Management

Robert Yamashita

Managing Director – Innovation and Strategy

Mr. Yamashita is a Co-Founder and Managing Director and leads Innovation Services. Robert is focused on strategic advisory services, alliances, and engagement management, specializing in corporate strategy, technology monetization, and corporate development.

Before Cogentic, Mr. Yamashita was most recently an Associate Partner at IBM, where he drove over $20M in strategic engagements deploying IBM’s Watson Artificial Intelligence platform. Robert led initiatives that generated over $300M incremental revenue for Sony and doubled revenue in one year while VP of Strategy at THX (Lucasfilm). Mr. Yamashita also led business units for many successful startups, including C-Cube Microsystems (acquired by LSI Logic for $878M), Cypress Semiconductor (acquired by Infineon for $10B), and DivX Inc ($165M IPO).

Robert holds a B.S. with Honors in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology and has recently focused on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Mr. Yamashita holds Series 7 and 63 securities licenses.

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Glen Anderson

Managing Director – Investment and Capital Markets

Mr. Anderson is a Co-Founder and Managing Director and leads Investment Services. Glen oversees Cogentic’s investment advisory services, including managing relationships with capital providers. Glen is also President and CEO of Rainmaker Securities, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer providing private securities advisory and investment transaction services.

With three decades of proven excellence, Glen is a seasoned institutional equities professional, holding roles at Oppenheimer & Co and Jeffries & Co, focusing on public companies in the mobile device, telecom infrastructure, enterprise networking, and digital media sectors. Before investment banking, Glen worked in the European venture capital industry and the Chicago hedge fund industry. Glen has additionally been a technology and organizational strategy consultant to organizations such as the New York Stock Exchange, Sprint Wireless, and Comcast, as well as working as an engineer in the advanced computing business at IBM and Motorola’s mobile devices business.

Glen holds a B.S. Magna Cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, an MBA with Honors with an emphasis on finance and entrepreneurship from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, pursued international studies in finance at St. Gallen University in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Executive program. Glen holds Series 7, 63, 79, 86, 87, and 24 securities licenses.

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Michael Wood

Managing Director – Commercialization and Operations

Mr. Wood has extensive experience as a Senior Executive (COO, EVP, VP/GM) for consumer electronics (CE), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), software, and semiconductor companies, including 18 years of general and operations management, product and marketing strategy, IP portfolio management, systems/software architecture and technology commercialization. His track record of success includes growing revenue, market share, and profit at multiple companies ranging from early-stage ventures to Fortune 100.

With deep expertise in the CE ecosystem, Mr. Wood has held leadership roles at Mineral (VP Products and Digital Operations), where he led platform development and IT infrastructure, Spatializer Audio (COO/EVP), where he led all IP licensing operations, product, and technology roadmap; Zoran Corporation (VP/GM – Home Entertainment), where he grew revenue 3x and increased market share 50%; and C-Cube Microsystems, where he established the company as the market leader in video compression devices for the CE market. He also has significant technology architecture and strategic marketing experience at Intel and Stanford Telecom.

Mr. Wood has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

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Kelli Richards

Managing Director – Media and Entertainment

Ms. Richards is recognized as a visionary leader and trailblazer in the world of digital media and music/tech. She is considered a “super-connector” with unprecedented access and was a long-time Apple exec in charge of music and entertainment. Kelli has worked with forward-looking innovators and established artists to re-imagine content creation, monetization, and distribution — leveraging emerging technologies to create new experiences for audiences and to generate new revenue streams. She was also a talent producer on award shows for decades. She now serves as a trusted advisor to established creatives, innovators, leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs.

As a thought leader, Kelli was an early podcast host, published several books and hundreds of articles, and was honored as a “Top 100 Woman of Influence” by Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Ms. Richards holds an MBA with an emphasis in marketing and a BA in marketing/filmmaking from San Jose State University, and she is also a Certified Life Coach.

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Johney Kim

Director – APAC Vertical

Mr. Kim has led consumer electronics (CE) and technology licensing businesses for over 20 years. From 1989 to 2005, Johney held various management roles at Samsung Electronics. His responsibilities included market research, product development, technology outsourcing, sales channel development, business management, and marketing for CE products.

Engaged in consulting to develop productization and business strategies since 2007, Mr. Kim has helped many Asian companies monetize their intellectual property successfully. He successfully guided M&A exits and IP licensing for technology start-up ventures, helping many of these to source investment capital from global financial and strategic investors. Mr. Kim also has deep experience in business relations and markets in Asia and North America.

Mr. Kim earned his honors degree in Electronic Engineering from KumOh Technical University and postgraduate qualifications in Marketing and Business from SIMT (Samsung Institute Management & Technology).