Leadership Team
Around the world, SmartDV employs skilled visionaries who seek to challenge and change the way the semiconductor industry thinks about IP. Get to know our team and their unique talents!
SmartDV is privately held and funded by our trio of founders, the Tala family. As the company has grown, so has our leadership team—but from the very beginning, one thing has remained constant: as we continue our global expansion, we place our customers at the heart of each product we develop and every business decision we make.
Deepak Kumar Tala co-founded SmartDV in 2007 on the firm foundation of his more than 25 years of experience in ASIC design, verification, and emulation. As CEO, Deepak guides the direction of the company and continues to take an active role in research and development of our IP. In the early years of his career, he held design and verification engineering roles at companies including Intel, Cortina Systems, HCLTech, and Cisco. Deepak completed his engineering degree at the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. He is based in Bengaluru.
Durga Lakshmi Tala co-founded SmartDV in 2007 and currently serves as director. She has more than 16 years of experience in ASIC verification and board design. In the early years of the company, Durga held a material role in research and development with a focus on automotive IP. In 2014, she shifted her focus to executive management and today oversees business and finance operations at SmartDV’s headquarters in Bengaluru. Durga holds an AMIETE, Electronics & Telecom Engineering, from the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers in New Delhi, India.
Co-founder Kavitha Tala Haridoss serves as a group director at SmartDV. Kavitha brings to the table a background of more than 18 years of engineering experience in ASIC verification, emulation, and SystemC modeling. Our research and development teams look to her for technical leadership in key areas and she also serves as a mentor to our engineering staff. Kavitha holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India.
McKenzie Mortensen Ross is a creative marketer with an instinct for storytelling. Since joining SmartDV in early 2022, her focus has been on curating and updating the company’s brand; developing a new website; and cultivating scalable marketing strategies to accelerate growth. Prior to SmartDV, McKenzie was Director of Corporate Marketing at OneSpin Solutions (acquired by Siemens) and Director of Marketing at IPextreme (acquired by Silvaco). McKenzie holds a BA English: Writing, Rhetoric, and Culture from University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and MA Children’s Literature (Merit) from University of Roehampton, London.
Sergio Marchese has nearly 25 years of experience in electronic chip design and deployment of advanced hardware development solutions across Europe, North America, and Asia. His expertise covers IC design; functional verification; safety standards, including ISO 26262 and DO-254; and detection of hardware Trojans and security vulnerabilities. He is passionate about enabling the next generation of high-integrity chips that underpin the Internet of Things, 5G, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles.
