President, Technology and Strategy

Western Digital Corporation

Dr. Siva Sivaram is President, Technology and Strategy, at Western Digital where he is responsible for the development of the corporate strategy and the technologies that fuel the company’s growth.

Sivaram has more than 35 years of experience in semiconductor technologies and manufacturing. He has held executive positions at Intel, Matrix Semiconductor and at SanDisk after its acquisition of Matrix. Additionally, he was the founder and CEO of Twin Creeks Technologies, a solar panel and equipment company.

Sivaram has authored numerous technical papers and a textbook on chemical vapor deposition and holds several patents in semiconductor and solar technologies.

Sivaram serves on the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance and the US-India Business Council. He has been on the board of directors and advised several start-up firms and was entrepreneur-in-residence at Crosslink Capital and XSeed Capital.

He also serves on the board of Akshaya Patra, the world’s largest NGO dedicated to feeding school children.

Sivaram received his Doctorate and Master’s degrees in Materials Science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has been nominated to its Board of Trustees. Additionally, he is a Distinguished Alumnus of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi, India, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Western Digital Corporation

Wissam Jabre is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Western Digital, responsible for finance, accounting, financial reporting, tax, treasury, internal audit, and investor relations. Jabre has more than 20 years of financial experience, specifically in the semiconductor industry. Most recently, he was CFO at Dialog Semiconductor. Before joining Dialog Semiconductor in 2016, Jabre served as Corporate Vice President of Finance at Advanced Micro Devices. From 2004 to 2014, Jabre also held various finance positions during his 10-year tenure at Freescale Semiconductor, including Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, Vice President of Global Pricing, and Chief Financial Officer of the Networking & Multimedia Group. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut and an MBA from Columbia Business School, New York. Jabre is a CFA © charterholder.

Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

Western Digital Corporation

Christine Bastian is Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Western Digital. In this role, she is responsible for developing the company’s people and leadership solutions and leading a purpose-driven culture across its 65,000+ employees worldwide.

Previously, Bastian was Senior Vice President of People & Communities at Cisco, where she led the enterprise in reimagining talent solutions that transformed the company’s approach to leaders and teams, learning and careers, performance, workforce planning, and hybrid work. With a focus on cultivating high-functioning teams, leader success, and adaptive change, she oversaw teams that drove the execution of acquisitions and divestitures and led people consulting for the company’s global engineering organization.

Bastian is known for her expertise in organizational design, talent development, high-performance teaming, and executive coaching, as well as her passion for advocating for full-spectrum diversity, inclusion, and equity. She has been recognized for her contributions with the YWCA Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award in 2019 and as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council in 2020. She is an active member of Global HR 50.

Bastian graduated from California Polytechnic State University. She’s zealous about people, technology, and how she can contribute to do amazing things for our businesses, her community, and our future.

Executive Vice President, Global Operations

Western Digital Corporation

Irving Tan is Executive Vice President for Global Operations at Western Digital. He is responsible for all global operations functions, including manufacturing operations, procurement and supply chain, and IT.

Widely known as an exceptional leader, Tan has decades of experience in sales and global operations, market transitions, and customer and government dynamics. His focus on people is evidenced by his track record leading high-performing teams that achieve sustained results. Most recently, he served as Cisco's Chairperson, Asia Pacific, Japan, and China, responsible for leading the company's strategy to capture the significant growth opportunity that the APJC region offered and strengthen key customer and ecosystem relationships.

During his time at Cisco, Tan also was Executive Vice President and Global Chief of Operations where he was responsible for the development and implementation of the company's operating strategy and targeted growth through productivity improvements and innovation across all core business functions, including sales, engineering, supply chain, and services. He also served as the sales leader of Cisco Asia Pacific and Japan, where he grew the sales business consistently over his tenure and advanced APJ's position as one of the most trusted IT partners and providers in the region.

Tan serves on the Stanley Black & Decker Board of Directors, the Singapore Economic Development Board, and the PSA International. Additionally, he has served as an advisor to governments and industry partners on using technology to innovate and transform. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in business administration from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, and an honorary doctoral degree in engineering from Curtin University.

Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer

Western Digital Corporation

Michael Ray is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Western Digital. He is responsible for the company's worldwide legal, risk management, compliance and government relations functions.

Prior to his current role, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel since October 2010. He has held a number of positions at Western Digital since joining the company in 2000, including Senior Counsel, Assistant General Counsel and Vice President, Legal Services.

Ray serves as a member of the company's executive management team and provides strategic advice to the team and the members of the company's Board of Directors. He oversees teams responsible for supporting the company's efforts to develop, manufacture, market and sell storage products globally through the company's independent subsidiaries. He also leads teams responsible for protecting the company's significant intellectual property, strengthening and defending the company's brands worldwide, and complying with regulatory and public-company obligations.

Prior to joining Western Digital, Ray was corporate counsel for Wynn's International, Inc., an NYSE-listed manufacturer of automotive parts and chemicals; served the U.S. District Court, Central District of California as judicial clerk; and practiced trial law, law and motion and labor/employment law at O'Melveny & Myers, LLP.

Ray holds a bachelor's degree, with honors, from Harvard College; and a law degree, with honors, from Harvard Law School. Ray has received numerous awards and citations, including being honored as the Orange County Business Journal's Public Company General Counsel of the Year for 2012.

Ray has served since 2001 as a director of Mercy House Transitional Living Center, based in Santa Ana, California, one of California's largest providers of services and housing for homeless men, women and children. He is also a director of the United Way of Orange County, and has co-chaired the Orange County United Way Tocqueville Society Bench & Bar affinity group since 2013.

Executive Vice President, Customer Organization

Western Digital Corporation

Jerald Kagele is Executive Vice President (EVP), Customer Organization. In this position, Kagele has responsibility for the customer relationship in cloud, enterprise, OEM, client and consumer markets globally. This responsibility includes revenue generation and all go to market activities: sales, demand generation and customer support for all Western Digital products and services. He also serves as Vice Chairman of UNIS WDC Storage Co. Ltd.

Kagele joined Western Digital in 2009 after more than 20 years of experience in the worldwide channel. He most recently served as President of North America for Bell Microproducts where he was responsible for the distribution business in the United States and Canada. Prior to Bell Microproducts he held executive positions at Avnet in both Europe and North America with the most recent being Sr. Vice President of Applied Computing Solutions, Europe.