Allen Salmasi is currently Chairman and CEO of NLabs Inc., a New York-based venture capital firm. Prior to NLabs, he served as chairman and CEO of NextWave Wireless Inc. (NWI), a company he formed in 2005 that was subsequently acquired by AT&T in 2013. NWI was spun-off from NextWave Telecom Inc. (NTI), a company he had founded in 1995 which was acquired by Verizon Wireless in 2005.
Prior to NextWave, Mr. Salmasi was a member of the Board of Directors, President of the Wireless Communications Division, and Chief Strategic Officer of QUALCOMM Inc. between 1988 and 1995. He initiated and led the development of wireless business, including chipset and handset products, licensing and standards programs for CDMA technology.
Prior to QUALCOMM, at Omninet Corporation, a company he founded in 1984 and served as its Chairman of the Board and CEO, he envisioned and led the development of the OmniTRACS system and service, the world’s first and currently the largest commercial terrestrial mobile satellite communications service. From 1979 to 1984, Mr. Salmasi was employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Mr. Salmasi is currently Chairman of the Board of OncoSynergy Inc., a San Francisco-based biotech company with a portfolio of oncology drugs under development. Mr. Salmasi is also a member of the Board of Directors of Korea Information and Communications Co., Ltd (KICC), the largest payment processing company in Korea, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Barnard College of Columbia University.