Biography

Mr. Abate is an experienced board director, entrepreneur, and executive with more than four decades of leadership in technology, telecom, and consumer sectors. Mr. Abate currently serves as chairperson of Wolfspeed, Inc., a leading semiconductor company, GTT Communications, a leading global Tier-1 IP network operator, Mitel Networks Corporation, a business communications and collaboration service provider. and Tacora Resources, a specialty iron-ore mining company. Previously, he served as chairperson & lead director of Southeastern Grocers, independent director and audit committee chair of Denbury, Inc., and independent director of TOPS (now Northeastern Grocers), Broadview Networks, Looking Glass Networks, and Cbeyond Communications. Mr. Abate spent 16 years in operating roles, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Echo360, Inc, a global SaaS education and corporate training platform (sold in 2021). Prior to his operating roles, he spent more than a decade as an investor at Battery Ventures and Whitney & Co, serving on the boards of several private equity-backed businesses and also served as a strategy consultant in the TMT sector for McKinsey & Co. Mr. Abate began his career as a US Air Force officer developing advanced radar and analytics systems for stealth aircraft. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.