Board of Directors

Jason W. Cohenour has served as a member of the Lantronix Board since November 2022. Mr. Cohenour joins the Board with many years of executive leadership, sales, operations, and international M&A experience. He previously served as President, CEO, and Director at Sierra Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) from 2005 to 2018. While CEO, Mr. Cohenour led a successful business turn-around, resulting in revenue growth of nearly 800% to an annualized run rate of over $800 million. He also led a multi-year business transformation, pivoting the company from a mobile computing pure play to the global leader in intelligent wireless solutions for the IoT. Prior to being appointed CEO, he held several executive positions at Sierra Wireless from 1996 to 2005, including Vice President of Sales, SVP of Sales & Marketing and Chief Operating Officer. During this period, Mr. Cohenour led rapid revenue growth and international expansion and was instrumental in positioning the company for its successful IPO on the TSX in 1999 and its listing on NASDAQ in 2000.

Mr. Cohenour also serves on the board of CalAmp (NASDAQ: CAMP), RF industries (NASDAQ: RFIL), and Blackline Safety Corp. (OTCMKTS: BLKLF). He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island.

Saleel Awsare joined Lantronix in November of 2023 as President and CEO of the company. Mr. Awsare came to Lantronix from Synaptics Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor products worldwide, where he served as senior vice president and general manager of its Enterprise and Mobile Division, its largest division. After joining Synaptics in 2017, Mr. Awsare was an integral part of Synaptics’s pivot from Mobile to the IoT and enterprise markets, a move that proved instrumental in driving its multi-fold increase in market valuation. Previously, he served in several senior roles including president of Conexant Systems, LLC, and president of Nuvoton Technology Corporation America. He holds a B.S. from Stevens Institute of Technology and an M.S. from Santa Clara University. He has five patents and has written for multiple publications. Mr. Awsare is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Stevens Institute of Technology since September 2017.

Hoshi Printer has served on our Board since December 2010, and as the Chairman of the Audit Committee since July 2011. Mr. Printer currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of privately held Transient Plasma Systems (TPS), a developer of pulse power systems technology.
In addition, Mr. Printer serves on the boards of the Southern California Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and Forum for Corporate Directors (FCD), both non-profit organizations dedicated to enhancing boardroom performance.

Mr. Printer’s background includes four decades of taking three companies public, and served as chief financial officer for ten technology companies including Catalytica, developers of environmental technology; Soane Technologies, an ophthalmic and bioscience business; Neuron Data, developers of high-end, client-server, object- and web-oriented tools; Peerless Systems Corporation, an embedded imaging systems company; Autobytel, an online automotive marketplace; Private Access, Inc., a healthcare patient information technology company; and Avamar Technologies, Inc., a provider of enterprise data storage software. Earlier, Mr. Printer also served in senior management roles at Xerox Corporation for 18 years.

Mr. Printer holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering, and Bachelor of Science degrees in both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Philip Brace has served as a member of the Lantronix Board since August 2023. Philip Brace has 30 years of experience in the semiconductor, server, IoT and storage industries and has served in multiple roles across various disciplines, including software, hardware, engineering, marketing and sales. His most recent role was as president and CEO of Sierra Wireless Inc. from July 2021 to January 2023, where he led the company through operational improvements that increased profits by more than 100 percent and grew revenue by more than 40 percent. Prior to this, Mr. Brace served as executive vice president of Veritas Technologies from 2019 to 2021 and president of Cloud Systems and Electronic Solutions at Seagate Technology from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Brace began his career at Intel Corporation and LSI Corporation holding various engineering and management roles.

Mr. Brace received his bachelor’s of Applied Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo and his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Sacramento.

Phu Hoang has served as a member of Lantronix Board since November 2022. Mr. Hoang is currently a Board member, CEO and co-founder of Virtium, a leading manufacturer of industrial memory and storage products for telecommunication, networking, and industrial applications. Mr. Hoang’s leadership records include leading Virtium through many years of annual growth, earning Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S. Mr. Hoang led the company through its multiple successful exits while continuing to deliver record shareholders’ returns. His areas of expertise include corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, corporate growth strategy, leadership, and management.

He holds an M.B.A. from Northern Illinois University and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Mr. Hoang is a patent holder and received numerous awards, including EY’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year (2014), OC Business Journal’s Innovator of the year (2017) and Excellence in Entrepreneurship (2013) Awards.

Christa Steele has served as a member of the Lantronix Board since January 2024. Steele is an experienced CEO and board member, having served with public and privately held companies with revenues of up to $1 billion. In addition to the Lantronix Board of Directors, she also currently serves on the boards of Velocity Risk, The Doctors Company and Tanimura & Antle.

In early 2022, Steele was appointed interim CEO for Balco Holdings Inc., parent company of Bay Alarm, Bay Alarm Medical and BALCO Properties, with 1,200 employees and revenues in excess of $250 million. She successfully completed the divesting of company assets by the end of 2022. Prior to Balco Holdings Inc., she was president and CEO of Mechanics Bank, where, during her tenure, core earnings improved, the stock price doubled and the company was sold for a premium in 2015.

Steele holds an MBA from The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts from California State University Sacramento.