San Jose, CA- February 18, 2003- SiliconIran, Inc.
the premiere business and technology information source for Iranians
in the global high-tech industry, held its 2nd Annual SiliconIran
Workshop & Excellence Awards Gala on February 7, 2003 at the
Ritz Carlton in San Francisco.
Over
250 high-tech industry professionals, politicians and business leaders
attended the daylong event, which included workshops throughout
the day ending with an evening awards celebration. San Francisco
Mayor, Willie Brown opened the evening's program by posing the question
most often asked of him, namely what the Mayor's plans were after
he leaves office at the end of this term. He humorously stated that
he might enter the technology world instead of continuing in politics.
It seems, according to the Mayor, that many are doing well in high
technology, especially the Iranian-American community whose contributions
have been enormous, considering the fact that they have been here
less than one generation.
Silicon
Valley Bank, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Ernst & Young,
Goldman Sachs, Centillium Communications, Global Catalyst partners,
Business Times, SunMan Engineering and Amidzad Networks of Investors
sponsored
the occasion. The event, not only celebrated the successes of Iranian-American
entrepreneurs and executives, but also discussed with entrepreneurs
how to raise funds in today's tight venture environment and achieve
business goals through the many workshops, held earlier in the day.
Further, the event punctuated the affirmation of the American dream,
that despite racial and religious differences, there are plenty
of opportunities for all Americans in America. Along with the Mayor
of San Francisco, Congressman Michael Honda, spoke about his own
experiences during the World War II detentions of Japanese Americans,
reminding all of us that as citizens we must always be alert and
challenge governmental policies.
Mayor Brown and Congressman Michael Honda were each presented with
a replica of the ancient tablet of Cyrus the Great [a memorandum
of the first known record of a human rights declaration made in
539 BC in Babylon by Cyrus the Great, the first king of Persia and
a great humanist]. The tablet presented to the Mayor and the
Congressman was re-created in gold by local famed Iranian artist,
Nasser Ovissi.
"SiliconIran
events have proven not only to be important to Iranian-Americans
but also are beneficial to the high-tech community," said Susan
Akbarpour, CEO and Co-founder of SiliconIran. "Iranian-Americans
make up a significant percentage of high-level executives in the
high-tech world. Their contributions are an indication of their
ingenuity, coupled with the freedom of opportunities that this country
offers them."
This
year's event was significantly larger than last year's. This year's
event had workshops, prestigious
speakers, and award winners like Professor
Ali Javan - Inventor of the first Gas of Lazer, Hossein Eslambolchi
- AT&T Labs President - CTO/CIO of AT&T, Anousheh Ansari
- co-founder of Telecom Technology, Sharmin Mossavar Rahmani - Managing
Director of Goldman Sachs, Behrooz Abdi - VP & GM of Motorola,
Ahmad Bahaei - CTO-Fellow of National Semiconductor, Farzad Naeimi
- founder of IQLabs, Lip-Bu Tin - Chairman of Walden International,
Mohsen Moazami - Vice President & Managing Director of Cisco
Systems, and more than 200 other top executives who traveled from
the east coast, Canada, Iran and other parts of world to participate
in this important annual event. The management of SiliconIran graciously
thanks all of the participants and invites them to join in next
year's event in September 2003.
The
daylong event included a Venture Capitalist
Networking breakfast meeting, and workshops that boasted such
speakers as Irwin Federman, Mike Hildreth,
Randy Haykin, Fred Nazem, Kamran Elahian, Somshankar Das, Faraj
Aalaei, Shahin Hedayat, Arman Pahlavan, Joe Pirzadeh and Massih
Tayebi.
SiliconIran
gratefully acknowledges the Honorable Senator Barbara Boxer of California
for her letter of well wishes for the success of SiliconIran's Excellence
awards and Workshop 2003.
About
SiliconIran, Inc.
SiliconIran is the premiere business and technology information
source for Iranians in the global high-tech industry. Through the
establishment of a high tech magazine (print & online), developing
an interactive website, planning of technology forums and exhibitions,
and by building an extensive databank of Iranian high-tech professionals
worldwide, SiliconIran, Inc. has become a unique center for high-tech
information exchange. For more information about SiliconIran, please
visit www.siliconiran.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Sara Azadi
e21corp
Public Relations
Tel: (510) 226-6780 x245
E-mail: sara@siliconiran.com
COMPANY
CONTACT:
Elham Hashemi
SiliconIran, Inc.
Contact Manager
Tel: (408) 445-2145 #150
E-mail: elham@siliconiran.com
