Page History

David F. Welch co-founded Infinera and currently serves as President and as a member of the Board of Directors. Previously, he was CTO and VP Corporate Development at SDL. Dr. Welch holds over 130 patents in optical transmission technologies, and has authored over 300 technical publications in the same field. In recognition of his technical contributions to the optical industry, he has been awarded the Optical Society of America’s Adolph Lomb Medal, Joseph Fraunhofer Award and John Tyndall Award, and the UK-based Institution of Engineering and Technology’s JJ Thompson Medal for Achievement in Electronics. He is a Fellow of the OSA and the IEEE. In 2011, Dr. Welch founded Students Matter, a national non-profit organization dedicated to sponsoring impact litigation to promote access to quality public education. The victory in its first case, Vergara v. California, gained national attention. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. 

Lisa Walker is the Founder and Managing Director of Leadership Capital Advisors,

a boutique executive search firm specializing in the industrial and technology

markets. Previously, Walker was a Senior Partner with Korn/Ferry and Heidrick &

Struggles. Earlier, she was with BP Amoco, Air BP, as Chief Marketing Officer for

the international jet-fuel business. She also held positions in Marketing and Strategy

for Amoco. Ms. Walker served as a management consultant with Bain & Company

and A.T. Kearney, and began her career as an engineer at Honeywell Corporation.

Walker earned her MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago (’91), and her

B.S. in ChemE from Cornell University (’86). She has been honored by The White

House as “a Champion of Change.” She serves on the Advisory Board of the Clean

Energy Trust, and three University of Chicago Boards: Kovler Diabetes Center,

Laboratory School and Women’s Board.