Joe Costello, the former Cadence Design Inc president and chief executive who was supposed to be joining Larry Ellison and Michael Milken on the board of Knowledge Universe LLC (CI No 3,273), has joined Italian computer-aided design outfit Cad.Lab Inc as managing director and chairman. Costello is a charismatic character who, it was widely agreed, was the visionary and driving force behind Cadence, the San Jose, California electronic design automation firm. On his departure from Cadence in October after some 13 years Cadence said he was the world’s best kept secret as a chief executive. He was due to join Los Angeles-based Knowledge Universe a company formed to provide ‘lifelong educational software’ as vice president, saying he was ready for a new challenge. As we went to press, Costello was not available for comment, but it seems he will be able to bring his direct experience at Cadence to bear at Cad.Lab, which claims industry leadership in the Italian mechanical computer-aided design MCAD market and has offices throughout the US and in Italy, France and Germany.
