Management Team
Julio Perdomo, Ph.D. - Co-Founder, President & CEO
Julio Perdomo co-founded Centellax in 2001, and has led the company since its inception.
Dr. Perdomo has been at the forefront of high-speed IC design and testing for over 25 years. In his role as CEO of Centellax, he has been the guiding force behind the company’s emergence as the leading supplier of drivers and modules for 40G and 100G optical communications, and as an innovative supplier of high end, cost effective signal integrity test equipment. During his 17 years at HP (later Agilent) he was responsible for many of the company’s key analog IC designs for communications and for test equipment. Dr. Perdomo developed many of the company’s 50G amplifiers, as well as an 18-40G amplifier for digital radio that was HP’s largest selling IC in the late 1990s. He also managed HP’s IC development for their LMDS unit, sold to Lucent in 1997. In the late 1990s, Dr. Perdomo managed a consulting group within HP, providing support in IC design for the company’s EEsof customers.
Dr. Perdomo holds BSEE, MSEE, and PhD degrees from Cornell University.
Cliff Hannel - General Manager, Test & Measurement
Cliff is a versatile technology leader and is responsible for the management and growth strategy of the Test & Measurement division.
Cliff Hannel has been an executive, board member, advisor and investor in over a dozen hardware and software startups spanning network security, data storage and management, performance testing and robotics. Before joining Centellax, Cliff held the position of Vice President of Product Development at Ixia where he built their team from 25 to 230 people during a period of sustained revenue growth before and after Ixia’s IPO. Cliff also played an instrumental role in working with leading customers to define products to meet evolving needs. He later assumed the role of Vice President of Acquisitions & Strategy where he led several key technology acquisitions. As an early Executive at QuorumLabs he was instrumental in building the management team, bringing their product to market, and driving the re-branding and re-launch of the company.
Cliff holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara.
Jerome Nathan - Chief Financial Officer
Jerome Nathan has been Centellax’s Chief Financial Officer since 2001, guiding the company’s finances through years of sustained double digit growth.
Jerome started his financial career in France, working at Tekelec-Airtronic, S.A. He moved to the United States in 1982, serving as Comptroller for Tekelec, Inc. (Nasdaq: TKLC) from 1982 to 1986. Jerome then served as an independent management consultant, assisting foreign investors seeking to partner with US corporations. In addition to his role at Centellax, he is a member of the board of Themis, a high performance computing company, and Quorum Labs, a disaster recovery solutions company.
Jerome holds a LL.M. from the University of Paris II, School of Law, and attended its Comparative Law and Business Law Institutes.
Jeff Meyer - Chief Technology Officer
Jeff Meyer is responsible for assessing the needs of Centellax customers and for developing product concepts that address those needs.
Jeff joined Centellax in 2002 as Director of Hardware Engineering. In that position he was responsible for development of the company’s first GaAs products. He then led the company’s earliest test product development, including development of the company’s 10G BERT, clock synthesizer, and clock recovery instrument. In his current position he conceived and initiated the development of the company’s parallel BERT and stressed clock source. Jeff started his career at HP in 1978, where he developed the industry’s first 2-20 GHz hybrid amplifier. He then worked in HP’s software division, and for five years served as Section Manager responsible for R&D for all HP simulator products. From 2000 to 2002 Jeff was at Cisco as Technical Leader working on system analysis and signal integrity testing for the company’s new 10G ONS system. He has also been Director of Hardware Engineering at Symmetricon, a leading provider of timing and synchronization systems and solutions.
Jeff holds a BSEE from UC Berkeley.
Christian Bourde - Co-Founder and Vice President of Engineering
Christian Bourde has managed both Centellax’s Test Equipment and its Module and IC design groups for over five years.
Christian co-founded Centellax in 2001 serving as its first product manager and as one of the company’s first design engineers. He then managed the company’s SiGe design team, developing ICs for the company’s test equipment including PRBS generator ICs, 56G muxes and retimers, phase shifters, and 10-20 GHz octave band PLLs. As Director, and later as VP of Engineering, Christian has been responsible for the development of several significant products, including Centellax’s advanced 40G and 100G modulator drivers, parallel BERT, 40G and 56G PRBSs, and stressed clock synthesizers. Prior to co-founding Centellax, Christian worked at HP (later Agilent) where he designed GaAs IQ modulator and demodulator ICs, and HBT delta signal modulators.
Christian holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from UC Santa Barbara.
Steve Sekel - Vice President of Product Management
Steve Sekel joined Centellax in 2010, and is responsible for both product planning and marketing for Centellax’s full line of test equipment.
Steve has over 30 years of experience in product development, engineering project management, and marketing for high performance test equipment. He spent 20 years at Tektronix, where he developed and managed development of numerous high performance active probes, power measurement test accessories, and automated test interfaces. He then moved to LeCroy where he was Engineering Manager, and then Site Manager of the company’s Oregon design center. While at LeCroy, Steve also served as Product Manager for three of the company’s four lines of digital oscilloscopes. Most recently he was Director of Product Management at SyntheSys Research.
Steve is author or co-author of 10 US patents. He holds a BSEE from Trine University.
William Sitch - Director of Sales
William Sitch joined Centellax in 2002 and is responsible for worldwide sales of the company’s products.
Will has previously held positions of Director of Test Solutions, Director of Sales, Application Engineer, and Design Engineer at Centellax, and Design Engineer at Nortel Networks. He holds a B.Eng. and an M.A.Sc. in electrical engineering from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, ON, Canada, and an MBA from the University of California, Davis.
Brad Ingels - Director of Operations
Brad Ingels is responsible for Centellax’s manufacturing operations in Santa Rosa, and for managing the company’s contract manufacturers in the United States and Asia.
During his tenure at Centellax, Brad has led Telcordia and Mil-Spec qualification for Centellax’s new products, maintained the company’s ISO certifications, revised and improved its RMA processes, and implemented enhanced WIP yield tracking. He joined the company as a PCB designer, and has served as Quality Engineer, and as the company’s Quality Manager. Prior to joining Centellax, Brad was at E. & J. Gallo winery as a Cellar Engineer, maintaining the company’s electrical and mechanical systems.
Brad holds a BS in Engineering Management from the University of the Pacific.