About Us

     -> Team

Robert C. Walker, Ph.D

General Partner

Robert@YEBY.org

Dr. Walker is a Principal at Sierra Ventures, a private venture capital firm focusing its investments in Information Technology companies.  Sierra Ventures manages more than $1.5 billion of committed capital.

Prior to Sierra, he was CEO of BridgeLux, a high power LED lighting company, from 2005-2007, and served on its Board of Directors from 2004.  In 2003 Dr. Walker founded YEBY Associates, a Silicon Valley-based consultancy specializing in the Solid State Lighting industry, and continues to serve as a Principal there.  From 2001 - 2004 he was Managing Director-USA of Vincera Ventures, a US$150M venture capital fund based in Taiwan with several investments in the areas of LEDs and compound semiconductors.  During his 8 years at EMCORE Corporation, a leading provider of MOCVD equipment to the compound semiconductor industry, he held a variety of sales and marketing positions, including General Manager, Pacific Rim.

Dr. Walker received his Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech in 1989 and a triple major in math, physics and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984.  He has traveled extensively throughout the Pacific Rim region, and has been involved with the HB LED industry in Taiwan, Korea and China since its inception.

Ella Feiyen Shum

General Partner

Ella@YEBY.org

Ms. Shum was the Vice President and Chief of Staff of BroadVision Inc. While at Emcore Corporation, she was Director of Corporate Development and Managing Director of the R&D Lab. She has more than 10 years of sales and marketing experience at Sun Microsystems and Hewlett Packard Inc.

Ms. Shum received her MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and her B.Sc. from Imperial College, University of London. She is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Daniel Dongwook Noh, Ph. D.

General Partner

Danny@YEBY.org

Dr. Noh was General Manager of Asia Pacific's Compound Semiconductor Division of Veeco Instruments, formerly Emcore Corporation, a leading provider of MOCVD equipment.  During his 16 year tenure, he was primarily responsible for all Asia-Pacific business in the HB LED industry, including Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan.  He has more than 20 years of experience in compound semiconductors and has established strong customer relationships with the regional leaders of the industry.

Dr. Noh received his PH. D. in Materials Science from Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey and his B.S. from Han Yang University, Korea.  He is a Korean native and speaks Japanese and Chinese.

Alan Thompson, Ph. D.

Principal

Alan@YEBY.org

Dr. Thompson had worldwide marketing and sales responsibilities at Emcore Corporation for tools and materials addressing the LED, laser diode and electronic device markets, prior to becoming an independent consultant in 2002.  He previously held management positions at companies in the compound semiconductor equipment, materials and device arena, including Hewlett Packard, Fairchild Semiconductor, Applied Materials and Boeing, working in manufacturing, engineering, product management and marketing.  His consulting work has included contributions to market surveys, due diligence for venture capitalists and advice for financial analysts and fund managers covering the LED space.  He also serves as Senior Technical Editor for CompoundSemi Online and LIGHTimes Online.

Anita N. Draa, Ph. D.

Principal

Anita@YEBY.org

Dr. Draa was a Senior Business Development Manager at Cubic Corporation where she focused on business relationships and opportunities in California.  Prior to that she was an Account Manager at Emcore Corp. and a Product Manager at Lam Research Corp.  She has almost 10 years of sales and marketing experience in the semiconductor industry and government contracting.

Dr. Draa received her Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University and her B. A. in Chemistry from Swarthmore.