Leadership
Antenna Company
David Favreau
CEO
David Favreau has over 20 years of leadership experience in the wireless industry with a successful track record of scaling new businesses and driving product innovation. Prior to joining Antenna Company, David served as Vice President, Product Management at Qualcomm, where he achieved market leadership for its mobile and computing wireless connectivity products. Prior to that, he held senior management roles at RF Micro Devices, Agere Systems, and Lucent Technologies. David began his engineering career at Texas Instruments and held R&D positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories. David earned his B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University. He holds five U.S. Patents in the field of semiconductor device technology.
Diego Caratelli
CTO
Diego Caratelli is a founding member of The Antenna Company. Diego received the Laurea (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in Electronic Engineering, as well the M.Sc. degree (summa cum laude) in Applied Mathematics from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Dr. Caratelli’s career spans various roles in academia and industry. From 2005 to 2007, he was a Research Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome’s Electronic Engineering Department. He then became a Senior Researcher at Delft University of Technology’s International Research Center for Telecommunications and Radar until 2013. Co-founding The Antenna Company in Eindhoven, he serves as the CTO and VP of Engineering, overseeing product development and research. Since 2020, he’s also been an Associate Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He holds 28 families of patents in antenna-related technologies and advanced computational techniques. Active in professional societies, Dr. Caratelli has been involved with IEEE and other organizations, receiving several awards, including the Young Antenna Engineer Prize from the European Space Agency and the 2010 Best Paper Award from ACES. His leadership extends to editorial roles in specialized publications. His mentorship has led his students to win awards and recognitions, highlighting his impact in the field.
Johan Gielis
VP Research & Materials
Johan Gielis is a founding member of Antenna Company and developed the underlying mathematical transformation that SuperShape® antennas are based on. Johan graduated as an engineer in the horticultural sciences and his career evolved in the direction of plant biotechnology. In the course of his work he discovered a novel mathematical transformation, the Gielis transformations, that unify a wide range of natural and abstract shapes and patterns into one simple mathematical generalization. Prior to Antenna Company, Johan co-founded Genicap Beheer BV to develop applications using the Gielis formula. Since 2011, Johan Gielis is professor at the Biosciences Engineering Department at the University of Antwerp.
Norm Smith
VP, Sales
Norm Smith brings more than 30 years of technical sales and marketing experience in the Antenna, RF/Microwave and Test & Measurement industries. He has a successful track record of growing revenues in the IoT and 5G markets with a diverse customer base. Prior to joining Antenna Company, Norm held Sales and Marketing leadership roles with Antenova (VP NA Sales), Maxtena (VP Sales and Marketing), Alpha Micro Wireless (President and CEO) and WP Wireless (Vice President). Norm’s most recent role was with CETECOM Inc and he has also held management positions with Keysight Technologies and HP/Agilent. Norm earned his Bachelors in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from University of Hertfordshire and has an executive MBA from Sonoma State University. He also hold an OND and HNC in Telecommunications Engineering. Norm has hands-on experience in designing RF /Microwave components and has received multiple patents for novel antenna structures for the SMART Utility meter market.
Justin Diederix
VP, Operations
Justin Diederix joins Antenna Company as Vice President of Operations and is responsible for all manufacturing, new product introduction, quality and supply chain operations world-wide. Justin brings 20 years of Operations experience across geographies for both scale-up and multinational corporations. Justin has an extensive background in Far-East Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain Management and Customer Service. Prior to joining Antenna Company, Justin was with Samsung Group for over 10 years, in a broad range of procurement, logistics and operations roles. Most recently, Justin held the position of Director of the European Operations Group at Samsung SDS. Justin has a strong track record of achieving operational excellence and improved profitability through Lean manufacturing and Six-Sigma principles.
Rick Stuby
VP, Product Management and Marketing
Rick brings extensive industry experience in the antenna and wireless markets with a strong background in multiple IoT segments. Prior to joining Antenna Company, Rick served in the same role at Linx Technologies for 4 years, where he defined their antenna product roadmap, spearheaded process changes and achieved substantial growth in business. Linx Technologies was acquired by TE Connectivity in July 2022. Prior to his time at Linx, Rick held Product Management and Marketing leadership roles with TE Connectivity, Petra Solar, and LSI/Agere Systems/Lucent Technologies. Rick earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA in Corporate Entrepreneurship from Lehigh University. Rick is a published author and has a strong track record in the scale-up of new businesses.
