Board of Directors

The Board oversees the management of Synopsys' business operations, and ensures the long-term interests of Synopsys' stockholders are served. Our Board members bring with them decades of experience in the software, semiconductor, manufacturing and distribution industries. To learn more about committees of the Board of Directors, visit the Board Committees area of this site.

Dr. Aart J. de Geus
Executive Chair & Founder 
Dr. Aart de Geus is a semiconductor industry pioneer of Electronic Design Automation (EDA), which provides the software tools and IP blocks central to designing digital chips. Synopsys, which Aart founded in 1986, initially developed and broadly commercialized logic synthesis which automates the creation of digital designs from language descriptions. This capability transitioned Computer-Aided Design (CAD) into the EDA era by enabling decades of enormous, digital complexity scaling, often referred to as Moore’s Law. Over the ensuing decades of his career at Synopsys, Aart expanded its product offering and market position with unrelenting investments in state-of-the-art R&D and approximately 120 acquisitions. Over the years, Synopsys became the industry leader in EDA and a cornerstone ecosystem company used on virtually every advanced digital chip in the world. While holding many positions in the start-up years of the company, Aart served as CEO from 1994 to 2024.

Aart is a legendary speaker, widely recognized for using visual storytelling to blend technology trends, with the history of semiconductor design, and the shift to systemic complexity, invariably culminating into a motivating vision of an innovative high-tech future. For his pioneering work, industry impact, and community service, Aart has received numerous honors, including Electronic Business Magazine’s “CEO of the Year” (2002) and “Top 10 Most Influential Executives” (2005), the IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal (2007), the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) “Spirit of the Valley” Lifetime Achievement Award (2007), the GSA “Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award” (2009), and an honorary PhD from Glasgow University (2022). 

Aart is active in the business community, serving on the Boards of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESDA), and on the Board of Directors of Applied Materials.  He is also involved in the Synopsys Foundation that he created in 1999, and which, among many things, promotes project-based science and math learning throughout Silicon Valley.

Sassine Ghazi
Sassine Ghazi was appointed to our Board of Directors in August 2023 and assumed the role of Synopsys CEO in January 2024. He joined the company in 1998 as an applications engineer and held a series of sales positions with increasing responsibility, culminating in leadership of worldwide strategic accounts. Mr. Ghazi was then appointed general manager for all digital and custom products, the largest business group in Synopsys. He assumed the role of chief operating officer in August 2020 and was appointed to the role of president in November 2021, leading and driving strategy for all business units, sales and customer success, strategic alliances, marketing and communications at Synopsys. Prior to Synopsys, he was a design engineer at Intel. Mr. Ghazi brings multiple decades of chip design, applications engineering, customer support, sales, and business management experience to Synopsys. He has developed deep customer relationships during his years in sales and has a passion for collaboration and innovation.

Luis Borgen
Luis Borgen has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022. Mr. Borgen served as Chief Financial Officer of athenahealth, Inc., a provider of cloud-based healthcare products and services, from September 2019 to April 2022. Prior to joining athenahealth, Inc., Mr. Borgen served as Chief Financial Officer of Vistaprint from 2017 to 2019, DAVIDsTEA Inc. from 2012 to 2017 and DaVita Inc. from 2010 to 2012. He previously held several financial management positions at Staples Inc., most recently as Senior Vice President, Finance, and served as Captain in the United States Air Force. Mr. Borgen serves on the board of directors of Carters, Inc. and Eastern Bankshares, Inc.

Marc N. Casper
Marc N. Casper has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 2022. Mr. Casper has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a leading life sciences company, since October 2009, and as Chairman of the board of directors since February 2020. Mr. Casper previously served in senior leadership positions at Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. from 2006 to 2009, including as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to the merger creating Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in 2006, Mr. Casper was responsible for all of Thermo Electron Corporation’s operating divisions and held various senior positions within the company. Before joining Thermo Electron Corporation in 2001, Mr. Casper was President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Kendro Laboratory Products. Mr. Casper currently serves on the boards of several non-profits and previously served on the board of U.S. Bancorp from 2016 until 2021.

Janice D. Chaffin
Janice D. Chaffin was appointed to our Board of Directors in December 2014. She held several senior executive positions with Symantec Corporation’s Consumer Business (now Gen Digital Inc.), most recently as Group President, Consumer Business Unit, from April 2007 to March 2013, and previously as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer from 2006 to 2007, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer from 2003 to 2006 and other senior executive positions. Before joining Gen Digital Inc., Ms. Chaffin spent more than twenty years with Hewlett-Packard Company in a variety of management and marketing leadership positions. Ms. Chaffin has served on the board of directors of PTC, Inc. since August 2013 and the board of directors of Informatica Corporation since October 2019. She previously served on the board of directors of International Game Technology from September 2010 to April 2015 and the board of directors of Electronics for Imaging, Inc. from November 2018 to July 2019.

Bruce R. Chizen 
Bruce R. Chizen has been a member of our Board of Directors since April 2001. He is currently an independent consultant and has served as Senior Adviser and PGO Partner with Permira Advisers LLP since July 2008 and June 2018, respectively, and Strategic Advisor with Voyager Capital since July 2009. From November 2007 to November 2008, Mr. Chizen served as a strategic adviser to Adobe Systems Incorporated, a provider of design, publishing and imaging software for print, Internet and dynamic media production. He served as Adobe's President from April 2000 to January 2005, as its Chief Executive Officer from December 2000 to November 2007, and as a member of its board of directors from December 2000 to April 2008. He previously held various other positions at Adobe dating back to 1994. Mr. Chizen has served on the board of directors of Oracle Corporation since July 2008, ChargePoint Holdings Inc. since November 2014 and Informatica Corporation since August 2015.

Mercedes Johnson
Mercedes Johnson has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2017. Ms. Johnson previously served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Intersil Corporation from April 2013 to September 2013, Chief Financial Officer of Avago Technologies, Inc. from 2005 to 2008, and Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Lam Research Corporation from 1997 to 2004. Ms. Johnson currently serves on the board of directors of Analog Devices, Inc. and Teradyne, Inc., and has previously served as a board member for a number of public companies, including Intersil Corporation, Juniper Networks, Inc., Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., Micron Technology, Inc., Millicom International Cellular S.A. and Storage Technology Corporation.
 

Robert G. Painter
Robert G. Painter was appointed to our Board of Directors in August 2023. Mr. Painter has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Trimble Inc., a global, industrial technology company, and on Trimble’s board of directors since January 2020. He previously served as Trimble’s Chief Financial Officer from 2016 to 2019 and in several other leadership positions since joining Trimble in 2006. Prior to joining Trimble, Mr. Painter served in a variety of leadership positions at Cenveo, Rapt Inc., Bain & Company, Whole Foods Market and Kraft Foods.
 

Jeannine P. Sargent
Jeannine P. Sargent was appointed to our Board of Directors in August 2020. She has served as a Senior Advisor at Generation Investment Management LLP, an investment firm focused on sustainable companies, since November 2017. She has also served as a Senior Advisor and Venture Partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures since December 2018. Ms. Sargent held multiple leadership roles at Flex Ltd., a leading contract design, engineering and manufacturing company, including President of Innovation and New Ventures, from January 2012 to October 2017. Prior to joining Flex, she was Chief Executive Officer at both Oerlikon Solar AG, a thin-film silicon solar photovoltaic module manufacturer, and Voyan Technology, an embedded systems software provider. Ms. Sargent currently serves on the board of directors of Fortive Corporation since February 2019. Ms. Sargent was also previously a director at Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital and Proterra Inc. 

John G. Schwarz
John G. Schwarz has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 2007. Mr. Schwarz was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Visier Inc., a business analytics software firm, from May 2010 to May 2020, and he currently serves as its Chairman of the Board. Mr. Schwarz previously served on the executive board of SAP AG from March 2008 to February 2010. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Business Objects S.A. (Business Objects), a provider of business intelligence software and services, from September 2005 through its acquisition by SAP in January 2008, and he served as the Chief Executive Officer of SAP's Business Objects unit through February 2010. Mr. Schwarz served on Business Objects’ board of directors from January 2006 until its acquisition in January 2008. He has also served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Symantec Corporation (now Gen Digital Inc.) and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Reciprocal Inc. Mr. Schwarz previously spent 25 years at IBM Corporation, where he was most recently General Manager of IBM's Industry Solutions Unit. Mr. Schwarz has served as a director at Teradata Corporation since September 2010 and previously as a director at Avast PLC from December 2011 to September 2022, including as Chairman from 2014 until September 2022 when it completed its merger with NortonLifeLock, Inc. (now Gen Digital Inc.).

Roy Vallee
Roy Vallee has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2003. From July 2011 to November 2012, Mr. Vallee served as Executive Chairman of the board of directors of Avnet, Inc., a global semiconductor/electronics products and IT distributor. From June 1998 to July 2011, Mr. Vallee served as Avnet's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors. Mr. Vallee also previously served as Avnet's Vice Chairman, President, and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Vallee served on the board of directors of Teradyne, Inc. from February 2000 until May 2021, and as Chairman of the board of directors from May 2014 to May 2021. Mr. Vallee also served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from January 2013 to December 2016, and as Chairman of the board of directors from January 2015 to December 2016.