Vince Graziani, CEO
Vince Graziani brings nearly 25 years of demonstrated success increasing companies’ market share and managing product introductions in the networking and telecommunications industry including senior management positions with Broadcom Corporation, Intel and Siemens.
Vince joined the company from VBrick Systems, a late stage video over IP networking company, where he served as CEO for three years. Prior to that, he was the president and CEO of Sandburst Corporation, which provided advanced, carrier-class switching solutions that drive real-time voice, video, and data communications services across the Internet. He established Sandburst’s strategic product direction, oversaw product introductions, and raised four rounds of venture financing leading to the successful acquisition of the company to Broadcom Corporation. Additionally, Vince served as senior director, Business Development and Strategic Alliances at Broadcom Corporation and has held senior management positions at Intel and Siemens. Vince began his career as a development engineer with a focus on signal processing and communications.
Vince holds a MSEE from Northeastern University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of VBrick Systems.
Juergen Schoepf, VP of Engineering
Juergen Schoepf is the VP of Engineering at Sand 9. He brings more than 25 years of design, engineering, product development, and semiconductor and MEMS manufacturing experience to Sand 9. Prior to joining Sand 9, Juergen was Vice President of Engineering at Synergy Microwave Corporation where he revitalized the product portfolio, re-engineered the manufacturing processes and held broad management responsibilities. Previously, he was recruited to Motorola to consolidate and lead the RF Design effort at Motorola SPS Tempe (now Freescale Semiconductors) as Manager of RF Design. Before joining Motorola, he was the Director of Engineering at Siemens Semiconductor (now Infineon) where he developed semiconductors for the first European cellular networks, their subsequent rollout, automotive, consumer and commercial applications. In addition to directing engineering design at Siemens, Juergen managed the GaAs wafer fab, MEMS sensor development and drove product sales and marketing at key accounts. In addition to semiconductors, Juergen gained experience as a design engineer for mobile phones and wireless systems at Siemens and Motorola.
Juergen Schoepf holds the degree Diplom Ingenieur Nachrichtentechnik from FHT Esslingen/Germany (comparable to MSEE communication technology).
Matt Crowley, VP of Corporate Development
Matt Crowley is a co-founder of Sand 9 where he manages the development of business relationships with external partners. Before helping to found Sand 9, Matt was the Director of the Technology Development Fund at Boston University’s Office of Technology Development. At BU, Matt focused on creating and financing new companies formed to commercialize disruptive technologies developed at the University. In addition to forming new companies, Matt also directed venture capital investments for the University in such companies as A123 Systems, Crossbeam Systems, Microchips, Nitronex and Sandburst. Prior to joining BU, Matt worked at Mars & Co strategy consulting where he advised Fortune 500 companies on operational and strategic issues. Matt is a graduate of Princeton University where he received an interdisciplinary degree in Physics and the Philosophy of Science and also studied Japanese.
Raj Mohanty, Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Raj Mohanty is a co-founder of Sand 9.
Dr. Mohanty (Science Citation Index Listing: Pritiraj Mohanty) is a Professor of Physics and faculty at Boston University. Prior to joining Boston University, he was a Postdoctoral Research Faculty at California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from the University of Maryland in nanoelectronics; his thesis work focused on the concept of direction of time, and the boundary between the classical and quantum regime.
Among his numerous work experiences, he has served as a visiting professor in Italy, and a researcher at NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. He is the recipient of the NSF Career Award and Sloan Fellowship in addition to numerous research awards from NSF, Department of Defense, National Institute of Health (NIH), Coulter Foundation and Petroleum Research Foundation. He has served on many international and national review boards for National Science Foundation and National Academy of Sciences, and he has directed a number of international conferences in Europe and USA.
His current research focuses on nanomechanical systems and their use as memory cells, and passive devices and frequency-selecting elements in wireless communication systems. Other areas of research interests include development of nanoscale biosensors for cancer detection, macroscopic quantum mechanics and quantum computing. He has published over 50 research articles in journals such as Nature, Science, Physical Review Letters and Applied Physics Letters. He has delivered over 100 invited keynote lectures, colloquium and seminars in over 15 different countries.
He is also the founder of a medical diagnostics company Ninth Sense, Inc., which focuses on the disease management of breast cancer from screening and diagnosis through monitoring for therapy and recurrence.