The NXP Cortex M0 Design Challenge is honored to have three embedded industry experts for our Judging Panel, all with strong technical backgrounds:

Rich Nass – Editorial Director, TechInsights

Richard Nass’s key responsibilities include setting the editorial direction for the various properties within TechInsights, including EE Times, EETimes.com, Embedded Systems Design magazine, Embedded.com, the global Embedded Systems Conferences and all custom events.
 
He also handles the editorial for EE Times Europe and Embedded Systems Design Europe. Nass has been in the Electronics OEM industry for over 20 years. Before taking on the top editorial role for the TechInsights, he oversaw the Embedded and Custom groups and the TechOnline DesignLine network of design engineering web sites. Nass holds a BSEE degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Dominic Pajak - Product Manager, ARM

Dominic joined ARM in 2001 and was a senior engineer in the ARM Cambridge CPU group prior to becoming product manager for the ARM Cortex-M0 processor. Dominic holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Leeds and has been involved in the electronic engineering industry for over 10 years.

Geoff Lees - VP & GM, BL Microcontrollers, NXP Semiconductors

Geoff Lees is vice president and general manager of the microcontroller business line at NXP Semiconductors. Geoff is responsible for product strategy, worldwide sales and the introduction of new microcontroller products to market. He manages the team that develops new product roadmaps and strategy for microcontrollers, with a focus on delivering a comprehensive, fully supported product line to market. Prior to joining NXP, Geoff was the North American director of marketing for Siemens Microelectronics’ 8-bit and 16-bit product families. He has more than 20 years of experience working with microcontroller products in the semiconductor industry.

Joe Yu - Strategic Business Development, NXP Semiconductors

Joe Yu is director of Business Development for the microcontroller business line at NXP Semiconductors. In this role, he is responsible for business development activities as well as new product strategy. Prior to this, he held the role of director of Strategic Marketing.
 
Joe brings more than 20 years of experience to his role at NXP. He joined NXP when it was Philips Semiconductors in 1999 as strategic marketing manager for the Standard ICs Business Line. Joe has helped launch the LPC700, LPC900, LPC1700, LPC2000, and LPC3000 families of microcontrollers. He is the co-author of two patents related to CPLD and one on microcontrollers.
 
Joe Yu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Santa Clara University. Based in San Jose, Calif., he is a member of the Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association.

Rob Cosaro - Manager, Applications & Architecture, NXP Semiconductors

Rob Cosaro is the manager of the Systems, Applications and Architecture group for the microcontroller business line at NXP Semiconductors. In this role, he is responsible for the system software architectures of current and future microcontroller products as well as application solutions. Rob brings more than 20 years of experience to his role at NXP. In his time at NXP/Philips, Rob contributed to the designs of the MX, LPC900 and LPC2000 families of microcontrollers. Rob has a broad background and has designed everything from analog products such as high voltage power supplies and solar array regulators to complex ASICs for the telecom industry. Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois.