May 30, 2012 -- Accellera Systems Initiative announced today that Dennis Brophy is the first recipient of the Accellera Systems Initiative Leadership Award. The Award will be presented at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) during the Accellera Systems Initiative Luncheon event, June 6, 2012. The Award recognizes the vision, leadership and contribution to standards development, governance and promotional activities of the organization.

"Dennis has been very active in defining direction for Accellera's standards activities for more than two decades," remarked Shishpal Rawat, Accellera Systems Initiative chair. "As one of the longest-serving board members, Dennis has helped shape Accellera into the premier standards development organization for the EDA and IP industry."

"It is a great honor to be recognized by industry peers with whom I had the opportunity to collaborate," said Dennis Brophy, Director of Strategic Business Development at Mentor Graphics. "From the early days of VHDL and Verilog standardization efforts, we have come a long way to create broad range of design, verification and IP standards. I plan to continue contributing and collaborating on further strengthening Accellera Systems Initiative."

Long time participants in the standards community recognize Dennis' involvement in the VHDL Initiative towards ASIC Libraries (VITAL), Delay and Power Calculation System (DPCS), SystemVerilog, Unified Power Format (UPF), and Universal Verification Methodology (UVM). As a continuous board member for Accellera Systems Initiative and its predecessors, Dennis has guided the organization in deciding the right course of action to promote interoperability in design and verification flows through standards. He chaired Accellera for five years since its formation in 2000 through the merger of VHDL International (VI) and Open Verilog International (OVI).

Currently, Dennis serves as vice-chair of Accellera Systems Initiative and chairs a committee to unify the operating policies and procedures for the new organization formed by the merger of Accellera and Open SystemC Initiative (OSCI). Dennis also served on the board of directors and chaired the Promotions Group of OSCI. He is very active in the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) where he serves on the Board of Governors and chairs the Corporate Advisory Group. He is very influential in establishing and maintaining a close relationship between Accellera Systems Initiative and the IEEE-SA. Further information about Dennis' standards related activities can be found at www.accellera.org/about/awards/.

About Accellera Systems Initiative's Leadership Award

Accellera Systems Initiative established the Leadership Award in 2012 to recognize the contribution of an individual who has provided active leadership and contributed significantly in the vision of EDA and IP standards-development activities and the governance of Accellera Systems Initiative. A nominee can be anyone who has contributed to the leadership and vision of its standards. The Leadership Award complements the Technical Excellence Award which recognizes technical contribution towards development of the standard.