Philippe Yaconelli

Philippe Yaconelli has been an active Silicon Valley entrepreneur since 1967 having started and run several capital-intensive high tech companies.

 Yac (as he likes to be called) served as the CEO of his operations.  Two of the better known companies he founded were Caelus Memories which grew under his leadership to employ 1000 individuals and was a leader in its chosen field (rigid disk technology) and Caere Corporation which was listed on the NASDAQ for many years and was also a leader in its chosen field (Scanning and OCR Technology).  

Bob Noyce , who was Chairman of Intel at the time Yac started Caere, was also the Chairman of Caere.

 Yac has served on many boards and helped others fund and/or strategize their organizations.  

 In his career  - Yac has also had to place one firm into Chapter 7 and took another thru a DIP into/out of 11.  He has seen all sides of the "Success Equation!"

 Yac also served as a Corporate VP of Marketing which included Sales in a Fortune 500 Company.

 Over the years he has been a speaker at several West Coast universities and business gatherings. 

 He is a BSME graduate of USC and has attended  graduate school.  Additionally he completed a two year business course and a one year Dun & Bradstreet Financial program + numerous clinics and programs relative to Entrepreneurial endeavors.  

 His many hobbies over the years have included aerobatic flying (he had his own special built open place aerobatic plane built), martial arts (Yac and his three sons are lifetime students in a variety of martial arts systems) and all are active fitness buffs.  Jazz Piano Playing is another of Yac’s passions and he has studied both classical as well as jazz piano for years.

 Yac considers himself a lifelong  “student of business.”