With a combined experience of several hundred years in wireless communications and ASIC design, as well as extensive experience in early stage technology companies, Magnolia’s team possess the necessary experience and dedication to execute its strategy.
The following is a partial list of the experience that exists within
the company.
Osmo Hautanen, CEO
Haim Harel, President
Larry Wasylin, VP Marketing & Sales
Sherwin Wang PhD, VP System Testing
Debbie Weissbard CPA, CFO
Osmo Hautanen, CEO. Mr. Hautanen is a recognized leader in the technology, telecommunications and private equity community with strong experience in managing and organizing operations for major international companies, as well as start-ups. Prior to being named as the CEO, Osmo was nominated as a board member in Magnolia where he provided strategic guidance to the company. Mr. Hautanen will use his extensive management experience and execution know-how to take Magnolia to the next level of commercialization.
Prior to joining Magnolia, Osmo served as the CEO of Fenix LLC, the holding company for Union Pacific Corporation’s extensive portfolio of technology assets, as well as CEO of Denver-based Formus Communications, an international wireless communications company. He also was President of Americas for Philips Consumer Communications group, a joint venture between Philips Electronics and Lucent.
As an 18-year veteran of Nokia, Osmo built a new division for Personal Communications Services in 1994, which lead Nokia’s dominance in the North American handset market. He also served in multi-discipline roles within Nokia and was a member of their Management Board.
Mr. Hautanen holds a BSEE from the Technical College of Varkaus in Finland, as well as a MBA in international business from Georgia State University. He is fluent in Finnish, German and English.
Haim Harel, President. Mr. Harel is a world-class technologist and innovator in wireless communications, and holds a proven track record as a serial entrepreneur. Prior to founding Magnolia Broadband in 2000, Mr. Harel founded Wireless Online in Los Altos, California in 1995 and served as Chairman and CEO until 1999. He has successfully managed dozens of engineers in numerous R&D projects in RF, Microwave, Digital Signal Processing and Software, and has a successful record in developing commercialized products.
In 1991 Mr. Harel founded and served as President & CEO of NEXUS Communications (NASDAQ: NXUSF), a technology company based in Israel that developed an urban radio-location system. Prior to founding Nexus, Mr. Harel was Vice President in Fibronics Ltd., a pioneer in data communications, and before that, a Business Unit manager for in the Electronic Warfare division of Tadiran, Israel, where he managed $30M worth of export projects, delivering sophisticated airborne Elint systems.
Mr. Harel is a graduate of the Technion University and the Tel-Aviv University with a BsEE and MsEE, respectively, and is the author of multiple patents in the communications field.
Larry Wasylin, VP Marketing & Sales.
Mr. Wasylin, who oversees all domestic and international sales efforts for the company, has a record of success introducing RF chipset solutions to the telecommunications market. Larry is renowned for his knowledge and success in targeting and penetrating the high growth markets of Asia and has counted companies like Nokia, Motorola, NTT Do Co Mo and Samsung among his past customers. With extensive experience in start up environments over the past decade, Larry has served in top executive and sales roles working with such companies as TelASIC Communications, Maxima Telecommunications, Sound ID and Zi Corporation.
Mr. Wasylin holds degrees in Marketing and Finance from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Sherwin Wang, PhD, VP System Testing. Dr. Wang has 20 years experience and strong expertise on the wireless and fiber optic communication systems and semiconductor devices. Sherwin plays a major role in the testing & validation of the Magnolia's technology. Prior to joining Magnolia Broadband, he was the Vice President of RF Integrated Corporation, a start-up company for GaAs Power Amplifiers, and the general managers of Wireless LAN Power Amplifier business group. Sherwin also worked in Bell Labs in the area of semiconductor laser development and wireless network systems. He worked as a system engineer and tier-4 customer support on CDMA wireless network and base station. Dr. Wang received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and is a senior member of the IEEE.
Debbie Weissbard CPA, CFO. Debbie has been an employee
of Magnolia since inception. In her role, Debbie is
responsible for all financial matters in the company including, the
preparation of monthly and annual financial statements, monthly budget
analysis and corporate financial transactions.
Ms. Weissbard has more than 20 years experience in the financial field
with particular focus to early stage telecommunication companies. She
also has extensive experience in international financial transactions
as well as transitioning the financial needs of a private to public
corporation
Debbie holds MBA degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
