Carl Bass

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Carl Bass
Carl Bass Autodesk.jpg
Bass in February 2009
BornMay 18, 1957
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Former CEO and President of Autodesk
SpouseDaryl Austern

Carl Bass is a former president and chief executive officer of Autodesk, Inc., [1] a maker of professional 3D design software and consumer applications, and was a co-founder of Ithaca Software, [2] which commercialized HOOPS, a 3D graphics system. Bass has been credited with expanding Autodesk beyond its core AutoCAD software through acquisitions and new product developments [3] and transitioning from 2D to 3D model-based design. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Bass was born in New York City, to a chemist father and school teacher mother. After starting at Cornell University, Bass took a break to build boats, furniture, and sculpture in Seattle and Maine for five years. He returned to Cornell and graduated with Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1983.[ citation needed ]

Career

In 1981, Bass co-founded a computer graphics company called Flying Moose Systems and Graphics Ltd., which became Ithaca Software in 1986.[ citation needed ] The company commercialized HOOPS, a 3D graphics system originally developed at Cornell University in the mid-1980s. Bass served as Ithaca Software’s chief technology officer and CEO.[ citation needed ] He joined Autodesk when the company acquired Ithaca Software in 1993, serving as the chief architect for AutoCAD. [2] In 1995, Bass was forced out by Autodesk’s then president and CEO Carol Bartz, only to be rehired five months later, after top Autodesk engineers said they needed Bass’s software development skills. [4]

Bass left Autodesk in 1999 to launch Buzzsaw, [5] an online service for management of construction projects, where he served as president and CEO. [2] Bass returned to Autodesk when it acquired the company in 2001. [5] In addition to being the company's president and CEO from 2006 through 2017, Bass held a number of high-level positions at Autodesk, including executive vice president and chief strategy officer (2001 to 2002); senior executive vice president of the Design Solutions Group (2002 to 2004); chief operating officer (2004 to 2006); and interim chief financial officer (2008 to 2009). [6]

Tenure at Autodesk

In 2006, Carol Bartz stepped down as Autodesk’s president and CEO, naming Bass as her replacement. [7]

During his tenure as CEO, Bass focused on expanding the company beyond its core AutoCAD software through acquisitions and new product development, [3] and transitioning from 2D to 3D design. [2] He emphasized vertical markets focusing on model-based design, simulation, and lifecycle management. [2] Under his direction, Autodesk introduced consumer-oriented products such as SketchBook, a mobile painting and drawing app with more than 7 million users as of Nov. 2011. [8] Bass helped lead the company to develop Building Information Modeling (BIM) and generative design technologies. [9] In March 2008, Autodesk was ranked number 25 on Fast Company's list of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies." [10]

Bass serves on the Board of Directors of Autodesk, HP Inc., Zendesk Inc., Planet, VELO3D, Formlabs Inc, Box, and Built Robotics. [1] [11] He also serves on the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Art Center College of Design, and California College of the Arts, and is a member of the advisory boards of Cornell Computing and Information Science, UC Berkeley School of Information, and UC Berkeley College of Engineering. [1] He currently acts as an advisor to Zoox Inc. and a special advisor to Alphabet CEO Larry Page. [12]

Bass announced that he would be stepping down as Autodesk's CEO effective on February 8, 2017. He remains a board member and special advisor to the company. [13]

Personal life

Bass owns a workshop near his home in Berkeley, Calif., [4] where he designs and fabricates objects made from wood, metal and stone. Bass’ projects have included furniture, sculpture and a walk-in wooden rocket ship he built for his children, [14] which is on permanent display at Chabot Science Center.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AutoCAD</span> Commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application

AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software application developed by Autodesk. It was first released in December 1982 for the CP/M and IBM PC platforms as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. Initially a DOS application, subsequent versions were later released for other platforms including Classic Mac OS (1992), Microsoft Windows (1993) and macOS (2010), iOS (2010), and Android (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-aided design</span> Constructing a product by means of computer

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing. Designs made through CAD software help protect products and inventions when used in patent applications. CAD output is often in the form of electronic files for print, machining, or other manufacturing operations. The terms computer-aided drafting (CAD) and computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) are also used.

Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has offices worldwide. Its U.S. offices are located in the states of California, Oregon, Colorado, Texas, Michigan, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its Canada offices are located in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta.

John Wallace Walker was an American computer programmer, author and co-founder of the computer-aided design software company Autodesk. He was later recognized for his writing on his website Fourmilab.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autodesk Revit</span> Building information modelling software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol Bartz</span> American computer scientist and business executive (born 1948)

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HOOPS Visualize is a 3D computer graphics software designed to render graphics across both mobile and desktop platforms. HOOPS Visualize provides 3D Graphics API to render CAD models. It's part of the HOOPS 3D Application Framework SDK. Since June 2018 it's licensed via Siemens PLM Software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autodesk 123D</span> Hobbyist CAD and 3D modeling program suite

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Siemens Digital Industries Software is an American computer software company specializing in 3D & 2D Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software. The company is a business unit of Siemens, operates under the legal name of Siemens Industry Software Inc, and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.

Micro Engineering Solutions, Inc. was a CAD/CAM software company founded in 1986 by Lynn and Jim Hock and Bill Harris in Farmington, Michigan. The initial product was "Solution 3000", a PC-based CAD/CAM system that ran on a standard IBM PC AT, running under IBM PC DOS, with 640 KB of memory. Additional required hardware included a math coprocessor, a 20 MB hard disk drive with floppy disk backup, a graphics display interface, and a graphics monitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IRONCAD</span>

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Computer-aided design is the use of computers to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. Designers have used computers for calculations since their invention. CAD software was popularized and innovated in the 1960s, although various developments were made between the mid-1940s and 1950s. Digital computers were used in power system analysis or optimization as early as proto-"Whirlwind" in 1949. Circuit design theory or power network methodology was algebraic, symbolic, and often vector-based.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Carl Bass". News Room. Autodesk. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Carl Bass". Executive Profile. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on April 10, 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 "The Carl Bass interview". Interviews. Develop3D. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 Flinn, Ryan. "Autodesk's Bass Applies Woodshop Lessons to His Design-Software Business". News. Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 Menezes, Deelip. "A Conversation With Carl Bass - Part 2". Deelip.com. Deelip.com. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Carl Bass". Technology. Forbes. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Lee, Ellen (18 January 2006). "Carol Bartz stepping down as Autodesk CEO, president". Business. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  8. ↑ Temple, James (27 November 2011). "Autodesk CEO Carl Bass talks about 3-D and more". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Roopinder Tara, Carl Bass Brings Autodesk Into Its Golden Age. Engineering.com. https://www.engineering.com/DesignSoftware/DesignSoftwareArticles/ArticleID/11247/Carl-Bass-Brings-Autodesk-Into-Its-Golden-Age.aspx?e_src=relart
  10. ↑ "The World's Most Innovative Companies". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "Box Announces Appointment of Carl Bass, Former President and CEO of Autodesk, to Its Board of Directors". Business (Press release). Box.com. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  12. ↑ Loizos, Connie (10 February 2017). "Carl Bass on his surprising Autodesk exit — and what's next". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  13. ↑ "Autodesk CEO Carl Bass To Resign; Reiterates Non-GAAP Business Outlook". NASDAQ.com. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Anders, George. "Cutting-Edge Executives". The Wealth Report. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
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