Isaac Nassi

Isaac Robert "Ike" Nassi, born 1949 in Brooklyn, New York, is currently CEO at TidalScale, Inc. in Campbell, CA, and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist at SAP AG, and the practice lead of the SAP Research Technology Infrastructure practice, which was focused on guiding SAP's technology infrastructure vision, direction, and execution. His group was also responsible for the SAP Sponsored Academic Research Program. He is probably best known for creating (with Ben Shneiderman) the highly influential Nassi–Shneiderman diagram notation. He also helped design the Ada programming language. Prior to his work at TidalScale and SAP, Nassi helped start three companies: Firetide, InfoGear Technology, and Encore Computer. He co-founded the wireless mesh company Firetide and then served as its Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Chairman of the Board. Nassi was the CTO and Head of Product Operations at InfoGear prior to its acquisition by Cisco Systems. He helped start Encore Computer, a pioneer in symmetric multiprocessors and forerunner of today's multicore processors. In addition to his start-up experience, Nassi held an executive position at Cisco Systems following its acquisition of InfoGear Technology. He joined Apple Inc. to run the new Advanced Technology Group research lab in Cambridge, MA near MIT, work on the Dylan programming language intended for the Apple Newton, become VP of Development Tools in California, become Senior Vice President of Software, launch MkLinux, and become a Corporate Officer. He served on the boards of Taligent and the OpenDoc Foundation. He also held executive and senior management roles at Visual Technology (Tewkesbury, MA), Digital Equipment Corporation, and at SofTech. Nassi serves as an active member of the Board of Trustees of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, and formerly served on t