The University of Johannesburg's Centre for Telecommunications and The Information Theory Society Chapter of the IEEE South Africa Section cordially invite you to a round table discussion by Pieter van Rooyen, a successful entrepreneur from San Diego, California  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pietervanrooyen/)

 

Bio:

Pieter van Rooyen obtained his doctorate from the Rand Afrikaans University (currently University of Johannesburg) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering working in the field of Digital Communications in 1996.

He is a serial entrepreneur with a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience inventing and successfully commercializing breakthrough technologies. He has held multiple senior management positions including the CEO and co-founder of three high tech, venture back start-ups across a broad range of industries including semiconductors, wireless, healthcare, life sciences, image processing and retail automation. His passion for bringing innovative technologies to market led to him raise more than $100 million in funding with significant return to investors as well as the successful acquisition of all three of his start-ups by reputable organizations totalling $550 million in exits.

Pieter has a unique track record, initially launching his career in the field of electrical engineering before transitioning to the world of entrepreneurialism. Over the last 18 years, he made an impact on multiple markets, building a portfolio of over 150 issued patents, 50 technical papers, and authoring two academic books. Most recently, he was the co-founder, President and CEO of Edico Genome, a leading secondary analysis solution provider for Next-Generation DNA Sequencing and a recent acquisition by Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) in May 2018. Pieter and his executive team developed a cutting-edge technology that is revolutionizing genomics and enabling a whole human genome to be sequenced within minutes. 

Prior to founding Edico Genome, Pieter was involved in the emerging mobile health industry where mobile phone technology enables innovative healthcare delivery in underdeveloped communities. He was the cofounder and CEO of Zyray Wireless (acquired by Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) for $100 million) as well as the co-founder and inventor of ecoATM (acquired by Outerwall (NASDAQ:OUTR) for $350 million). Pieter and his co-founders invented the first and only automated e-Waste recycling kiosk that paid instant cash for recycling old phones. His innovative technology addressed the impact of used technology on the environment and provided an easy solution for consumers to recycle old technology. 

In addition to his diverse background as an inventor and serial entrepreneur, Pieter held academic positions at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and University of California San Diego (UCSD) and was invited as a speaker, keynote speaker and panelist in several industry conferences across the globe. Pieter is also recipient of the 2018 San Diego Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year award. 

Pieter has a talent for inventing complex and technical products, building synergistic leadership teams, and creating significant shareholder value across a broad range of industries. His passion for taking numerous ideas from concept to a commercialized product has made a significant impact on the field of technology.

 

Date : 17 September 2018
Time : 10:00 – 12: 00
Venue : TechnoLab, B2 LAB206, 2nd Floor, Electrical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, (APK)
E-mail: Please RSVP by 13 September for catering purposes : wendys at uj.ac.za

 

The IEEE event registration is available here: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/177253

 

A flier for printing is available here: 

http://ieee.org.za/file/invitation-discussionpvanrooyenpdf