November 15, 2007 – Robert MacKnight, president of Mattson Technology since mid-2005 and COO since 2002, will retire at the end of March 2008, staying on for a transitional period as VP, the company announced. CEO David Dutton will take on the role of president, having held both roles from 2001-2005.
MacKnight joined Mattson in 2001 as EVP of business development and GM of its RTP products unit, and later president of its TFE division. Prior to joining Mattson, he spent several years as president/COO at Microbar, and before that was VP and GM of aftermarket operations at Cymer. He has also held senior management positions with Watkins-Johnson Semiconductor Equipment Group and Eaton Corp.
While acknowledging MacKnight’s contributions as “significant, and we will miss him,” Dutton said in a statement that “with the very strong general managers in place we will be even more aggressive about our opportunities than ever before.”