Aart De Geus The driving visionary behind Synopsys since its inception in 1986, de Geus spearheaded the growth of the company from a startup focused on synthesis to a leader in electronic design automation targeting system-on-a-chip technology. A leading EDA expert, he managed GE's Advanced Computer-Aided Engineering Group in Research Triangle Park from 1981 to 1986. He also led the group to make logic synthesis, a hitherto underused automation technology, competitive with then-current design techniques. Convinced that design productivity would skyrocket with this new technology, de Geus spun off and founded Synopsys with GE's blessing.