Our Executive Team
Synaptics is dedicated to fostering creativity and excellence throughout our global organization. Staying on the cutting edge of human interface technology for more than two decades requires a talented and focused team dedicated toward driving ongoing innovation.
Our executive team combines technological expertise with deep knowledge of the global marketplace and a clear vision of the future. They focus our organization to continue to push human interface technology to new heights of creativity and innovation.
As powerful proof of our market leadership, Synaptics already has more than 90 US patents, with more than 70 pending. Results like these don’t happen overnight. Since 1986, we’ve built an extremely innovative, efficient, and collaborative organization—one that attracts, develops and retains top talent and knowledge leaders.
Find out more about the diverse and experienced people who lead our organization.
Tom Tiernan
President and CEO
As a President and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas J. Tiernan previously served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Synaptics from July 2008 to July 2009. Mr. Tiernan served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of our company from July 2007 until July 2008 and as Senior Vice President of our company from March 2006 until July 2007. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Tiernan served as Vice President and General Manager of Symbol Technologies’ Mobile Computing Division. From 1985 to 2004, Mr. Tiernan held various management and executive positions at Hewlett-Packard, including running the Network Storage business in the Americas, the Enterprise Systems business in Asia Pacific, and the PC business in Japan. Mr. Tiernan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from California State Polytechnic University and a Masters of Science in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University.
Kathleen Bayless
Chief Financial Officer
Kathleen Bayless joined Synaptics in March 2009 as Senior Vice President, succeeding Russ Knittel as Synaptics’ Chief Financial Officer in June 2009. Before Synaptics, Ms. Bayless spent 13 years at Komag, a leading supplier of thin-film disks, where she served most recently as Executive Vice President, Secretary, and Chief Financial Officer. During her tenure at Komag, she helped to successfully manage the company, build its extensive international operations in Asia and grow its revenue to more than $1 billion. Prior to Komag, Ms. Bayless had a distinguished career at Ernst & Young. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University Fresno and is a CPA.
Shawn Day, Ph.D.
Vice President and Chief Technical Officer
Shawn P. Day, Ph.D. has been Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of our company since July 2007. He served as our Vice President of Research and Development of our company from June 1998 through July 2007; as the Director of Software Development of our company from November 1996 until May 1998; and as principal software engineer of our company from August 1995 until October 1996. Mr. Day holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Doctorate, both in electrical engineering, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Joe Montalbo
Senior Vice President of Platform Research and Development
Joe Montalbo has been the Senior Vice President of Engineering for our company since January 2008. From April 2005 until November 2007, Mr. Montalbo served as President, CEO and board member of Pixim, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company marketing image sensing products into the security market. From June 1978 until April 2005, Mr. Montalbo was at National Semiconductor Corp., serving in various roles in the ASIC, design automation, analog, displays and microcontroller groups. His last role there was as Vice President and General Manager of National's Custom Solutions Group, where he also served on the board of directors of Validity Sensors, Inc. Mr. Montalbo holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from The Cooper Union in New York.
Gopal Garg
Senior VP of Handheld Business and Corporate Marketing
Gopal Garg has been the Senior Vice President of the Handheld Business Unit at Synaptics since August 2008. Garg has 25+ years experience in the high tech arena, with a focus on semiconductors and systems. He previously worked at Cypress, where he was VP/GM of the Communication Business and the Power Electronics Business. He has held positions across multiple functions including product management, strategic marketing, business development, M&A, and chip design. He began his career at Semiconductor Complex Ltd, and later Arcus Technology, which was acquired by Cypress in 1999. He holds a BSEE from BITS in Pilani India, and an MBA from PU India.
Mark Vena
VP of PC Business Unit
Mark Vena has been with Synaptics since April 2007. As an industry veteran with more than 20 years experience in the PC industry, Mr. Vena is a visionary on where the industry is going and how the power of capacitive touch is going to change how consumers interact with their intelligent devices. Before Synaptics, Mr. Vena was the VP of Worldwide Marketing at Alienware. Prior to Alienware, Mr. Vena held a number of business and product marketing leadership positions at Dell, Compaq, Epson and IBM. Mr. Vena graduated Cum Laude from Boston College in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.
Ruth Lutes
Vice President of Customer Care and Quality
Ruth Lutes has been the Vice President of Customer Care and Quality of our company since May 2007. Prior to joining our company, Ms. Lutes served as Director of Quality for Hewlett Packard's Workstation business for five years followed by four years as Director of Total Customer Experience for HP's Storage business. From 1982 to 1997, Ms. Lutes held a number of technical positions in Hewlett Packard including manager of R&D Program Management. Ms. Lutes holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Colorado.
Alex Wong
Vice President of Worldwide Operations
Alex Wong has been the Vice President of World Wide Operations of our company since September 2006. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Wong served our company as Managing Director of Hong Kong and Director of Operations. Prior to joining Synaptics, Mr. Wong held various management positions with National Semiconductor, including General Manager for National Joint Ventures in China and Hong Kong as well as the Director of Corporate Business Development. Mr. Wong holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from California State University at Northridge and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of East Asia, Macau.
James Harrington
Vice President of Global Human Resources
James B. Harrington has served as Vice President of Global Human Resources of our company since July 2005. He was Vice President of Human Resources for BroadVision from 2000 to 2005. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Harrington provided Human Resource consulting and leadership to emerging companies in the technology sector. Previously, Mr. Harrington held leadership roles with Norand, Panda Management, Capitol Records, Syncor International, Allied/Signal and Rockwell International. Mr. Harrington holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Mt. Mercy College and a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Dave Long
Vice President of Worldwide Sales
David B. Long has been the Vice President of World Wide Sales of our company since January 2008. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Long served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Consumer Products at LSI Logic Corporation where he directed the management of sales and customer support for standard and custom silicon solutions. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the Vice President of Asia Pacific Sales focused on the Consumer and Storage product segments. He was the Director of North American-West Sales for LSI Operations from 2002 to 2003. Mr. Long also managed LSI's worldwide account with Cisco Systems from 1998 until 2002, directing an extended team of sales, engineering, marketing, operations, and customer service representatives. Mr. Long received a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Marketing Management from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo in 1985.