Aart de Geus

Aart J. de Geus (born 1954) is the co-founder, chairman and co-CEO of Synopsys Inc. He is a fellow of IEEE and a Phil Kaufman Award winner. De Geus graduated with a master's degree in electrical engineering (1978) from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of technology), EPFL, Switzerland followed by a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University, Texas, United States, in 1985.
Recognition and awards.
"Electronic Business" magazine chose De Geus as one of "The 10 Most Influential Executives" of 2002. He was honored for pioneering the commercial logic synthesis market, becoming the third recipient of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Industrial Pioneer Award. Also in 2002, shortly after handling the largest merger in electronic design automation history, De Geus was named CEO of the Year by Electronic Business magazine. In 2004 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year in IT for Northern California by Ernst & Young. De Geus is the recipient of the 2008 Phil Kaufman Award for distinguished contributions to electronic design automation.