NOVICA MRDOVIC VIANELLO

Novica Mrdovic Vianello

General Partner, Star Tech Ventures

Member

Milan

Public Speaker for Leaders First Event: Entrepreneurs First (Milan) Jun 10, 2019

Technology Executive

Novica has more than 20 years of Europe, the US, Russia & China working and living experience in hi-tech industries.
Expertise in: Investment, Merger & Acquisition, Management of Global Companies, Business Development, Manufacturing, R&D, Startup situations, Organizational & Process re-engineering, Direct & Indirect Sales & Marketing, Operations, Product Management including designing & repositioning product offerings to drive market, revenues & earnings growth, outsourcing.
- Male, Born September 5th, 1972, Italian and Serbian Citizenship, Married, 2 children
- Fluent in Italian, English, Serbian and Russian; basic French and Latin

Professional Experience

- Star Tech Ventures, VC Fund General Partner, from Oct 2018
- Angel Investor, invested in 6 companies
- NeoPhotonics Corporation (NYSE: NPTN), Nov 2006 – 2018
Vice President and Managing Director EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa): Responsible for Operations, R&D, M&A, S&M and Sourcing in the region; for the opening of the first European Manufacturing plant (in Moscow, Russia), European R&D offices, and Sales offices in EMEA and Shanghai. Led successful implementation of volume manufacturing operations in EMEA. I created new high-end R&D groups developing advanced hi-speed products. Convincing & credible communicator & motivator with high standards for Ethics & Integrity; Cultural & Market Savvy

  • Sr. Director of Sales EMEA: Responsible for growth of NeoPhotonics sales from $5M to $90M in the region and opening of Sales offices in Italy, Germany, France, Israel and Russia. Managing Teams based in EMEA, China and USA.
- JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU, today Lumentum Holidings NASDAQ: LITE), January 2001 – November 2006
  • Datacom Sales Manager EMEA: Responsible for Global Tier-1 customers’ relationship. Reached 78% of SAM spending of market leading customer and constant pipe of new design-wins, of which some are still bringing millions of revenue. I was able to determine organizations’ needs in order to define & deliver appropriate solutions in a timely manner
  • Business Development Manager EMEA: Introduction of new products; Merger & Acquisition for EMEA region
  • Product Engineer EMEA: R&D and Engineering implemented to fiber-optics customers. Part of R&D Team in Florida 
- Tecon, April 2000 – January 2001
  • Field Applications Engineer: FAE at Tier-1 customers for fiber-optics and optoelectronics. Key design-wins with Tier-1s   
- Sistel, November 1999 – April 2000 (acquired by Tecon)
  • R&D Engineer: Application Engineering at Tier-1 customers for fiber-optics. Development of custom R&D solutions
- Grossoptic, January 1998 – November 1999
  • Operations Manager: Managing of the Optics Business Unit including Manufacturing. Increased throughput 3 times
  • Product Line Manager: PLM Responsibilities for Thin Film Filters. Set-up of new line and ramp up. Still running
  • Program Management: Design of new optical products; Optics equipment sourcing. New Products Intrduction and design


Education

University of Pennsylvania, USA, Wharton Executive Education
  • Venture Capital Program, 2018
University of Massachusetts, USA, UMass Amherst, Isenberg School of Management
  • Master in Business Administration (MBA), 4 years formal education, started in 2006, graduated in 2010
University of Belgrade, Serbia, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Optoelectronics & Laser Engineering.
  • Post-graduating studies (MScEE), 2.5 years formal education, started in 1996, graduated in 1999 with honours. Major (MSc Master Thesis) – Methods and Techniques for Laser Beam Control 
  • University studies (BScEE), 5 years formal education, started in 1991, graduated in 1996 (prior term) with honours. Major (BSc Diploma Thesis) – Optical Methods for Information Processing.

Other

  • Independent Director at the Board of Directors of the public corporation GTE Galeb 2008 to 2010
  • Member of Rotary International from 2003
  • Active in sports: tennis and snowboarding

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