by bulltick » Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:49 pm
During this downturn, I believe most HR personnels have the toughest job at their company....
SiPort issues statement following tragic shooting
Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(11/16/2008 1:11 AM EST)
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- SiPort Inc. on Saturday (Nov. 15) issued a statement amid a tragedy at the chip startup. In the somber statement, SiPort offered condolences to the families and friends of the victims who were fatally shot at the company.
As reported, a former employee at the Silicon Valley chip startup, which is backed by Intel Corp., returned to the facility on Friday (Nov. 14) and fatally shot three people, according to reports.
The suspect, Jing Hua Wu, 47, was arrested on Saturday (Nov. 15) in Mountain View, Calif., according to reports. This week, Wu was apparently fired from his test engineering job at SiPort (Santa Clara, Calif.), according to reports.
Wu was ''terminated'' and was not part of a general layoff, as previously thought. SiPort has never had a general layoff in the history of the company, according to a statement issued by SiPort.
Shortly after he had been fired on Friday, Wu walked into the offices of SiPort, according to reports. Wu and three SiPort executives went into a room. Wu then pulled out a 9-mm handgun and shot all three, the reports said.
As previously feared, Wu killed three employees. The three victims were Sid Agrawal, CEO; Brian Pugh, vice president of operations; and Marilyn Lewis, human resources manager.
"The entire SiPort staff and board are in mourning. We are a close-knit team of engineers and entrepreneurs who built this company together. We are devastated by the loss and our hearts go out to the families and friends of Sid, Brian and Marilyn," said Aiman Kabakibo, the new CEO and company founder, in a statement.
Agrawal joined SiPort as CEO in 2004 and is credited with helping secure funding for the company, building out the executive staff and forming connections with early customers.
''He is known for his intelligence, approachability and warmth, as well as a leadership style that emphasized mentoring,'' according to the statement.
Pugh served as vice president of operations and was responsible for transforming SiPort into a manufacturing operation. He attended Stanford University and was ''known as a brilliant, high-energy engineer,'' according to the statement.
Marilyn Lewis served as the HR manager ''and was the glue that held the company together. She managed a variety of human resource and administrative functions including recruiting, payroll and vendor management. Marilyn joined the company in 2005 and was a key contributor to the growth of SiPort,'' according to SiPort.
"All three people were extremely well liked and will be sorely missed. We are a team of entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists who enjoy working with each other very much. We grieve along with their families and friends," said Kabakibo.
Formed in 2004, SiPort is a fabless semiconductor company developing mixed signal RF and digital baseband wireless receiver chips supporting multiple Digital Broadcast Standards. Investors in the startup include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Morgenthaler, New Venture Partners and Intel Capital.
The startup is reportedly betting the first application for its chip will be portable GSP devices, given HD Radio's ability to datacast real-time traffic information from local radio stations in far more detailed and comprehensive fashion than is currently available via the analog FM band.
In August, SiPort---a supplier of digital terrestrial broadcast receiver ICs that is partly backed by Intel Corp.--said that its device received ''HD Radio Ready'' certification from iBiquity Digital Corp. IBiquity is the developer and licensor of HD Radio technology.