Abbey Silverstone

Abbey Silverstone is a very early member of the computer development family with a 50-year career in the computer industry that included time as Co-founder and VP of operations of Silicon Graphics (SGI).

Silverstone has a BS in Industrial Administration from the University of Illinois where, as a student, he worked with the IBM 650 in the registration and grading process. After a successful athletic fencing career which included three years as an all-American and representation of Canada internationally, he relocated to California. In 1973, while at Xerox Corp., he played an important role in the development of, and production of, the first corporate networked office. This Xerox (PARC) developed network included the first personal computers (Alto), the first high speed monochrome laser printers, the first color laser printer, and the first Ethernet-based corporate-wide electronic network. In 1977, a complete network modeled on the Xerox network was installed in President Jimmy Carter’s White House.

In 1981, Mr Silverstone provided Xerox with the packaging design for the first commercial workstation the Xerox Star 8010. In 1982 Jim Clark and Silverstone, along with some graduate students from Stanford University, founded Silicon Graphics. Mr Silverstone provided and managed the Operations Division until 1988 when he began a consulting career.

Silverstone became President and Chief Executive Officer of Netsol Technologies in 1999. In 2000, he assumed the CEO role with Multacom, a trans-pacific telecommunications company which connected Mainland China, the United States and Taiwan.

He has served on several boards in the USA and China. While maintaining his interest in technology he is now a semi-retired advisor to newly formed companies.