The Immersion Team

Mr. Victor Viegas, President and Chief Executive Officer

Viegas joined Immersion as Chief Financial Officer in 1999, was part of the team that took the company public, and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in 2002. Under Viegas’s leadership the company built a strong intellectual property portfolio with a deep and defensible position in haptics today with over 900 patents granted or pending. The company successfully defended its portfolio in two high profile cases, netting in excess of $150 M for the company. The company invested in markets and technologies organically and through several acquisitions that have become long-term growth opportunities, and Viegas steered the company to profitability in 2007. He retired in early 2008 and returned to the active leadership role in October 2009. Prior to Immersion, Viegas served as Chief Financial Officer of Macrovision Corporation, a developer and licensor of video and software copy protection technologies. From 1986 to 1996, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Balco Incorporated, a manufacturer of advanced automotive service equipment. He holds a B.S. in Accounting and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Mr. Shum Mukherjee, Chief Financial Officer

Shum Mukherjee joined Immersion as Chief Financial Officer in May of 2010. Prior to joining Immersion, Shum served as EVP and CFO of OpenTV where he managed accounting and reporting, strategic planning and analysis, treasury, tax, audit, investor relations, facilities, IT and program management. Prior to joining OpenTV, Shum served as EVP and CFO at Genus, Inc., a semiconductor equipment company then publicly-traded on NASDAQ, responsible for finance, IT and operations. Before that, he served as VP, Finance and Corporate Controller for E*Trade Group, as well as CFO for E*Trade International. In addition, Mukherjee also served in various financial roles for Raychem Corporation, including Worldwide Group Controller. Shum holds a Masters degree in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, a Masters in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Bachelor's degree from St. Xavier's College, India.

Ms. Janice Passarello, Vice President, Human Resources

Janice Passarello joined Immersion in July 2007 and is responsible for all human resources strategies, programs, and services. Previously, she held human resources management positions at Harmonic, Microsoft, Trimble Navigation, and Quantum. She has a bachelor’s degree in social science/human resources management from California Polytechnic State University and certifications in several human resources areas.

Ms. Anne Marie Peters, Vice President, Legal

Amie Peters joined Immersion in December 2008. Previously, she was corporate associate, then corporate partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP and diagnostic manufacturing associate, then diagnostic manufacturing supervisor at Chiron Corporation. She has a bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley; an MBA from the University of California Davis Graduate School of Management; and a JD degree from the University of California Davis School of Law. Peters was admitted to the California State Bar in 1999.

Dr. Christophe Ramstein, Chief Technology Officer

As Chief Technology Officer at Immersion, Christophe Ramstein leads the company’s global research and development with a focus on haptic innovation, as well as the future of user experience and user value. Passionate about user experience and its virtually unlimited potential, Ramstein, with over 15 years experience in haptics and multimodal technology, promotes Haptics as the cornerstone of the next generation of user interfaces. During his tenure at Immersion, Ramstein has held several positions, including director of software development, vice president of Engineering, and senior vice president of Research and Engineering. Before joining Immersion in 2000, Ramstein co-founded Haptic Technologies Inc, a leading-edge award-winning haptics company, and was also the chief architect. Prior to that, Ramstein was the senior scientist at Industry Canada and created innovative user interfaces for astronauts and the visually-impaired, investigating the use of non-visual modalities, learning schemes, and artificial neural networks. Ramstein is both an author and co-author of numerous haptic patents, as well as a number of papers on haptics and multimodal user interfaces. He holds a Master’s degree from the Institute Joseph Fourier as well as a PhD in Applied Mathematics for real-time physical modeling, simulation, gesture analysis, and composition for musical creation from the Polytechnic Institute in France.

Ms. Jennifer Stagnaro, Vice President, Global Marketing

Jennifer Stagnaro joined Immersion in March 2009 and is responsible for Global Marketing. A veteran technology marketing executive and serial entrepreneur, Stagnaro has more than 20 years experience in category creation and bringing new innovative products to market. Prior to Immersion, she was vice president of marketing at Audience, an innovator in advanced noise suppression in the mobile phone market, where she launched the company, brand and products, establishing it as the leader in a new category. She has also served as vice president of marketing at audio speaker innovator Tymphany and IP telephone provider ShoreTel. In addition, she was CMO at voice over DSL pioneer, CopperCom. Previously, she led corporate marketing at Madge Networks, helped create the data warehousing market with Red Brick Systems, and has held marketing and engineering positions at both Oracle and Procter and Gamble. Stagnaro holds an AB in Engineering from Harvard University.

Mr. Craig Vachon, Senior Vice President and General Manager

G. Craig Vachon is Senior Vice President and General Manager, responsible for accelerating deployment and helping achieve ubiquity of Immersion’s haptic technologies across the medical, mobile, automotive, consumer electronics, gaming, and industrial/commercial markets worldwide. Vachon joined Immersion in September 2008. Prior to Immersion, he held leadership positions at major mobile operators, as well as software, services, and technology licensing companies. Most recently, he was CEO and president of Varatouch Technology, an intellectual property components and software company focused on human input devices for hand-held consumer electronics. Before Varatouch, he was CEO and chairman of Sirenic, Inc., a mobile information access software company. Earlier in his career, Vachon was chief operating office of Nextel International Japan; business development director of AT&T Wireless Services, International; vice president of sales and marketing of Birla AT&T Communications in India, and director of new product development, marketing, and sales of AT&T Wireless Services (formerly McCaw Cellular). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication and a master’s degree in Business Communication, both from Emerson College.