture of a near-eye liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display system. From 2001 to 2004, Guttag invested his energy in developing the integrated circuit backplane intellectual property upon which Syndiant was founded.
Over the last 30 years, Guttag has identified new market opportunities and devised integrated circuit architectures to serve those industries. He is a named inventor on 135 issued U.S. patents, including key patents related to DSP, graphics processors, graphics interface circuits, synchronous DRAMS and video RAMs. Billions of dollars of yearly revenue can be attributed to products using his inventions. Guttag earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at Bradley University and his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.
H. LELAND MURPHY
Chief Financial Officer
With more than 30 years of experience, Leland Murphy is responsible for the financial management of Syndiant’s operations, providing leadership and coordination in the administrative, business planning, accounting and budgeting efforts of the company. Prior to joining Syndiant, Mr. Murphy co-founded Trellis Partners, an early-stage venture fund to invest in Texas. Previously Mr. Murphy was a Special Partner of Southwest Enterprise Associates (SEA). SEA was organized as an affiliated fund with New Enterprise Associates (NEA) to pursue seed and early-stage venture capital investments in the Southwest.
Previously, Murphy organized and served as president of Republic Investment Company (RIC). A wholly owned subsidiary of RepublicBank, RIC made limited partnership investments in technology-focused venture capital firms and direct venture capital investments in technology companies. As a commercial banker with RepublicBank, Murphy established the first technology lending group in Texas.
Murphy earned his A.B. in Business Administration and Economics from Drury College and an M.B.A. from Indiana University.
R. TUPPER PATNODE
Co-Founder and Vice President of Operations
As vice president of operations and co-founder of Syndiant, Tupper Patnode brings more than 20 years of experience in business and technical management to the company. Formerly a general manager at Covalar Design, he had complete responsibility for technical and business operations. At TestChip Technologies, Patnode served for seven years as the director of operations.
Patnode earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Oklahoma City University and his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at the University of Oklahoma.
M. MAX KHAN
Director of Strategic Marketing and Sales
As a 20-year veteran in business development, Max Khan has a strong background in sales management and consulting, intellectual property licensing and fabless consumer electronics. Khan served as the director of business development and strategy at ON DEMAND Microelectronics, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in video and image processing applications. He also held management roles at inSilicon Corporation and NASA. Previously, he was a founding partner at EISYS Corporation, a provider of innovative real-time simulation solutions.
Khan earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Houston, and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston, Clear Lake City.
GREG C. CHEN
Managing Director, Syndiant Taiwan
With more than 10 years of sales experience in electronic components, Greg Chen is responsible for managing Syndiant’s Taiwan office, which functions as a liaison for customers and investors in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Chen earned his Bachelor of Science degree in hydraulic engineering at Cheng-Kung University and his Master of Science degree in civil engineering at the University of Texas-Arlington.
