Sir Robin Keith Saxby (born 4 February 1947)[2] is an English engineer who was chief executive and then chairman of ARM Holdings, which he built to become a dominant supplier of embedded systems.
Saxby had an electronics kit at the age of eight and a television repair business at the age of 14. Reflecting on this in 2006, he considered himself "destined for the electronics industry".[3] He worked at Rank Bush Murphy, Pye, Motorola and Henderson Security. Immediately prior to his appointment at ARM, he worked at European Silicon Structures.[1]
In 1991 he joined Cambridge-based ARM as their first chief executive officer (CEO) and built it to "a global giant" with offices round the world.[4] He was chief executive from 1991 to 2001, and subsequently chairman from 2001 to 2006. It was at ARM that he made his real impact on the electronic industry. When he was appointed CEO in 1991, he took 12 engineers from Acorn Computers into the newly formed joint venture between Acorn and Apple Inc. With a limited budget of a $1.5 million investment from Apple, he made those 12 engineers into one of the most formidable management teams in the industry. In a memorable early meeting, he persuaded one of the engineers to volunteer to become the vice president (VP) of marketing, another the VP of sales, and so on. Saxby also introduced the licensing model for selling microprocessors, which led to a 95% market share in the mobile phone sector. With a similar success in other sectors, he has made ARM into the world's most successful processor company, with over 50 billion units shipped[5] to date.[1] During his 10 years as CEO, he made ARM the most valuable company in the Cambridge cluster, with a market capitalisation of over $10bn. ARM under his leadership became a global company with offices in many countries and licences taken by all significant semiconductor companies in the world. This is a unique achievement for a British company, especially in electronics.[1]
Since his retirement from ARM, he has become a tireless promoter of young entrepreneurs and is involved in a number of start-up companies which he supports with advice, finance and infinite patience. He has dedicated time to mentoring young entrepreneurs, helping them through difficult times and never losing faith in them.[1][6][7][8]
He received the Faraday Medal of the IEE (now the IET). He was knighted in the 2002 New Year Honours List. He became president of the IET on 1 October 2006[12] and stepped down on 30 September 2007. In 2013 he presented the IET prestigious Pinkerton Lecture at the Infosys auditorium in Bangalore, India. He was president of the Old Cestrefeldians Society 2012/13.[13] Saxby was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015.[1]
Saxby received the 2019 IEEE Founders Medal “For achievements in developing a globally successful electronics enterprise with an innovative approach to licensing of Intellectual Property.”
Personal life
Saxby married Patricia Bell in 1970. They have a son and a daughter.[2][13]
^Peter Day (4 June 2007). "An Evening with Sir Robin Saxby". IET. Retrieved 24 March 2015. Sir Robin Saxby FREng BEng CEng HonFIET was involved in the founding of ARM and served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer since joining the company full-time in February 1991.
^ISMS. "Anglia Ruskin University's Honorary Graduate Site". ww2.anglia.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015. Sir Robin Saxby is a highly respected engineer, manager and entrepreneur. He was born in Derbyshire, educated at Chesterfield Boys Grammar and obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics) from Liverpool University where he is now a Visiting Professor.
