Savvas Chamberlain

From The Waterloo Way Wiki

Introduction

Dr. Savvas Chamberlain is the founder of DALSA, an industry leader in image sensors and digital imaging cameras, in 1980. With $700,000, he began the firm as a small consulting company specializing in charged-coupled device (CCD) sensors. Today, it’s a global leader in digital imaging solutions technology - its digital cameras are on the Canadarm 2 and NASA’s Mars Rovers, are used for digital cinema, and its digital X-ray cameras are used to detect breast cancer. Chamberlain attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Business in 1994 and completed the Owner/ President Management Program. In 1998 he returned to the Harvard University Graduate School of Business for the Business-to-Business Marketing Program.

History

Chamberlain formed DALSA from research spun-out of the University of Waterloo. He has been an integral part of the company’s R&D activities and led the company through an IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1996.

In a tribute to Chamberlain for his 2007 Premier's Catalyst Award for Lifetime Achievement in Innovation, the province said:

"(He) embodies every aspect of the successful innovator combining his pioneering technologies in digital imaging with persistence in securing start-up funding and a commitment to investing in research and development."

Chamberlain remained the CEO and President of DALSA until 1999 when he turned the position of President over to Brian Doody. In April, 2007, he stepped down as CEO, also passing the position to Doody.

A former Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, he is considered a pioneer of charged-couple device (CCD) technology, a semiconductor with a remarkable ability to capture images and the core technology on which DALSA’s technology is buit on.

During a leave from the university from 1971-1972, Chamberlain worked on new technology at Bell Northern Research, the research center of Nortel. He took leave again in 1974 and 1981 when he joined the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York for a year at a time as a Visiting Scientist.

He was promoted to Full Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in 1977. DALSA is an industry leader in image sensors and digital imaging cameras DALSA is an industry leader in image sensors and digital imaging cameras

Personal

Born in Cyprus, Chamberlain obtained his first degree from Northern Polytechnic in London, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Southampton University, U.K.

Chamberlain immigrated to Canada in 1969 with his late wife, Lenia, settling immediately in Waterloo to work at the University of Waterloo. They only planned to stay for a couple of years but found it was a great place to raise a family. He has three children and four grandchildren.

Awards and accolades

The Premier's Catalyst Award for Lifetime Achievement in Innovation (2007)
The Ernst & Young 2003 Ontario Entrepreneur Of The Year award for Technology and Communications
Two nominations (1995 and 1998) for Entrepreneur of the Year, from the Entrepreneur of the Year Institute, for his tremendous success at DALSA
The ITAC/ NSERC award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to academic research in information technology
The position of Distinguished Professor Emeritus for his 25-year contribution to the University of Waterloo (1999)

Philanthropy

The successful entrepreneur established endowments for undergraduate and graduate scholarships at the University of Waterloo, an endowment for a graduate scholarship given annually to a student at Wilfrid Laurier University, and an endowment with the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation for annual contributions to charities.

He said he will donate his recent $200,000 Premier's Catalyst Award prize to research and development activities at the University of Waterloo.