Board of Directors
Yan Hui
Founder, Chairman and Chief Technical Advisor
Yan Hui is the founder of AirHop Communications and served as its CEO from the inception until December 2023. He now serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Advisor. His vision and insight into technological trends led him to recognize early that the future of the wireless industry would be shaped by software and network automation. AirHop has achieved several significant industry firsts under Yan’s leadership, including commercialization of real-time Self-Organized Network (SON) and deployment of AI/Machine Learning RAN optimization use cases in a real network. He led AirHop’s transformation from a three-person founding team to a dynamic and thriving operational software solution company.
Yan has 20 years of wireless communications industry experience in technology and product development, corporate strategy and operations, product marketing and business development. Prior to AirHop, he established and managed 3G advanced R&D organization at Texas Instruments, developing innovative core system IPs for 3G wireless products. Yan also chaired the TI wireless patent committee and led the company’s wireless standardization activities. Yan held various management and engineering positions at Nortel Networks, Dot Wireless and served on the advisory board for ECE Department at University of Wisconsin, Madison.
He has more than 30 patents granted or pending and a number of IEEE publications. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Tianjin University, China and a MSEE degree from UW – Madison.
Perry LaForge
Board Member
Perry has worked with high-tech firms for over 40 years, is known for growing companies, building business partnerships and being a driving force behind the expansion of wireless communications.
Perry is a Board member and interim CMO/COO at CyberLucent, an innovator in AI supported network connectivity and security approaches for operators such as Verizon, American Movil, Claro, etc. He is also the Executive Chairman of Fotobom Media Inc, which he helped develop with a team out of Stanford University and other wireless industry leaders and is a Board member at AirHop Communications, which is a leader in 5G architecture for open ran and is deployed by operators around the world.
Perry is best known for being instrumental in Qualcomm’s launch in the 1980s through the 2000s and the introduction of CDMA, 3G/4G LTE digital cellular. There he secured initial funding for Qualcomm, developed the first wireless markets, built manufacturer support and led the standardization and evolution of 3G/4G. He developed much of the strategy to expand CDMA worldwide, and drove vendors such as Samsung and LG to enter the wireless marketplace. As a part of this effort he drove the expansion of key operators such as SK Telecom (Korea), China Telecom and Unicom, and Reliance (India) among others. His work has been chronicled in the book, “The Qualcomm Equation” and in numerous case studies. In 1993 he founded the CDG, an association of 200 plus wireless operators and manufacturers to evolve wireless technology. CDG introduced pioneering concepts such as mobile packet data, 3G, 4G, mobile GPS, over-the-air activation, etc. He retired from CDG in 2013, after having fulfilled the mission of spreading CDMA related technologies worldwide, to every continent.
He founded InOvate, a venture fund backed by Sequoia, Charles River Ventures, Cisco and others, inCode Telecom Group (sold to Verisign), co-founded Kodiak Networks (sold to Motorola Solutions) and was a seed investor and advisor/board member in FiberTower (IPO), Twitter (IPO), Danger (sold to Microsoft); Signalsoft (sold to Openwave), Bitfone (sold to HP), WiChorus ( sold to Tellabs), AdsNative (native advertising sold to Walmart), Katai (360 video company) and AirHop. Perry also grew the management consulting firm of PRTM where he was a managing director (sold to PWC for $350M). He retired from PRTM in 2001, after 18 yrs.
Perry participates in committees, keynotes and moderates panels at conferences worldwide, and works with governments to develop telecom policies. He lectures in educational forums (e.g., Kellogg, Dartmouth, FCC, etc), writes columns and appears on broadcast interviews (CNN, CNBC, etc.) about the wireless industry. He was listed on numerous occasions, in one case three years in a row, as one of the most influential people in the wireless industry.
He has a bachelor of Engineering degree (magna cum laude) from Santa Clara University and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
John McDonough
Board Member
John is CEO/CTO of Orca Systems, a privately held fabless semiconductor company providing RF SoCs and ASICs for low power terrestrial and satellite networks, including the ORC3990 which was used to demonstrate the World’s First Indoor, Direct-to-Satellite IoT Connection.
John has over 40 years of experience in the wireless industry where he has held operational and strategic roles. John was founder and CEO of Shorthand Mobile, a privately held mobile application company providing the first “SMS browser”. John has served as a venture partner with iSherpa Capital, a Venture Capital Fund with a focus on the wireless sector and supporting technologies. John was GM of the CDMA Chipset Business Unit of Texas Instrument and was also a Distinguished Member of the Technical staff and directed the development of TI’s first WCDMA chip. John joined TI as a result of TI’s $475M acquisition of Dot Wireless in 2000, which John co-founded, and where he was VP of Engineering and a Director. Prior to Dot Wireless, John was Director of Engineering at NextWave Telecom where he was responsible for CDMA chipset development and an Engineering Manager at QUALCOMM, Inc., where he led the development of QUALCOMM’s proprietary DSP solutions.
In addition to being an investor and Director of AirHop, John has served on the advisory board for several companies. John holds a Master of Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, has completed the Executive Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and is a named inventor on more than 40 issued patents, primarily in the area of wireless communications and systems.
Adrian R. Nemcek
Board Member
Adrian is a luminary of the wireless industry with a stellar career that has spanned 36 years. Most recently, Adrian was President of the Motorola Networks business from January 2005 until his retirement in March 2006. Adrian expanded the scope of the Motorola Networks business to provide cellular radio access, IP networks, telco wireline access, WiMAX wireless access platforms, embedded communications and computer platforms, as well as providing customers with a services and applications management business focused in these areas. Prior to heading the Networks business, from August 2002 to December 2004, he served as Executive Vice President and led global sales and strategy functions for the Motorola Cellular Networks business following five years in Europe leading the GSM Systems business.
Adrian’s experience spans both the cellular and Private Mobile Radio (PMR) markets. He has successfully led product development for several generations of handheld and infrastructure communications products. Adrian ’s leadership spanned new technology development, supply chain, marketing and worldwide business line management. He currently serves on the HP Communications, Multi-Media and Entertainment Board of Advisors, the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Board of Trustees, and the Auburn University Wireless Board of Advisors. He served as a Director of Ip Unity Corp. and Movius Interactive Corporation.
Adrian R. Nemcek holds a Bachelor Of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Loyola University of Chicago.
Stephen Diamond
Board Member
Stephen is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of CloudScale Capital Partners where he invests in growth-stage Companies at the forefront of Digital Transformation and the Cloud. He has over 25 years of global Venture Capital, Private Equity, Marketing, Strategy and Corporate Development experience in the Mobile, Enterprise, Internet, AI, Cloud, 5G Telecom, Edge Software and Networking sectors. Prior to CloudScale, Stephen was a General Partner and Head of the Technology investment practice at Sprout Group, a $3 Billion Venture Capital and Private Equity affiliate of DLJ and Credit Suisse. At Sprout, he led deals at all stages with successful exits including two IPOs and seven M&A events, earning a DLJ Super Achiever award. Before joining Sprout, he was Group VP and Worldwide Research Director at Dataquest/Gartner Group where he built and managed the largest industry analyst team covering the global Communications industry. Stephen was CEO of Reef Point Systems, a provider of carrier-class security solutions acquired by GenBand. He also held Senior Executive positions at Retix, Ungermann-Bass, and Chipcom.
In additions, Stephen has served on the Boards of numerous public and private companies including roles as Chairman and as a member of the audit committee. He earned a BA in Political Science and Environmental Science from Boston College, an MS in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University and an MPA in Public Administration from Northeastern University. Stephen also completed the Stanford Executive Institute Program for the Management of High Technology Companies at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
