Penny Herscher's Email & Phone

Penny leads FirstRain with a passion for growing companies in new markets. As CEO since 2005, she has transformed FirstRain into the leading provider of search-driven research'search, analytics and reporting for business professionals solving the web information challenge facing institutional investors, marketing and sales professionals. Prior to FirstRain, Penny was CEO of Simplex Solutions, an electronic design automation company serving the global semiconductor industry. As CEO, she grew Simplex from a few engineers in 1996 to a high-growth, profitable software company. She led the company to very successful IPO in 2001 and through the sale of the company to Cadence Design Systems in 2002. Penny then worked at Cadence as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of a major division of the company. From 1988 to 1996, Penny was an early employee and senior executive at Synopsys. She started her career in 1982 as an R&D engineer with Texas Instruments and then Daisy Systems and she holds a BA with Honors in Mathematics from Cambridge University. Penny serves on the boards of JDSU and Rambus. She is also active in the non-profit world serving on the boards of the Anita Borg Institute and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte; she volunteers teaching business classes at Stanford Business School, Berkeley Haas School of Business and Santa Clara University as well as speaking on leadership and career growth at various industry organizations.