Deirdre Hanford
Chief Executive Officer & Trustee
Hanford was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of Natcast, Inc. in January 2024. Prior to Natcast, Hanford served as an executive at Synopsys, a technology and market leader in electronic design automation and semiconductor design intellectual property. Over the span of thirty-six years, Hanford’s roles included being Chief Security Officer, Co-General Manager of the Synopsys Design Group, and leader of a variety of customer engagement, applications engineering, sales and marketing groups.
Well known within the semiconductor ecosystem, Hanford has served on many industry advisory boards, including being a leader in the Department of Commerce Industrial Advisory Committee formed through the CHIPS Act. Hanford serves on the Board of Directors of Cirrus Logic, Inc. She serves on the Engineering Advisory Board for UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering.
Hanford earned a B.S. Engineering (electrical engineering) from Brown University and an M.S.E.E. from University of California, Berkeley.