Ross Q. Smith is a seasoned high-tech executive with over 30 years of technical and business experience that includes executive management, fund raising, M&A, marketing, business development, engineering management and innovation.
Solid history in founding and leading successful, high-tech startup companies and orchestrating business-unit turnarounds, demonstrated success in growing businesses from concept to market-leadership positions.
Ross is a recognized expert in general management, team building, technical marketing and product development in the areas of consumer electronics, fabless semiconductors, mission critical and real-time embedded and safety critical systems and software, Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products, 2D/3D graphics, GPGPU, parallel and high-performance computing, video game technology, renewable energy and precision metrology systems and instrumentation.
Ross Smith’s portfolio of prior experience includes co-founder, executive and technical management, and key contributor roles at 3dfx, Quantum3D and RADX Technologies, and executive and/or senior management roles at Bruker Nanosurfaces, Soft Machines, Rapport, GarretCom, Media Vision, Pellucid, Jigsaw Informatics, Alchemy Power, Silicon Graphics, MIPS Technologies, Tracor, Atlantic Research and Ford Aerospace.
Smith currently serves as Chairman and CEO of RADX Technologies, Inc. (RADX), a small business, high-tech company that develops COTS, high-performance hardware and software for electronic test and measurement, electronic warfare and related industries.
Prior to his role at RADX, Ross served as VP and GM of the Stylus and Optical Metrology (SOM) Division of Bruker Nanosurfaces.
At Bruker, Ross was responsible for fostering a number of important innovations and products in SOM that enabled the division to achieve new levels of profitability: DektakXT, the world’s highest resolution stylus profilometer; ContourGT, Bruker’s new generation of 64-bit interferometry based nano surface optical profilers; and AcuityXR, the first optical microscopy method to break the diffraction limit to deliver unprecedented resolution in a non-atomic force or electron microscope. AcuityXR received an R&D 100 award in 2011.
Before Bruker, Ross served as president and CEO of Quantum3D, Inc., which he co-founded in 1997. At Quantum3D, Ross was responsible for a number of important innovations in open architecture, real-time visual computing including the first PC-based coin-op/arcade systems, the first PC-based Image Generator for flight, driving, marine and military visual and sensor simulation and training applications (AAlchemy and Independence), the first GPU-equipped wearable/embedded computer (Thermite) and the first immersive, wearable soldier training system (Expedition-DI
Quantum3D was a spin-off from 3dfx, Inc., which Ross also co-founded in 1993 with Scott Sellers, Gary Tarolli and Gordie Campbell. 3dfx, famous for its Voodoo Graphics technology, was the market leader in PC-based 3D graphics for video games. At 3dfx, Ross VP of Sales and Marketing and was responsible for developing and executing the company’s innovative business model that connected the then-popular coin-op arcade market with the consumer via a common 3D graphics software and hardware platform. 3dfx went public in 1997, at which point Ross spun off Quantum3D. 3dfx’ assets were acquired by NVIDIA in 2001. 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics has been cited by PC Magazine, PC Gamer and other journals as the most important development in the history of PC gaming and the second most important innovation in the history of the PC (next to USB).
Before 3dfx, Ross held various management roles in sales, marketing and engineering at several Silicon Valley high-tech and aerospace companies including Media Vision, Pellucid, Silicon Graphics, MIPS Technologies, Tracor, Atlantic Research and Ford Aerospace - dating back to 1983.
Ross has been awarded U.S. patents in various fields and is the recipient of numerous industry awards including the Frost & Sullivan Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation (2007), PC Gamer Top 100 Products of All Time (2009 for Voodoo Graphics - No. 2 PC Gamer Product of All Time) and AcuityXR (R&D-100 2011). Ross currently serves on advisory boards of Colors of Cambodia Art School and Identify3D, Inc.
Ross received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1983