Irwin Federman
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General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners
Irwin Federman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1936 (age 89–90) |
| Education | B.S. Brooklyn College |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | President of Monolithic Memories General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners |
| Spouse(s) | Shiela Federman (until death) Concepcion Socarras |
| Children | Four with Shiela Federman (Alex Federman, Carolyn Federman, Eric Federman and Jamie Greenberg); three step-children with Socarras including Nick Woodman |
Irwin Federman (born 1936) is an American businessman, philanthropist and General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners.
Federman was born to a Jewish family[1] in 1936[2] and graduated with a B.S. in Economics from Brooklyn College.[3] After college, he was awarded the Forbes Gold Medal for attaining the highest grade in California on his CPA exam[3][4] and then worked as an accountant in New York and California.[3] He then went on to serve as CFO of three startup companies the last of which was the troubled semiconductor manufacturer Monolithic Memories (MMI).[3] Irwin was appointed MMI's President, the first non-engineer CEO in the semiconductor industry, and he presided over its successful turn around.[3] Instead of laying workers off, he required that all workers to take one unpaid day off every other week, effectively cutting the payroll by 10% but preserving everyone's job: the policy actually boosted morale as workers bonded over the shared sacrifice; managers came into work on their off days; and everyone was more careful with their expenses.[5] In 1980, MMI went public. In 1987, in a $442 million stock swap, MMI was merged with Advanced Micro Devices[6] to become the world's largest integrated circuit manufacturer.[7] Federman was appointed Vice Chairman of AMD.[3][7] In 1988, he served as Managing Director of investment banking firm Dillon, Read & Co.[4] In 1990, he joined early-stage venture capital firm, U.S. Venture Partners,[4] where he served as General Partner.[3] He previously served on the Boards of Directors of SanDisk, Checkpoint Software Technologies and Mellanox, Inc.[3]