Silicon IP Cores
Management Team
Lower your system design risk with IP from one of the most experienced teams in the world.
Our IP expert core team of employees in engineering, sales, and support is located in multiple sites in the US and Europe (see the Contacts & Sales Offices page).
Our extended IP team includes long-term partnerships with some of the best IP developers in Europe and Australia, as well as local sales reps in Asia and other markets (see the Partners page).
CAST’s management and leadership staff includes the following EDA, ASIC/FPGA Design, and IP executives, all of whom helped create and shape the IP industry as it is known today.
Hal Barbour
Chairman of the Board
Hal Barbour is the current Chairman and former CEO of CAST. He joined in 1999, with the merger of the firm he previously cofounded, Lineage Systems, with CAST.
Hal earned a BSEE and worked several years as a circuit designer. He then moved on to technical sales and marketing positions with GenRad, Intergraph, HHB Systems, and Racal-Redac.
Witnessing both stunning successes and colossal managerial failures, Hal has applied those lessons to leading IP industry pioneer CAST. Pioneering a successful global organization model and using a lean, customer-oriented operations philosophy, Hal has helped CAST succeed and thrive in a volatile and challenging IP market.
Dr. Nikos Zervas
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Nikos Zervas is the CEO of CAST. He joined the company in 2010, and previously served as VP of Marketing and Engineering and as COO.
Prior to working at CAST, Nikos co-founded Alma Technologies and served as its Chairman and CEO for nine years. Under his leadership Alma Technologies bootstrapped to become a reputable IP provider, developing cutting-edge image and video compression cores and solutions.
Nikos received a BA and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece, in 1997 and 2003 respectively. His research has been published in over 40 technical journal and conference papers, and he has been honored by the IEEE Computer Society with a Low-Power Design Contest award.
Nikos served on the board of the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association from 2009 until 2013, where he was responsible for strategic planning.
Bill Finch
Senior Vice President
Bill Finch joined CAST in 2001 and serves as a senior vice president.
Bill's diverse experience areas include microprocessor test, superconductivity research, semiconductor metrology tools, and defect analysis for the flat panel and semiconductor industries.
Since joining CAST, Bill has helped manage MCU/MPU products and contributed innovative product ideas and new licensing practices to the evolving IP industry.
With a BSEE from Purdue University, Mr. Finch has held engineering and executive positions with GenRad, Inc., Boreas, Inc., SemiTest, Inc., the Brown and Sharp Manufacturing Company, and others.
Newton Abdalla
Vice President of Operations
Newton is a founding partner and VP of Operations for CAST,, where he handles a variety of managerial and sales functions.
He previously served as Senior Applications Engineer in Tokyo, Japan for HHB Systems. Later he was Manager of New Business Development for Racal-Redac in New Jersey.
Newton holds a M.S.E.E. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he was a member of the electrical engineering faculty.
Meredith Lucky
Vice President of Sales
Meredith Lucky joined CAST in 2006, and is the company's VP of Sales.
An electrical engineer having worked on the Sirius Satellite Radio receiver, she has supported fellow engineers for over two decades with electronic design tools and IP products in the roles of European Technical Director, Product Marketing Manager, Semiconductor Partner Director and VP of Sales. Her previous companies include Lucent, Viewlogic, and Intergraph.
Meredith currently specializes in video, image and data compression technologies across diverse market segments. Meredith studied at Lehigh University and the University of Pennsylvania, there earning a Masters in EE.
Tony Sousek
Director, CAST Europe
Tony Sousek joined CAST in 2001 and is the director of the company’s engineering facility in Brno, Czech Republic.
Tony has worked on medical, satellite, security and other systems for several firms in the Czech Republic, and has done design engineering for interfaces and other IP for CAST.
Tony holds an MSEE from the Technical University of Brno.
