Executive Team
Sequans’ management team has expertise in nearly every technical discipline relevant to the development of WiMAX technology, and the founding team has years of experience working together developing other advanced technologies.
Dr. Georges Karam
President and chief executive officer
Before founding Sequans Communications, Georges Karam was vice president of cable access for Juniper Networks, running the cable engineering and marketing departments and managing the cable sales launch in EMEA. He joined Juniper Networks when the company acquired Pacific Broadband Communications (PBC), where he was vice president of engineering and general manager for Europe. At PBC he was the first key executive to join the company and was instrumental to success. Georges has served in a variety of senior management positions at Alcatel, SAGEM and Philips. He is a senior member of IEEE, has authored numerous technical and scientific papers, and holds several patents in digital communications.
Bertrand Debray
Vice president, engineering
Before joining Sequans, Bertrand Debray was director of hardware and ASIC development in the cable product division at Juniper Networks. He joined Juniper Networks after the company acquired Pacific Broadband Communications, where he played the same role and was instrumental in building the cable product and team. Bertrand has held technical and management positions at Alcatel. He has 15 years’ experience in large project development covering all access technologies, including wireless, satellite, and cable.
Hugues Waldburger
Vice president, product line management
Hugues Waldburger joined Sequans in 2008. Before that, he was with Wavecom SA, a leading technology solutions provider for the cellular machine-to-machine market. Hugues held various positions, including director of performance and validation, director of program management, and member of the steering committee. Prior to joining Wavecom he led the product integration program for cable networks for Pacific Broadband Communications, which was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2001. Earlier, Hugues held technical management positions for embedded systems with the electronics group, Thales. Waldburger has more than 20 years of experience in embedded systems and technology.
Craig Miller
Vice president, marketing and business development
Craig Miller is responsible for driving Sequans’ marketing strategy and business development activities. He is a technology industry veteran with an excellent track record in product management, marketing, strategic planning and business development over the course of his twenty-plus year career. During that time he has successfully championed numerous silicon, system and software products targeting the wireless, computing, consumer electronics and networking market segments. Prior to joining Sequans, Craig was vice president of product management and marketing at NextWave Wireless, where he was responsible for strategic marketing, product planning, product management, applications engineering and marketing communications for a portfolio of WiMAX and LTE chipsets. Prior to NextWave, he held numerous positions in product marketing, strategy, business development and product engineering at Intel Corporation and was director of marketing for the Wireless Networking Group, where he championed the first of several generations of wireless LAN silicon and modules at the core of Intel’s Centrino™ mobile technology platform.
Sylvie Deschamps
Vice president, worldwide sales
Sylvie Deschamps leads Sequans’ global sales and customer support organizations. She is an experienced semiconductor and wireless industry executive skilled in managing companies in high growth markets.
Sylvie joins Sequans after a 20 year career at world semiconductor leader, Texas Instruments, where she most recently was member of the French management team and general manager of strategic alliances for the Wireless Terminal Business Unit, managing IP strategic sourcing. Before that, she ran the GSM/GPRS/EDGE Wireless Business Unit where she had worldwide operational and financial responsibility.
Deborah Choate
Chief financial officer
Deborah Choate joined Sequans in 2007, before which she was chief financial officer at Esmertec AG and Wavecom SA and vice president of finance at Platinum Equity. Earlier in her career, she was an audit partner with Ernst & Young. Deborah has 23 years of experience in management, finance and accounting, including over 10 years working with technology companies, in particular communications hardware, software, and services.
Eddy Tang
Vice president, manufacturing operations
Before joining Sequans, Eddy Tang was with STATSChipPAC Ltd, a NASDAQ and SGX (Singapore Exchange) listed provider of outsource assembly and test services, where he was senior manager in the company’s corporate strategy organization. He was responsible for assessing the future needs of the outsourcing industry and making strategic recommendations to upper management. Before STATSChipPAC, Eddy held various management positions at Singapore Technologies Assembly and Test Services, including as director of marketing in outsource assembly and test services. He started his career in 1982 as a sales engineer at Jebson Company, Siemens Division in Hong Kong. In 1984, he joined Fairchild Semiconductor’s manufacturing operations in Singapore. He brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry.
Dr. Hikmet Sari
Chief scientist
Hikmet Sari is a world-renowned expert in digital communications. He has published over 180 journal and conference papers, holds over 20 patents, and has been a guest speaker at events in Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific region, and Latin America. He is an IEEE Fellow and a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society and has received the André Blondel Medal and the prestigious Edwin H. Armstrong Award. He has been the editor of several international journals and was technical program chair of the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Communications. Prior to joining Sequans, Hikmet held scientific and key management positions at Philips, SAGEM, Alcatel, Pacific Broadband Communications, and Juniper Networks. He is a professor and head of the Telecommunications Department at SUPELEC in France.
