Meet The Team
Meet the Team
Dan Nilsson • CEO, Chairman of the Board. Founder X-Silicon
Dan Nilsson is an experienced executive with a diverse background in the technology industry, boasting over 25 years of C-suite leadership and entrepreneurial success. With a focus on semiconductor, artificial intelligence & graphics rendering , telecommunications, consumer devices, and more, Dan has held senior positions at S & P 500 companies such as AMD, ATI, Qualcomm, and Thundercomm. He has been a leading member of Teams that have developed & launched successful semiconductor commercial ASIC Chipsets with shipments in the in the Billions of Units As a founding member of successful startups like ONChannel (acquired) and Redwave, he has shown proficiency in raising capital, building organizations, delivering products, and driving revenue growth. Dan excels in technical and strategic solutions for Fortune 500 clients, with a strong track record in executive management, business development, sales, product marketing, and engineering activities.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrnilsson/
Steven Turner • VP Strategic Partnerships. Founder X-Silicon
I am an engineering/business leader with over 25 years of high-tech product development experience. Working at AMD and Qualcomm I have a proven track record in creating compelling consumer products (Mobile Devices, IP. Applications, ASICs)
I am passionate about building energized, flexible teams from start-up phase to larger global organizations and focus on delivering value to our customers.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-turner-8117437/
Atif Zafar • Chief Scientist and Board Member. Founder X-Silicon
Dr. Atif Zafar has had a 30 year interest and involvement in computer graphics. He invented the RV64X ISA graphics extension to RISC-V that went viral in 2021/2022. He co-founded X-Silicon in order to bring that technology to market, disrupting the traditional GPU shader core architecture with full CPU functionality, with applications in AI, embedded 3d graphics, virtual and augmented reality, IOT and embedded applications. He holds several key patents in the compute-in-memory space and is developing an additional 14 patents for X-Silicon.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/atif-zafar/
Colin McKellar • VP Engineering
Nearly 30 years of experience for Imagination Technologies, Sony and now X-Silicon. Strong background in engineering execution, including key deliverables into the GPU for the iPhone. An inspirational technology leader who is focused on delivering exceptional products for X-Silicon.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colin-mckellar-1698a85
Graham Deacon • VP Business Development
Over 35 years in the Electronics and Semiconductor industry focusing on Media, Visual, Compute and AI technologies.
Previously with Imagination Technologies and Videologic
Graham spent 25 years in engineering management driving GPU development teams and GPU/Video verification platform development before moving to commercial activities to take the expertise in Engineering and use it to build stronger customer relationship and trust and drive stronger business growth.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-deacon-b1532074
Larry Polizzotto • CFO & COO
Versatile and strategic global Finance, GM, President, Operations and S&P executive with experience crafting business vision, delivering commercial success, and advising C-Suite leaders and BOD. Results-driven strategic problem solver proven to pioneer new ventures, transform businesses and build teams and operations. Broad operational and financial skills across S&P 500 (Dell, Honeywell, First Solar, IBM), VC start-ups (HZO, X-Silicon, TruTag, Local Motors), PE owned (UTI, Shutterfly, Nammo). IT, semiconductor, AI, SaaS, e-commerce,
https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrypolizzotto
ADVISORY BOARD
Jon Peddie • Advisor & Graphics Pioneer.
President Jon Peddie Research, Most respected Computer and Graphics Analyst
Dr. Peddie is a well-recognized in the graphics industry. President of Jon Peddie Research, he has been named one of the world’s most influential analysts. He lectures at industry conferences and at universities about graphics technology and emerging trends in digital media. As an advisor, Jon will help evangelize X-Silicon technology at conferences and with partners. He will also help influence key industry stakeholders to build our ecosystem.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpeddie/
Eric Powers • Advisor & Digital Exec. X-Silicon Founder
Sr. Machine Learning Engineer at Dreamworks. Ex: Onchannel, Disney, Giant AI, Mighty Ant Dataworks.
Eric is a seasoned software architect, familiar with film animation, entertainment, cloud-based graphics, gaming and machine-learning/AI technologies. He is currently pioneering machine learning at DreamWorks Animation. Previously, as Technical Supervisor of Development at Walt Disney Feature Animation, he transformed their studio into a fully digital 3D studio. Eric will help guide our AR/VR and cloud implementations for automotive/AI, entertainment, and film animation markets
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrericpowers/
Jim Edson • Advisor Business Dev
Ex. VP Arm, Qualcomm, Itron, Motorola, and various start-ups.
James Edson is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of driving business growth, innovation, and strategic sales initiatives. With extensive experience in both large multinationals and early-stage ventures, Edson has a demonstrated ability to navigate complex business landscapes and identify opportunities for growth. He has held expatriate executive positions for a number of iconic tech companies in the U.S., Japan, south Asia and Latin America.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimedson/
Alec Gefrides • Advisor for Strategy/Markets
Alec Gefrides began his engineering career at Siemens Medical Systems. After spending eight years with various Siemens divisions—five of those in Germany—he joined Intel in the Munich sales office. Eventually, Alec returned to the U.S., working in product and strategic planning with a focus on Desktop, Mobile, and Wireless products. After 26 years at Intel, he retired as Vice President of the Network and Edge Group. As a VP & GM within the Network & Edge Group, Alec was responsible for $2B in revenue.
Since retiring in 2023, Alec has become an Angel Investor with Arizona Tech Investors and serves as an Advisory Board Member for multiple Start-Ups. Those start-up include: ByteTrail, a Dallas-based startup focused on IoT security for endpoints. DataUnite, a San Jose based startup focused on federated learning. Joining X-Silicon advisory board – allows his extensive experience as an ideal advisor on the challenges of bringing AI to end users.
Ex. VP Intel Network & Edge Group, Siemens.