Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande co-founded Sycamore and has served as chairman of the board of directors since Sycamore's inception in February 1998. Before founding Sycamore, Dr. Deshpande co-founded Cascade Communications Corp., a provider of wide area network switches. In addition to Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande is the Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, A123 Systems, Inc., and Tejas Networks. Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous donations have made possible MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. He holds a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, an M.E. from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and a Ph.D from Queens University in Canada. He and his wife are involved in several non-profit initiatives that include support for MIT, IIT, Akshaya Patra Foundation, and the Social Entrepreneurship Sandboxes in India and the USA. Dr. Deshpande co-chairs a National Council to support President Obama's innovation and entrepreneurship strategy with Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan and Steve Case, co-founder of AOL.

Daniel E. Smith has served as president, chief executive officer, and as a member of the board of directors since October 1998. From June 1997 to July 1998, Mr. Smith was executive vice president and general manager of the core switching division of Ascend Communications, Inc., a provider of wide area network switches and access data networking equipment. Mr. Smith was also a member of the board of directors of Ascend Communications, Inc. during that time. From April 1992 to June 1997, Mr. Smith served as president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Cascade Communications Corp.

Craig Benson has served as a director since October 2007. Mr. Benson is former chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer at Cabletron Systems. Mr. Benson co-founded Cabletron in 1983, growing the company from a two-man start-up operation to one of the world's leading providers of computer networking solutions. In 1996, Cabletron Systems sold systems in excess of $1.6 billion, with an employee base of 7,000 worldwide and 1,600 engineers. By 1997, Cabletron Systems logged 52 straight quarters of record profits and record sales. Inc. Magazine named Mr. Benson "Entrepreneur of the Year" in 1991. In 2002, Mr. Benson was elected Governor of the State of New Hampshire, winning with a strong majority and delivering on his commitment to use technology and greater efficiency to save money in state government. As governor, Mr. Benson successfully introduced a number of ground-breaking initiatives in health care, education reform, and government operations. During his tenure, Mr. Benson was recognized by the CATO Institute as the best newly elected governor and the second best governor in the country. Mr. Benson graduated from Babson College with a degree in finance and completed an MBA in operations management from Syracuse University. He currently serves as chief executive officer of Anseri Corporation, a private company that provides wireless networking and communication products and solutions. He also sits on two non-profit boards and teaches courses on entrepreneurship at Babson College.

Robert E. Donahue has served as a director since July 2007. From August 2004 to November 2007, Mr. Donahue served as the president and chief executive officer of Authorize.Net Holdings, Inc. (formerly, Lightbridge, Inc.), a leading transaction processing company, before it was acquired by Cybersource Corporation, a provider of electronic payment and risk management solutions, in November of 2007. Mr. Donahue began serving as a member of the Cybersource Corporation board of directors as of the acquisition date. From October 2004 to June 2005, Mr. Donahue was a member of the board of directors of Concord Communications, Inc., a provider of automating technology for Internet infrastructure. From November 2003 to January 2004, Mr. Donahue provided financial consulting services to KO Instruments, Inc., an electronic instruments manufacturer. Previously, Mr. Donahue was vice president and general manager of Americas After Market Solutions at Celestica, Inc., an electronics manufacturing services provider, from November 2002 until November 2003; and president and chief operating officer of Manufacturers Services, Ltd., an electronics manufacturing services company, from October 2000 to March 2002. From January 1999 to October 2000, Mr. Donahue was president and chief financial officer of Manufacturers Services, Ltd., after having served as chief financial officer of that company from August 1997 to January 1999. Mr. Donahue previously was chief financial officer of Stratus Computer, Inc.

John W. Gerdelman has served as a director since September 1999. Mr. Gerdelman currently serves as the president of Long Lines, an innovative telecommunications provider serving business and residential customers in Northwest Iowa. Beginning in January 2004, Mr. Gerdelman was executive chairman of Intelliden Corporation, a company which he co-founded that provided software solutions to automate network change management and enforce business policy in network operations, before it was sold to IBM in April 2010. From April 2002 through December 2003, Mr. Gerdelman took on the bankruptcy reorganization of Metromedia Fiber Networks, a provider of digital communications infrastructure, as president and chief executive officer. Metromedia Fiber Networks successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2003 as AboveNet, Inc. From January 2000 through March 2002, Mr. Gerdelman was a managing member of Mortonsgroup, LLC, a partnership investing in early stage companies. From April 1999 through December 1999, Mr. Gerdelman was president and chief executive officer of USA.Net Inc., a web-based electronic messaging services provider. Previously, Mr. Gerdelman had served as an executive vice president at MCI Corporation. In addition to Sycamore, Mr. Gerdelman also serves on the boards of directors of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., a storage area network company that extends its expertise across the entire network, and Owens and Minor, a world-class provider of supply chain management for the healthcare industry.