Leadership

“The opportunity for compute innovation is huge. MIPS cores give customers the freedom to seamlessly accelerate and expand compute power at higher density, assuring optimal performance and resource utilization. This means safer and software upgradable cars, more power-efficient data centers, and much more capable embedded systems.”

Sameer Wasson, CEO

Executive Team

Sameer Wasson

CEO

Sameer Wasson

CEO

As chief executive officer at MIPS, Sameer Wasson is leading the company’s mission of driving intelligence into action as an industry leading semiconductor solution company, focused on addressing the challenges of building next generation autonomous machines.

Prior to joining MIPS, Sameer Wasson was responsible for driving the embedded microprocessor and microcontroller business at Texas Instruments, re-establishing TI as a supplier for high-growth automotive and industrial markets, including embedded AI, software defined vehicles and electrification. Before that, he worked for TI’s Radar/mmWave Business Unit, responsible for establishing TI’s mmWave CMOS radar business focused on automotive and expanding into industrial markets. He also held a management position at Communications Infrastructure Processors at TI.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from Pune University.

Drew Barbier

General Manager, IP Business Unit

Drew Barbier

General Manager, IP Business Unit

As head of MIPS IP Business unit, Drew Barbier drives IP platforms at MIPS, defining and driving the roadmap and development of MIPS technologies across real-time and high-performance compute and the software enablement required for physical AI platform integration.

Drew holds more than 15-years of semiconductor experience with a particular focus on the successful adoption of processor IP, beginning with Maxim as a test engineer; supporting key accounts at Arm in both technical sales and application engineering roles, and architecting ASIC solutions for Faraday. As the first member of SiFive’s ‘silicon hills’ office, Drew went on to establish their RISC-V portfolio and lead the product management team while launching multiple product families.

Drew is a Louisiana Cajun and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Computer Science from Louisiana State University.

Manoj Koul

Silicon Operations

Manoj Koul

Silicon Operations

Manoj Koul drives Silicon Operations at MIPS as the backbone of the company's ability to produce high-quality, reliable, and cost-effective silicon chips, driving innovation and enabling a wide range of technological advancements.

Manoj’s career highlights include leading the launch of one of the industry’s first automotive vision and machine learning software development kits, and the Park Assist Reference Platform at Texas Instruments. He brings over more than two and a half decades of experience in video and imaging technologies, digital signal processing architectures, embedded software, machine learning, and SoC development, previously serving as chief technology officer of Iontra, Inc., where he scaled the company’s platform and products. Mr. Koul has held multiple product and leadership roles at Philips Semiconductors (now NXP), Texas Instruments, and Iontra, driving successful microprocessor, microcontroller, and software development kit roadmaps.

His work has contributed to multiple award-winning products that have shipped in millions of units globally.

Manav Mediratta

Head of Custom Silicon

Manav Mediratta

Head of Custom Silicon

Manav Mediratta leverages his experience managing cross functional product development spanning across system definition, SoC development, SW development and product validation to drive the software engineering and development function at MIPS and lead the MIPS software Center of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Before MIPS, Manav deployed his expertise in engineering management at Google, and Texas Instruments, where he held roles in the mmWave Sensor Business; Software and Systems for Wi-Fi based IoT devices for the Connectivity Business; and for GPS/GLONASS receivers and Bluetooth/FM Connectivity Combo Business. He started his career at the Telecommunications and Networking Group at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras as a Communication Systems Engineer.

Manav holds Master and Bachelor degrees in Electronics and Communication Systems.

Samuel (Sam) Grove

Head of Software & Tools

Samuel Grove

Senior Director of Product for Software

Samuel (Sam) Grove is the Head of Software and Tools at MIPS. He has over 20 years of experience in defining products, designing embedded software, operating systems, and leading community-driven open-source software initiatives. In his current role, Sam is responsible for defining product strategy, roadmap execution, and go-to-market activities for MIPS software solutions.
Prior to joining MIPS, Sam was Director of Product Management for Software at SiFive, where he led key initiatives across compiler toolchains, development tools, and software stacks supporting high-performance RISC-V IP platforms. His work led to the realization of SiFive’s next-generation development boards that have played a pivotal role in growing the RISC-V software ecosystem across embedded RTOS projects, Linux Distributions, and optimized software libraries commonly used in AI/ML runtimes.
Before SiFive, Sam held various leadership roles at Arm, including Technical Director of Software, Principal Architect, and was Technical Lead for various projects. During this time, he bridged technical innovation with customer-focused product strategy, contributing to Arm’s software ecosystem and product portfolio. Sam also has extensive experience working cross-functionally with engineering, marketing, and business development teams to position and launch successful software products.
Earlier in his career, Sam designed hardware and software systems for public safety communications, georeferenced aerial imaging, automotive infotainment, and diagnostic systems. Sam earned his BS degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from California State University - Long Beach

Michael Zirngibl

Head of Worldwide Business Development

Michael Zirngibl

Head of Worldwide Business Development

Michael Zirngibl is Head of Worldwide Business Development at MIPS. Michael is responsible for driving business expansion across the region, advancing MIPS’ mission to enable the next wave of physical AI. His leadership supports MIPS’ commitment to strengthening its presence in EMEA by building operations across multiple countries.

With more than 23 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, Michael has technical expertise and commercial insight across automotive, industrial, and communications infrastructure markets. Prior to joining MIPS, he spent 19 years at Texas Instruments, where he held several senior roles, most recently serving as Director of Sales & Applications for Automotive Key Accounts.

James Prior

Marketing Director

James Prior

Marketing Director

James Prior leads outbound marketing at MIPS, defining messaging, campaigns and driving events and shaping collaterals. With 28 years in the semiconductor and technology industry, James has held communications, marketing, business development, and product management leadership roles at AMD, NXP, and SiFive, building programs that translate deep technical innovation into clear value for customers and the broader market. He also covered the technology industry as a journalist, covering leading PC hardware and software companies, developing deep relationships with industry analysts and journalists. James holds a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Portsmouth, England.

Dr. Yankin Tanurhan

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Yankin Tanurhan

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Yankin Tanurhan is Chief Technology Officer of MIPS, a GlobalFoundries company, where he leads the company’s technology strategy and engineering execution across next-generation processor IP, physical AI, software enablement, and the SoC platform roadmap. In this role, he sets architectural direction across CPU, NPU, and DSP portfolios; defines R&D priorities and investment focus; drives cross-functional alignment from product management through silicon and software; and leads ecosystem and partner enablement to deliver reusable, scalable IP platforms aligned with customer requirements and faster time-to-market.
He serves on the Board of Directors of RISC-V International and has been a visiting professor at Xidian University in Xi’an, China.
Prior to MIPS, Dr. Tanurhan served as Senior Vice President of Engineering in the IP Group at Synopsys, where he was responsible for DesignWare Processor IP, including ARC embedded CPUs, NPUs, and DSPs; security IP spanning TRNGs through full HSM and IDE solutions; wireless interface IP such as Bluetooth and Zigbee; smart subsystems for sensor fusion, audio, vision, and security; ASIP tools (ASIP Designer and Programmer); and CMOS-based non-volatile OTP/MTP memory IP.

Dr. Tanurhan has authored more than 100 refereed publications and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, as well as a Dr.-Ing. (summa cum laude) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe (TH), Germany.

Anubha Tewari

Head of Strategy & Operations

Anubha Tewari

Head of Strategy & Operations

Anubha Tewari is Head of Strategy & Operations for MIPS, a GlobalFoundries company, where Anubha leads business strategy, revenue and sales operations, long-range planning, ecosystem development, and procurement to scale and grow the business while driving execution across the organization. Over more than a decade at GlobalFoundries, Anubha has held senior leadership roles spanning strategic finance, R&D portfolio integration, capital allocation and investment planning, business operations, and product management. Anubha holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University.

Karthik Kethireddy

Infrastructure Lead

Anubha Tewari

Infrastructure Lead at MIPS

Karthik is the Infrastructure lead at MIPS leading the Design Engineering IT (DEIT) team at GlobalFoundries to enable software development, SDLC tooling, and platform‑based design engineering capabilities across the IP development lifecycle. He is instrumental in helping accelerate AI enablement across design engineering workflows.
Karthik has also held leadership engineering positions at Qorvo, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, and spent his early career as an engineer designing custom ASICs.

Karthik holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University – Kingsville. He recently completed the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) program from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton.

Board of Directors

Desi Banatao

Chairman of the Board

Desi Banatao

Chairman of the Board

Desi is the chairman of the board. He was previously also Interim CEO. Prior to assuming the CEO role, Desi led the acquisition process of MIPS from Imagination in 2017. He has a broad range of experience in early stage technology startups both as an entrepreneur and investor as one of the founding partners in Tallwood Venture Capital. Desi holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Sanjai Kohli

Board Member

Sanjai Kohli

Board Member

Sanjai Kohli is recognized as the father of commercial GPS for his fundamental technology contributions to GPS and wireless communications.

He was CEO of Wave Computing until June 2021, leading the successful turnaround/restructuring effort of MIPS and its pivot RISC-V. Prior to Wave, he was responsible for technology development of the Facebook Terragraph urban connectivity network, via acquisition of his company Inovi. He was previously founder and CTO at SiRF, the company that created the commercial GPS market, from 1995 until March 2008. He also founded and successfully ran two other technology companies – WirelessHome and TrueSpan. Sanjai was awarded the European Inventor Award for making GPS a commercial product, and he holds 60 U.S. patents in GPS and communication technology. He is a graduate and distinguished alumnus of both the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Washington University in St. Louis. He is also an IEEE Fellow.

Sameer Wasson

Board Member