Who We Are: Robin Abrams

Robin Abrams Robin Abrams brings a wealth of technology and senior management experience to her position on the Board of the the Anita Borg Institute. She has spent nearly 35 years in key leadership roles at numerous high-profile high-tech companies, building an impressive track record both in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, she served as Interim CEO of ZiLOG, a provider of integrated microcontroller products. Previously, she was CEO of Firefly Mobile, a mobile products company for the youth market. Prior to Firefly Mobile, Abrams was president and CEO of BlueKite, a leading provider of bandwidth optimization software for wireless operators. Abrams was president and CEO of Palm Computing Inc., where she led the launches of the Palm V and Palm VII handheld devices. Prior to Palm, Abrams was president and CEO of VeriFone, the global leader in debit/credit card authorization solutions. She also held key executive positions at Apple, including managing director of Apple Asia and president of Apple Americas. Abrams’ international experience began with Unisys, where she was vice president and program general manager for retail delivery systems, vice president of Pacific marketing operations and general manager of Unisys Financial Centre, based in Hong Kong. Abrams entered the financial world of technology management with Norwest Banks (now Wells Fargo) after earning her B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Nebraska. Today, she also serves on the board of directors of HCL Technologies, Openwave Systems Inc. and ZiLOG.

Officers

General Counsel

  • Allison Spinner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Staff

Our Founder

Board of Trustees

  • William Wulf, Ph.D., Former President, National Academy of Engineering, Board Chair
  • Bill Unger, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund - Vice-Chair
  • Robin Abrams, Investor
  • Margaret Ashida, Director, Diversity and Workforce Programs - IBM Software Group
  • Prith Banerjee, Senior Vice President, Research, and Director, HP Labs, HP
  • James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund - Treasurer & Vice President
  • Francine Berman, Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego and Fellow, ACM
  • Debi Coleman, Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
  • Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Payroll, Intuit
  • Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Research and Systems Engineering, Google
  • Penny Herscher, President & CEO, firstRain
  • Kathy Hill, Senior VP Ethernet and Wireless Systems Technology Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
  • Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, and Ramsburg Distinguished Professor, Purdue University
  • Wayne Johnson, Vice President, University Relations, Hewlett-Packard
  • Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College
  • Ike Nassi, Executive Vice President, and Head of Research, Americas and China, and Head of Global Business Incubation, SAP
  • Brian Pawlowski, CTO, and Senior Vice President, NetApp
  • Richard Rashid, Senior VP and VP Research, Microsoft
  • Justin Rattner, Senior Fellow & CTO, Intel
  • Cheryl Shavers, Former Undersecretary of Technology, Clinton Administration, & CEO of Global Smarts, Inc.
  • Telle Whitney, President & CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
  • Linda Bernardi, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)
  • Greg Papadopoulos, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)

Individual and Organizations

Board of Advisors