Raymond D. "Ray" Zinn woke up in a haze, though his head was clear. His eyes had become so blurry he was disoriented, confused and frightened. He lost his sight just as he was emerging in an industry destined to change the world. Instead of shrinking from the challenge, he excelled as an entrepreneur, innovator, CEO, and sold his company for nearly $900 million dollars. Not bad, for a California farm boy. Ray is an inventor, angel investor, and bestselling author. Most notably, he has distinguished himself by serving longer as a CEO in Silicon Valley than any other executive. He is the founder of a nationally launched ZinnStarter program at colleges around the country, providing the financial and mentoring support for students to launch new products and companies. In 2015, Ray published his first book "Tough Things First" with McGraw Hill. This book was followed by his series Zen of Zinn 1, 2 and 3. Ray Zinn is also known for conceptualizing and in effect inventing the Wafer Stepper, and for co-founding semiconductor company Micrel (acquired by Microchip in 2015), which provides essential components for smartphones, consumer electronics and enterprise networks. He served as Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of its Board of Directors and President since the Company's inception in 1978. Ray led Micrel profitably through eight major downturns in global chip markets, an impressive achievement. Ray Zinn holds over 20 patents for semiconductor design.
