Robert L. Kross — Senior Vice President of Design, Lifecycle & Simulation at Autodesk

Mr. Robert L. Kross, also known as Buzz, serves as Senior Vice President of Design, Lifecycle & Simulation of Autodesk Limited and Autodesk, Inc. Mr. Kross is responsible for defining and producing the world's best products for life cycle management, simulation, mechanical design and manufacturing engineering. He drives the development of Autodesk products including Autodesk?? PLM 360, Autodesk?? Product Design Suite, Autodesk?? Factory Design Suite and Autodesk?? Inventor?? software, which helps users go beyond 3D to Digital Prototyping. He has more than 20 years experience in the manufacturing and CAD/CAM industries. He served as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk, Inc. since March 2007. He was responsible for developing innovative technology solutions that meet the specific needs of mechanical engineers, designers and drafters. He served as Vice President of Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk, Inc., from December 2002 to March 2007 and served as its Director in the Manufacturing Division from February 1998 to December 2002. He joined Autodesk in November 1993. He co-founded and served as the President of Woodbourne Inc., which was acquired by Autodesk in 1993. He began his career as a Mechanical Engineer at Triangle Package Machinery. He then went on to spend nine years at General Electric and GE Calma with positions in software development, application engineering and technical management for the United States. He worked on the development and marketing of the group's core products, including AutoCAD Mechanical, Autodesk Mechanical Desktop, Autodesk Streamline and Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk's premier 3D mechanical design software. Mr. Kross holds a Bachelor of Science degree from North Central College in the Chicago, Illinois area.