SILVUS: A WORLD CLASS TEAM OF EXPERTS

A scientist with demonstrated early-stage company experience and success, Dr. Daneshrad co-founded Silvus Technologies in 2004 with a vision of manufacturing cost-effective MIMO solutions that could deliver communications to the most harsh and demanding environments. In 2001, Dr. Daneshrad co-founded Inovonics, raising $14M in venture capital to develop the first multi-antenna, diversity-enabled WCDMA-3G mobile terminal ASIC. From 1996 to 2019, he served as a Professor with the UCLA Electrical Engineering Dept., his Alma Mater. Dr. Daneshrad is viewed as a thought-leader in his field of expertise, and is well-published in the area of wireless communications with an emphasis on experimental multi-antenna systems. Prior to UCLA, he was with AT&T Bell labs carrying out breakthrough research to enable broadband wireless communications.

In this role as Chief Financial Officer, Jeff leads the company’s financial strategy, overseeing budgeting and planning, accounting, cash flow, capital management, and strategic M&A initiatives. He brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience gained in aerospace and defense, industrial manufacturing, and engineering services industries.

Mr. Lassiter spent the first decade of his career as a satellite systems engineer focused on communications and sensor system payloads supporting programs such as Advanced EHF, MUOS, TSAT, and classified programs. After obtaining his MBA, Mr. Lassiter shifted focus to finance and investment banking, where he worked at Deutsche Bank in Silicon Valley supporting semiconductor, electronics, and communications equipment companies, as well as Houlihan Lokey supporting Aerospace & Defense clients.

Prior to joining Silvus, he held CFO roles at 4Wall Entertainment, SolAero Technologies, Alliance Spacesystems, and Integral Aerospace, where he drove financial strategy, operational efficiency, and successful acquisitions.

Mr. Lassiter holds a BSEE from UCLA and an MSEE from USC, combining his deep technical knowledge with strategic financial expertise to support Silvus’ growth and innovation in global tactical communications.

After graduating with an MSEE degree from Ohio State University, Weijun Zhu worked as a research staff member in the E.E. department at Ohio State University from 2001~2002, where he successfully led the effort of developing  a narrowband wireless networking test bed that supports both infrastructure mode and ad-hoc mode. Weijun then spent three years as a research staff member designing and implementing a 3×4 narrowband MIMO test bed and a 4×4 wideband MIMO–COFDM test bed in the UCLA E.E. department.

With these test beds, he successfully field tested numerous MIMO coding and spatial multiplexing schemes. After joining Silvus in 2005 as a communication system engineer, he quickly became the technical lead for Silvus’s R&D effort and product development. At Silvus, Weijun successfully led the effort of fulfilling the requirement of the $15M DARPA MNM contract, designing and delivering a synthesizable 802.11n IP to multiple customers, and developing the StreamCaster mesh networking radio product series.

Enlisted in 1999 as a Satellite, Wideband, and Telemetry Systems Technician in the United States Air Force, Jimi Henderson operated and maintained a variety of advanced digital communications systems, gaining years of valuable working knowledge from a user’s perspective. After transitioning to the private sector in 2004, Jimi worked as a Production Technician at Global Microwave Systems, Inc. and year later was promoted to Test Supervisor. In this role he also acted as the company’s main point of contact for technical support and repairs. In 2008, Jimi transferred to GMS’ sales department, where he would quickly rise to the position of Sales and Marketing Manager. After GMS was acquired by Cobham PLC, Jimi was appointed as Director of Sales for the Broadcast, Airborne, and Unmanned Systems markets, leading the business through a time of unprecedented growth.

In 2012, Jimi was tapped to join the Silvus team. As VP of Sales, Jimi has succeeded in introducing the StreamCaster product line to market, and building the Silvus sales organization from the ground up.

Drawn to Silvus by a deep passion for wireless technology, Jesse’s story with the team began in 2007 when he joined the hardware engineering group. In 2013, not long after the launch of Silvus’ first commercial product, he was entrusted with leading the hardware signal processing team as Director of Hardware Engineering, charged with driving execution of advanced R&D and commercial product development programs. In this capacity, he served as technical lead for numerous research efforts sponsored by DARPA, Air Force, and Army research labs, with exploration into MIMO waveform enhancements and interference mitigation for airborne, terrestrial, and urban applications. Jesse obtained his MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 2008 and 2014, respectively, with research focused on real-world characterization of MIMO air-to-ground channels.

In 2019, Silvus called on Jesse to bring his leadership and technology expertise to bear in Operations. Graduating with his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2021, Jesse has continued his journey with Silvus in the pursuit of delivering next generation connectivity solutions to teams engaged in critical missions around the world.

Neema’s journey with Silvus began in 2010 when he joined as an FPGA/Hardware Engineer after earning his MSEE from UCLA. In 2012, he transitioned to establishing Silvus’ Sales Engineering Team, traveling the world to help solve complex tactical communication problems, while building a team whose dedication to customer success continues to be a hallmark of Silvus’ mission.

Promoted to Director of Sales Engineering in 2017, Neema and the Silvus Sales Engineering team continued to excel in providing pre- and post-sales support, customer training, and technical support while designing unique solutions tailored to meet customer needs and mission requirements.

Throughout his career at Silvus, Neema has demonstrated a unique blend of technical prowess, strategic vision, and leadership excellence. In 2022, Neema embraced the challenge of leading Silvus’ Product team.

As VP of Product, Neema Daneshvar leads cross-functional teams to deliver innovative solutions that not only meet the evolving needs of existing customers, but also drive Silvus’ expansion into new markets.

As Vice President of Research and Development (R&D), Dr. Mansour Rachid leads Silvus’ efforts to bridge the gap between innovative theoretical concepts and practical, effective solutions with meaningful impact for Silvus customers and end users.

Dr. Rachid received his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, where his research led to the development of innovative techniques at the heart of Silvus’ FASST sensor technology. He joined Silvus in 2013 first as a Senior Engineer, was later promoted to Principal Engineer, then to Director of R&D in 2019, delivering on state of the art research projects with DARPA, OUSD, U.S. Army DEVCOM and other U.S. government, academic and commercial organizations.

Under his leadership, Silvus’ R&D has expanded into new areas of RF sensing and artificial intelligence, while continuing to advance its core MN-MIMO waveform, Spectrum Dominance suite of EW resiliency capabilities, and distributed technologies.

As VP of R&D, Dr. Rachid oversees Silvus’ research initiatives focused on meeting the future needs of Silvus’ customers and driving the company’s growth as a leader in tactical communication technologies.