Frantz Saintellemy, President and Chief Operating Officer, LeddarTech
Engineer, innovator and internationally recognized expert in advanced technologies, Frantz has over 21 years of experience in the electronics and automotive sector, with specialized knowledge in automotive, autonomous driving, AI, IoT, and automation applications, in addition to business and product development, applications engineering, global sales, and marketing. A dedicated entrepreneur and philanthropist, he is also co-founder of Groupe 3737, an incubator and innovation center that houses more than 30 companies and start-ups, in addition to offering a framework for ideation to revenue generation.
Frantz joined LeddarTech in September 2017, having previously served as VP and General Manager of the Automotive and Industrial Division of Integrated Device Technology (NASDAQ: IDTI), a California-based company specializing in a broad array of complete mixed-signal solutions. Prior to IDT, Frantz was President and Executive VP of Global Sales and Marketing at ZMDI AG, a global supplier of MEMs-based sensor solutions for automotive and industrial applications, which was acquired by IDT in December 2015. Prior to ZMDI, Frantz was CTO and Corporate VP of Technical Marketing and Advanced Engineering Group at Future Electronics, a global distributor of semiconductors and passive, interconnect, and electromechanical components.
Throughout his career, Frantz has produced numerous patents and technical innovations. He also founded and co-founded many successful start-ups and corporations, the likes of which include SMGT Inc., Q-Links Home Automation, Groupe Reno-Metrix, Capital Plus, and OMNI Global, and sits on several boards and advisory committees.
Frantz holds degrees in electrical engineering, business, and marketing, and is also a graduate of the MIT Sloan Engineering Fellows Program on Innovations and Global Leadership.
Mike Thoeny, President, Automotive Business Group at Flex
Mike Thoeny is President of the Automotive Business Group at Flex, the global manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world.
In his capacity, Mr. Thoeny is responsible for the overall enterprise vision, strategy, business planning, development and execution of the Flex automotive business. Additionally, he is developing programs to expand the global Flex automotive customer base as well as the technology evolution of the company’s automotive portfolio.
Mr. Thoeny has over 30 years of international automotive experience and has held executive leadership positions at Aptiv and Delphi. In his previous roles, he was responsible for P&L and engineering in the areas of Autonomous Driving and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), vehicle electrification, body and chassis electronics, and displays.
Mr. Thoeny holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and an MBA in marketing from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
Although fully autonomous vehicles are not destined to be operating in the mainstream for several more years, the drive towards smarter and safer vehicles is consistently accelerating. Advanced driver assistance systems that detect obstacles, recognize and correct driver error, thus reducing collisions and injury, are rapidly becoming more and more sophisticated. In addition, automakers have specific needs based on climate, region, and consumer demand. These needs cannot always be addressed with one single solution but, instead, require technology that is flexible and adaptable so as to address the specificity of the use case.
In this webinar, Frantz and Mike will explore the ADAS and AD automotive landscape, the challenges, and the technology presently being employed. As this landscape evolves, automakers are realizing that their specific design requirements often require a more open, flexible, and scalable sensing platform that accommodates an array of sensor options. Frantz and Mike will share their rationale based on their vast automotive and sensor technology background as to why a platform approach is the best solution in addressing ADAS and AD requirements across the value chain.
