James Cashman III

Executive Chairman, ANSYS, Inc.

Jim Cashman’s 45 years of experience in the areas of technical, financial, operation and sales management has been key to the success of numerous computer software, product data management, transaction processing, and computer-aided engineering companies.

In each role, Cashman has focused on developing clarity-of-vision and providing appropriate guidance to steer teams in the right direction.
Most recently, Cashman served for over 20 years at ANSYS, the market leader in simulation software and technologies that are widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries. He served as CEO from 2000 through 2016 during which ANSYS grew annual revenues from $50 million to $1 billion, and ranked in the top 5 of public technology companies in terms of total returns over that span. He then served for three years as Executive Chairman during which the company joined the S&P500. He has been featured in many publications, as well as on CNBC, CNN, FBN, Bloomberg and other on-air news outlets.

Before joining ANSYS, Cashman was vice president for international operations, marketing and software development at PAR Technology Corporation. Prior to that, he was a founder of Metaphase Technology, which went on to be a leader in product data management. He was also an early stage member of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), a computer-aided engineering company where he held management positions in the areas of international sales, major accounts and market development, and product management. His efforts contributed to making SDRC one of the premier CAD software suppliers and the company grew to more than $400M in revenues during his tenure.

He was an active member of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, serving for 10 years as chairman of its board of directors and its executive committee. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for National Instruments, and Certara, a bio-tech simulation firm. He is a member of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and is an Entrepreneur of the Year awardee as well as a western Pennsylvania CEO of the year award.

An active volunteer in this own community, Cashman advocated corporate-sponsored and personal citizenship. He made a company commitment to improve and enrich life in all the global locales in which employees reside and work. A few examples of some of the corporate initiatives include multiple corporate-citizen awardee for Habitat for Humanity, including several houses built in southwestern Pennsylvanian, fundraising for the Washington City Missions and Women’s Shelter, support of multiple charities through the ANSYS Tickets FORE Charity program as part of the Mylan Classic and long-standing support of initiatives at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

For the past decade, Cashman has been a mentor for the fellows program Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He also serves on the President’s Advisory Council at Carnegie Mellon University. He has experienced the benefits of the region’s Junior Achievement program as a student participant, a corporate advisor, team sponsor and chairman of annual campaigns in Washington County. He has seen, first hand, how valuable this program can be in preparing today’s youth as the employees, consumers and business leaders of tomorrow.