Carl Bass

Bass left Autodesk in 1999 to launch Buzzsaw, an online service for management of construction projects, where he served as president and CEO.

Tenure at Autodesk In 2006, Carol Bartz stepped down as Autodesk’s president and CEO, naming Bass as her replacement.

During his tenure as CEO, Bass focused on expanding the company beyond its core AutoCAD software through acquisitions and new product development, Bass helped lead the company to develop Building Information Modeling (BIM) and generative design technologies. In March 2008, Autodesk was ranked number 25 on Fast Company's list of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies."

Bass serves on the Board of Directors of Autodesk, HP Inc., Zendesk Inc., Planet, VELO3D, Formlabs Inc, Box, and Built Robotics. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Art Center College of Design, and California College of the Arts, and is a member of the advisory boards of Cornell Computing and Information Science, UC Berkeley School of Information, and UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

Bass announced that he would be stepping down as Autodesk's CEO effective on February 8, 2017. He remains a board member and special advisor to the company.

Personal life Bass owns a workshop near his home in Berkeley, Calif., which is on permanent display at Chabot Science Center.