Board of Directors

Primit is the President and CEO of Transphorm, a pioneer and leader in GaN power semiconductors. Having led Transphorm to a public company listing in partnership with its phenomenal team, he is passionate about creating value from the intersection of business and technology. With over 20 years of semiconductor and entrepreneurial experience, his background includes capital raises, international markets and strategic partnerships, key customer relationships, products and manufacturing, IP, GaN semiconductor technology, and government contracting. Prior to co-founding Transphorm, Primit led GaN electronics at Nitres Inc. through its acquisition by Cree, where he served as the head of Advanced Technology at Cree SBTC in charge of GaN development and government business. Primit received his B.Tech. in EE from IIT, Mumbai and his Ph.D. in ECE from UCSB. He has been awarded more than 40 patents and has co-authored more than 75 publications and presentations. He is blessed to reside in the amazing Santa Barbara area with his wonderful family.

Umesh serves as Transphorm's CTO and Board Chair. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the company, as well as customer relationships and technology. Prior to co-founding Transphorm in 2007, Umesh co-founded Nitres Inc. in 1996 - the first company to develop GaN LEDs and transistors. Nitres was acquired by Cree in 2000. Umesh was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 and received the IEEE David Sarnoff Award for "The Development of Gallium Nitride Electronics". He is also Professor Above-Scale (the highest academic rank in the University of California system) in the ECE Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he has been a director of several GaN research centers.

Eiji Yatagawa joined KKR in 2006 and is a Member on the Private Equity team. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was an associate in Goldman Sachs & Co.’s investment banking team from 2002 to 2006. Mr. Yatagawa currently serves on the board of directors of several privately-held companies. He holds a B.S. in Mathematical Engineering and an M.S. in Mathematical Engineering from the University of Tokyo.

Julian Humphreys has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, including 20 years specifically with power semiconductors. From February 2017 to April 2019, Dr. Humphreys was a senior vice president and general manager at Nexperia B.V. From June 2010 to January 2017, Dr. Humphreys was a vice president and general manager with Nexperia’s predecessor, the NXP Semiconductors Standard Products Division of NXP Semiconductors N.V. Dr. Humphreys was also the managing director of Nexperia UK Ltd., and its predecessor entity NXP Semiconductors UK Ltd., from September 2011 to March 2019. He holds a B.Eng. degree in electronics and a Ph.D. in semiconductor physics, both from the University of Liverpool.

With over 30 years of government service, Katharina McFarland is widely recognized as a leading subject-matter expert on government procurement. Ms. McFarland has served as the president of Blue Oryx Inc., a consulting services firm, since January 2017. She serves as Chair of the Board of Army Research and Development at the National Academies of Science and as a director of Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: VORB), Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAIC), the Procurement Round Table, and Exyn Technologies. Ms. McFarland was a director of Engility Holdings, Inc. from June 2017 until its acquisition by SAIC in January 2019. Ms. McFarland also serves on the Advisory Boards of Anduril Industries, Cypress International Senior Strategy Group, and Sehlke Consulting. She was previously the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition (2012 to 2017) and acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology) (2016 to 2017). She was President of the Defense Acquisition University from 2010 to 2012, and Director of Acquisition, Missile Defense Agency from 2006 to 2010. Ms. McFarland is an accredited Materials, Mechanical, Civil and Electronics Engineer. She has received the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Department of the Navy Civilian Tester of the Year Award, and the Navy and United States Marine Corps Commendation Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service. Ms. McFarland brings substantial experience with the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Army, and Intelligence Community procurement with a focus on Space applications, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber, and IT technologies in defense acquisition, program management, logistics and technology. Ms. McFarland holds a B.Sc. degree in engineering from Queen’s University, a master’s degree in program management from the Program Management Institute, and an honorary doctoral degree in engineering from Cranfield University.

Kelly Smales has over 30 years of experience working as a certified public accountant, including with multiple semiconductor companies. From May 2015 to March 2017, she was the chief financial officer at KnuEdge Inc. (formerly Intellisis), a machine learning hardware and software company. From November 2011 to May 2015, Ms. Smales was the chief financial officer for Advanced Nanotechnology Solutions Inc., a semiconductor manufacturing start-up company. Ms. Smales holds a B.S. degree in accounting from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago.

Cynthia (Cindi) Moreland has over 30 years of experience working as an attorney within the technical field, including fifteen years as a general counsel, and over 20 years as a chief compliance officer. Since April 2021, she has served as the general counsel of Care.com, an online marketplace for various care services and a subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IAC). From March 2017 to April 2021, Ms. Moreland served as senior vice president and general counsel for IAC Applications, an operating business within IAC/InterActiveCorp that included the Mosaic Group, the mobile application division of IAC/InterActiveCorp. From February 2016 to March 2017, she served as an independent strategic advisor to various law firm and business clients. Ms. Moreland holds a B.A. degree in English as well as a J.D. from the University of Mississippi.