ALUMNI
Shutterstock – Jon Oringer MS’99
When Jon Oringer MS’99 found that it was difficult to find affordable generic stock photos online, he launched Shutterstock with 30,000 photos of his own that he sold online, subscription-style, to anyone who wanted to buy stock images.
Since its founding in 2003, Shutterstock has grown significantly from those 30,000 photos. In October 2012, Oringer brought Shutterstock public. Today, Shutterstock has more than 1 billion stock and editorial images, 1.8 million paying customers, 100,000 contributors, and an annual revenue exceeding $600 million. Shutterstock has also expanded beyond stock images; the company now provides stock footage, stock music, and editing tools as well.
As Oringer has said, “I think we’ve evolved into more of a tool over time. We are with you and helping you find the right image and drive the right outcome with that image, helping to discover content that will be more on-brand for your business and do things you were unable to do before.”
Ambarella – Fermi Wang PhD’91
In 2004, Dr. Fermi Wang MS’89 PhD’91 founded Ambarella, which is a leading developer of low-power, high-definition (HD) and Ultra HD video compression and image processing solutions. At its founding, Ambarella’s initial goal was to develop high-definition H.264 video encoders for the professional broadcast market. Soon, Ambarella began to apply that same technology to consumer video and security IP camera markets. In 2015, under Dr. Wang’s leadership, Ambarella acquired VisLab, a pioneer in perception systems and autonomous vehicle research.
Today, Ambarella chips are featured in a number of notable consumer camera products, including the GoPro Hero, the Dropcam by Nest, and the DJI Phantom Series of drones. Ambarella’s intelligent embedded processors are included in a range of camera markets—including security, wearable, drone, sports/action, and automotive—with an emphasis on several core technologies. In 2012, Dr. Wang led Ambarella through a public offering. In 2018, Ambarella’s revenue exceeded $225 million.
Dr. Wang holds several digital video-related patents, including one of MPEGLA’s core MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/AVC patents. Prior to Ambarella, Dr. Wang was CEO and co-founder of Afara Websystems, which pioneered server throughput computing. Afara was acquired by Sun Microsystems.
Altair – James Scapa BS’78
In 1985, Jim Scapa BS’78 and two partners founded a small consulting company in the new field of computer-aided engineering: Altair. Today, that company employs over 2,000 employees with more than 40 offices throughout 20 countries, and has more than 5,000 clients worldwide.
Under Scapa’s leadership, Altair has grown into a leading provider of enterprise-class engineering software, and operates in the automotive, aerospace, government and defense, heavy equipment industry sectors as well as the consumer products, ship building, energy, electronics, life sciences, and architecture engineering and construction markets.
Scapa brought Altair public in 2017. In 2018, Altair’s revenue exceeded $100 million.
Rocco Commisso is the chairman and chief executive officer of Mediacom Communications Corporation, which he founded in 1995 in his home’s basement to acquire and reinvigorate cable systems in the nation’s underserved smaller communities. Together with his dedicated management team, Rocco took Mediacom public in 2000 and engineered its dramatic growth into the nation’s 8th largest cable operator with annual revenues of $1.5 billion. With its corporate offices in Middletown, NY and 4,500 employees in 22 states, Mediacom is the leading provider of advanced broadband services to over 1.3 million customers in 1,500 small cities and towns across America.
Commisso began his business career at Pfizer Inc.’s manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, NY. He spent a decade in the financial community prior to this, initially at the Chase Manhattan Bank and then at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he led the bank’s U.S. lending activities to companies in the media and communications sectors. From 1986 to 1995, he served as executive vice president, chief financial officer, and director of Cablevision Industries Corporation. During his tenure there, privately-held Cablevision Industries grew from the 25th to the 8th largest cable company in the nation, serving over 1.3 million customers at the time of its merger with Time Warner.
Commisso is the recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the National Italian American Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007, Commisso was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. In 2008, he served as co-chair of the Cable Show, the industry’s premier annual event. In 2009, he was the recipient of the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership, the cable industry’s highest honor, and Mediacom was named the nation’s best cable company by CableFAX Magazine.
Commisso recently delivered the 2020 Magill Lecture.