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Vitesse Semiconductor Board of Directors

This site and the group of people it represents, is a really unique experiment in capitalism. The “Old Vitesse” headed by Lou Tomasetta showed a complete disdain for the owners of the company. To a large degree, this disdain continues under the present Board of Directors and is a major reason why this Board is in need of major restructuring.

How can a board of directors fulfill their responsibilities when they fail to acknowledge the existence of the company owners? Signs are that the “New Vitesse” under the leadership of Chris Gardner, will be more responsive to the shareholders and the last two conference calls would seem to indicate this.

Below are the current members of our Board:

Edward Rogas, Jr., 64, appointed Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee on 12.14.06, has been a Director since January, 2006. From 2000-2005, he served as Senior Vice President at Teradyne, an automated test-equipment manufacturer. From 1976-2000, he was in management in the Semi/ATE portion of Teradyne, including Vice President from 1984-2000. He was Vice President at American R&D from 1973-1976.

Chris Gardner, 46, was made a member of both the Board and its Executive Committee on 10.26.06. He joined Vitesse in 1986, and served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from November, 2000, to June, 2002. From June, 2002, until he was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer on April 18, 2006, he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Network Products Division. He received his B.S.E.E. from Cornell University, and his M.S.E.E. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Alex Daly, 44, has been a Director since January, 1998, and is founder/CEO of Nutrophy, Inc., since its inception in April, 2002. From 1998-2000, he was President/CEO of Cygnus Solutions. From 1995-1997, he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at C-Cube Microsystems. Prior to that, Daly was Intel's Director of Marketing for the mobile-computing group.

Vincent W. S. Chan, Ph.D., 57, became a Director in April, 2000. He is also an M.I.T. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Director of MIT's Lab for Information and Decision Systems. He has spent over 25 years leading the development of advanced communication systems, but appeared hardly involved in Board actions since the April trading halt, managed essentially by a four-member quorum.

Willow B. Shire became a director on June 26, 2007. She has been appointed the chair of the Compensation and Governance Committees of the Board of Directors of the Company. Ms. Shire has been an executive consultant with Orchard Consulting Group since 1994, specializing in leadership development and strategic problem solving. During her professional career, she spent 20 years in the computer industry. She served as a vice president and officer at Digital Equipment Corporation with responsibility for its $1 billion healthcare market. She is currently on the board of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) where she has led the corporate governance committee for the last 10 years. Additionally, she has been a presenter for board governance issues for the Board Leaders and the National Association for Corporate Directors (NACD). Ms. Shire holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University’s School of Education and a master’s degree from Harvard School of Education. She has also completed the International Marketing and Management Program at INSEAD in Fontaineblueu, France and completed advanced studies in organization design and behavior with Noel Tichy at Columbia University.