Mushroom Networks team brings together a unique blend of management experience together with over 70 years of collective cutting edge research and development expertise from industry leading established companies, startup ventures and research institutes. The team has worked together for many years prior to Mushroom Networks on various occasions. Mushroom Networks team has a passion for bringing state-of-the-art advanced networking solutions to the market.

Dr. Cahit Akin, Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder

Before co-founding Mushroom Networks, Dr. Cahit Akin was a venture partner at ITU Ventures for 7 years, the venture capital arm of Brownstein Schnel Holdings which has invested in over 50 companies. Previously, Dr. Akin has worked as a senior marketing consultant at a boutique marketing consultancy firm on Wall Street – New York. Dr. Akin has managed the Adaptive Systems Laboratory out of Cal-IT2, a $12 million project which spun off 2 venture backed startup companies. He was the founder of Respectrum and he co-founded and invested in Mushroom Networks, Inc. Dr. Akin received his Ph.D. and M.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Bilkent University, Turkey. Dr. Akin has worked on technical and research aspects of communications for over 10 years including several patents and many publications. Dr. Akin was a nominee for the Most Admired CEO award by San Diego Business Journal. Dr. Akin is a recipient of the NATO Graduate Study Scholarship award and was a national team member for the International Mathematics Olympiad in 1993.

Mr. Steven Brown, Lead Developer

Mr. Brown received his Bachelor's Degree and Masters in Computer Science from the University of California San Diego. He served as the lead programmer on UCSD ActiveCampus, a location-based platform for education and community using WiFi-equipped mobile computers to connect a campus. He was the Software and Systems Architect of the WIISARD project - a collaboration between Cal-IT2 and the VA to produce a system for mass casualty disaster response integrating sensor networks and triage information for responders in the field. Mr. Brown was instrumental in designing these systems to work smoothly regardless of the chaotic network conditions. Mr. Brown is also a regular contributor to the open-source software community and brings extensive programming experience to the Mushroom Networks team.

Dr. Rene L. Cruz, Chief Science Officer, Founder

Rene L. Cruz received the B.S. degree and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois in 1980 and 1987, both in Electrical Engineering. He received the S.M. degree in Electrical Engineering from M.I.T. in 1982. From 1982-1984, he was a senior engineer for Stanford Telecommunications, Inc., developing resource allocation software for satellite communication networks. Dr. Cruz joined the faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSD in 1987. His area of research is in the performance analysis of communication networks. Professor Cruz has developed traffic and service models for communication networks that have been widely adopted within the research community. He is an internationally recognized expert in the area of Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in packet switched networks, and was elected to be a Fellow of the IEEE on the basis of these accomplishments. Dr. Cruz founded Mushroom Networks in 2004 with Dr. Cahit Akin, and currently serves as Chief Science Officer of the company.

Mr. Rajesh Mishra, Vice President of Engineering

Rajesh Mishra has spent over 15 years driving innovations in the areas of data networking and wireless technologies. He worked as a Principal Researcher at California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Cal-IT2), where he played an integral role in the early formation of Mushroom Networks. As the functional head of the Wireless Networking group at Cal-IT2, he initiated several research and development projects related to mesh-networking and its applications for disaster recovery scenarios. Prior to joining Cal-IT2, he worked at Ericsson Research at UC Berkeley as a Senior Researcher where he focused on issues related to multiple access networks including GPRS and WLAN mobility integration. He joined Ericsson Data Networks in 1996 where he worked in the areas of IP routing and Network Management products. He previously worked at Cisco Systems and RiverRun Inc. He has several publications and patents in the field of bandwidth management. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India.

Mr. Steven Morley, Advisor

Mr. Morley recently retired as the Vice President, Technology, for QUALCOMM Incorporated in the Office of the Chief Scientist. Since 2003, Mr. Morley has been instrumental in developing QUALCOMM's strategic direction in a number of new wireless technologies including next generation wireless local area networking, ultra-wideband radio technologies, and location-based services. From 1996 through 2003 he was a key systems architect and product director for QUALCOMM's Digital Cinema system technology. Prior to that, Mr. Morley started the integrated circuit business area for QUALCOMM in 1987 and helped design the first CDMA digital cellular proof-of-concept telephone in 1989. Mr. Morley joined QUALCOMM in 1985 and has contributed to the development of QUALCOMM's CDMA digital cellular, ultra-small aperture satellite networks, mobile satellite, and integrated circuit technologies and businesses. Previously, Mr. Morley was a Senior Engineering Manager at M/A-Com Linkabit Corporation working in the areas of digital encryption systems and wireless communication networks and a Member of Technical Staff at Hughes Aircraft Company working in the development of advanced digital signal processing systems for various sonar applications. Mr. Morley holds an MSEE degree from Stanford University with a specialty in digital signal processing implementations in VLSI architectures and a BSEE degree with summa cum laude honors from the University of California, Irvine. He has received nearly twenty patents in the fields of wireless and satellite communication systems, digital image compression, and digital cinema systems and has published a variety of articles in the fields of electronic security, wireless communications, satellite technology, and digital cinema systems. He is the chairman of the Digital Media Special Interest Group and the Location-Based Services Special Interest Group of the San Diego CommNexus as well as a member of the executive committee of the San Diego CommNexus NextStage Program and a member of the IEEE.

Steve Schneider, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Schneider has been the chief financial officer of ITU Ventures, a private equity investment firm, since 2000. At ITU Ventures, Mr. Schneider was responsible for all accounting, financial reporting, cash management, tax and human resource functions. In addition he was responsible for negotiation and review of legal documentation for all of the firm's investments in portfolio companies. During his time at ITU Ventures, he played an integral role in a public offering process. Prior to his term at ITU Ventures, Mr Schneider served as a vice president and assistant controller with Sun America Inc., where his responsibilities included corporate consolidation and SEC reporting. During such time, he also served as the controller for Sun America Inc.'s $300 million commercial real estate portfolio. Mr. Schneider is a certified public accountant and is a CFA charterholder. He received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.