- Former global C-Suite executive. Industry experience with AI and the semiconductor ecosystem
- Expert in corporate governance, global M&A, global trade compliance, ESG, compliance, and internal audit.
- Accomplished C-suite leader at a S&P 500 company with 25 years of strategic legal and international business operational experience in the heart of Silicon Valley. Led legal, compliance, government affairs, stock administration, and EGS functions.
Karna Nisewaner is an executive with over 30 years of experience in technology. From her engineering project designing an autonomous vehicle in college through her years at multinational computing companies, Karna has grown her technical breadth. During her 14-year career in the legal department at Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), a multinational software company headquartered in San Jose that provides electronic design automation (EDA) solutions to the semiconductor industry, she leveraged her technical background in her work with the government, navigating complex and evolving government policies. She also developed a now $100 million per year license compliance program at Cadence. She managed international teams, traveled and spoke at company sites worldwide, and has a broad global leadership and development perspective.
As the former General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Cadence, she oversaw all legal, stock administration, and government compliance for the $80B+ company. She managed a team of 50 legal professionals in a company of around 13,000 employees. She has significant experience scaling teams, supporting the company’s 30x market cap growth, and expanding teams internationally into multiple markets. She also engaged with the US Government on the semiconductor ecosystem and AI. She has experience leading multinational strategic transactions, including public and private target acquisitions, carveouts, asset purchases, large bond offerings, and strategic investments. She presented at SEMICON Europa on Sustainable Design using digital twin technology and worked with the World Economic Forum’s AI Governance Alliance.
Karna was a director of several Cadence subsidiaries and domestic operating companies. Having served as Corporate Secretary to the board and all board committees at Cadence, Karna has extensive experience in board governance, audit, executive compensation matters, fiduciary duties, and risk oversight.
Karna served for 6 years on the non-profit Palo Alto Community Child Care board, the largest childcare provider in Palo Alto with a $10 million annual budget, and led them as chair through the start of the pandemic in 2020. In 2020, Karna ran for the Palo Alto School Board. Karna was a WIPL General Counsel of the Year Honoree. Karna is a member of the Class of 2025 of the DirectWomen Board Institute.
She holds a JD from UCLA and a BSE from Princeton University, with a certificate in Engineering Management Systems.