Executive Team
Foundry's talented executive team represents a diverse group of visionaries with expertise in the networking industry and other technology fields. Utilizing their expertise in building organizations in conjunction with a proven track record of innovation, technology leadership, and corporate management, Foundry continues to develop proven solutions for high density, high-performance, complete scalability, and quality to help customers address the next set of challenges in their networking deployments.
- Bobby Johnson, Jr.
- CEO and President
- Mr. Johnson's career in the networking industry spans over 30-years. His career includes 15 years of leadership as CEO for three enterprises and 14 years as Chairman of the Board for two enterprises. Mr. Johnson's entrepreneurial and management success has received recognition from distinguished publications like Forbes, Fortune, Network World, Nikkei and notable organizations such as Ernst & Young. Additionally, under Mr. Johnson's leadership Foundry has successfully earned more than 50 corporate and product awards, including "Top Technology IPO of 1999" and numerous "Best of Show" product awards at Networld+Interop Las Vegas and Tokyo. Mr. Johnson has been active as a keynote speaker and panelist at Networld+Interop, NexGen Networks, and other leading industry events. Additionally, Mr. Johnson has been a guest lecturer on Entrepreneurship at Stanford University's MBA School. Mr. Johnson received an Honor's Computer Science B.S. degree from North Carolina State University in 1977.
- Woody Akin
- Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- Mr. Akin joined Foundry Networks with over 20 years of management experience and today is Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Prior to Foundry, Mr. Akin was Vice President of Sales at 3Com, and prior to that was at ROLM/IBM in various management roles. Mr. Akin holds a bachelors degree from the University of Colorado.
- Richard Bridges
- Vice President, Operations
- Responsible for Foundry's Manufacturing Operations, Mr. Bridges has been leading high-technology Manufacturing and Logistics organizations for over 30 years. Prior to joining Foundry, Mr. Bridges was Vice President of Operations for Ramp Networks. Before that, he held senior positions with Plantronics, Octel, U-B Networks, and Amdahl. Mr. Bridges holds a bachelors degree from Stanford University.
- John Burger
- Vice President, Hardware Engineering
- Mr. Burger joined Foundry Networks in 2000, bringing more than twenty years of engineering management and product development experience. Before his current role, Vice President of Hardware Engineering, he was Director of System Development for the past five years responsible for Foundry's system hardware. Prior to Foundry, Mr. Burger held a variety of senior management positions at Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Convergent Technologies, Inc. Mr. Burger holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University.
- Ken Cheng
- Vice President and GM, High-End and Service Provider Systems Business Unit
- Mr. Cheng joined Foundry from Digital Generation Systems where he was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. While at DG Systems, he was responsible for engineering, operations and program management and took the company to IPO in 1996. Before that, Mr. Cheng held senior management positions at NET and was a member of the technical research staff at Bell Northern Research of Northern Telecom.
- Daniel Fairfax
- Vice President, Finance & Administration and Chief Financial Officer
- Mr. Fairfax joined Foundry Networks in May 2006 and has more than 25 years of senior financial and operations management experience. Prior to joining Foundry Networks Mr. Fairfax served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GoRemote Internet Communications, a publicly held Nasdaq listed company. He has also served as Chief Financial Officer of Ironside Technologies, Inc., a privately-held developer of supplier-focused real-time integration and e-commerce application software; ACTA Technology, a developer of data-warehousing and application integration software for enterprise resource planning-based business information and e-commerce applications; NeoVista Software, which provided scalable intelligent data mining software and related business intelligence applications for Global 2000 companies; and served in senior financial management and operations roles with Siemens and Spectra-Physics. Mr. Fairfax holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Whitman College and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago, and is a Certified Public Accountant in California.
- Tim Heffner
- Vice President, Corporate Development
- Prior to Foundry, Mr. Heffner was CFO for the Centillion Business Unit of Bay Networks. Throughout his career, Mr. Heffner has held various executive positions, including CFO at Digital Generation Systems and at Tri-Data. He brings extensive experience in high technology finance management to Foundry.
- Lisa McGill
- Vice President, Human Resources & Facilities
- Ms. McGill has over 20 years of HR experience and is a business partner to the Executive Team. Her expertise is in Compensation and International Human Resource Management. Ms. McGill strives toward developing high performing, employee-centric cultures and has held senior HR positions at Alcatel and PWC. She is a member of SHRM, the High Tech HR Forum, NAFE and NCHRA. Ms. McGill holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and a BS in Business Management.
- Cliff Moore
- Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
- Cliff G. Moore joined Foundry in June 2000 as General Counsel. Mr. Moore was promoted to Vice President, General Counsel in January 2002. Prior to joining Foundry Mr. Moore was General Counsel at NetManage, Inc., staff counsel at Quantum Corporation and a corporate attorney at Rankin, O'Neil and Latham & Watkins. Mr. Moore served as a naval aviator and legal officer in the U.S. Navy and holds a B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles, a M.A. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
- Bob Schiff
- Vice President and GM, Enterprise Business Unit
- Bob Schiff has served as Foundry's Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Business Unit since February 2006, as Vice President and General Manager, Edge and Mid-Range Systems Business Unit from December 2005 to February 2006, as Vice President of Product Marketing from January 2005 to November 2005, and as Vice President and General Manager of Layer 4-7 from June 2004 to December 2004. From July 2003 to May 2004, Mr. Schiff was Director of Product Marketing for Foundry. From August 1999 to May 2003, Mr. Schiff was Senior Director of Marketing for Lantern Communications, a manufacturer of broadband packet switches subsequently acquired by C-COR. From September 1994 to July 1999, Mr. Schiff held various product line management positions at FORE Systems, a manufacturer of ATM switches acquired by Marconi Corporation plc. Mr. Schiff holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University and an M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
- Benjamin Taft
- Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Alliances
- Benjamin D. Taft joined Foundry in September 1999 and has served as Foundry's Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Alliances since July 2004. Prior to Foundry, he held strategic finance and marketing positions at Cisco Systems and Leasing Solutions International. He is responsible for directing Foundry's global marketing initiatives and carrying out Foundry's brand building objectives. Mr. Taft holds a degree in Finance and International Business from the University of Washington in Seattle.
- Paul Twombly
- Vice President, Customer Service
- Mr. Twombly brings over 30 years of senior management experience in the areas of customer service and operations. He is responsible for directing Foundry's Technical Assistance Center and Support organization and developing and implementing Foundry's customer service objectives. Most recently, Mr. Twombly led the global services organization for Nice Systems Ltd. and also held executive positions with Warpspeed Communications and Voysys Corporation, IBM Corporation & Rolm Corporation. Mr. Twombly holds a degree from Northwestern University.