Primary Job Title Executive Manager Primary Organization 
Tzannes Patent Management, LLC
Location Boston, Massachusetts, United States Regions Greater Boston Area, East Coast, New England Gender Male Also Known As Μιχαλης Τζαννες
Investor Type Number of Exits
LinkedIn View on LinkedIn
Michael Tzannes has spent his career leading companies and building teams that improve the way people process and communicate digital information.
From 1990 to 2012, he was with Aware, Inc. (NASDAQ: AWRE, IPO in 2016) as Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technical Officer. Aware was a communications technology pioneer and
the leading supplier of silicon intellectual property to the digital subscriber line (DSL) industry.
Since 2012, Michael has been an advisor and informal investor in start-ups in Greece. Michael was Chairman and co-Founder of audio software company Accusonus, acquired in 2022 by Meta. He also currently serves on Boards at Irida Labs, Yodiwo, Athroa Innovations and 5G Ventures. In 2023, Michael invested in and joined the Board of Digital Earth Solutions in Spain.
In 2012, he and Marcos Tzannes founded TzPM, providing business strategy and intellectual property management as well as expert advice in technology licensing and patent litigation.
The Optimality Fund, which Michael started with Alex Tsilfidis and Elias Kokkinis in 2022 invests in technology startups.
Michael is a lifelong innovator with patents in core technologies for multicarrier DWMT communications, MP3 audio, DSL, Wi-Fi, LTE and audio processing. Michael also founded Aware's patent management operations and sold DSL, networking and signal processing patents to Intellectual Ventures, Intel, Techquity and others.
Michael is on the Advisory Board for the Electrical Engineering department at Tufts University. He is a member of classic rock cover band French Lick that performs at charity events throughout the Boston area. Michael was valedictorian at the University of Patras, Greece and holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from Tufts University, all in Electrical Engineering.
