STATS ChipPAC Ltd., a provider of advanced semiconductor packaging and test services, announced today the promotion and appointment of Dr. Han Byung Joon as Co-President and Chief Executive Officer for the Company, together with Mr Tan Lay Koon.
Mr. Tan Lay Koon and Dr. BJ Han will both report to the Board and be jointly responsible for the management, strategy and performance of the Company.
“I am pleased that Dr BJ Han will be serving as Co-President and Chief Executive Officer with Mr Tan Lay Koon. Dr BJ Han is an experienced and effective leader who has served as our Chief Technology Officer and Head of Global Sales and Advanced Technology Marketing. I look forward to his continued contribution and leadership with Mr Tan Lay Koon,” said Mr Wang XinChao, Chairman of the Board, STATS ChipPAC.
Dr. BJ Han has been the Company’s Chief Technology Officer since 1999. He is also responsible for Advanced Technology Marketing and is the Head of Global Sales for the Company. Prior to joining us, Dr. Han worked at Anam Semiconductor, AT&T Bell Labs and IBM. He received his Doctorate from Columbia University and attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Advanced Management Program.
Dr. BJ Han is clearly a great innovator and leader.
Joint leadership only works as long as both parties are open and trusting in each other, and have way of ending disagreements on key strategic changes. Motorola’s often bad experience with this idea showed over the years when Al Stein revolted at the idea, and lost his job. In my opinion, Motorola would have been better off to keep both men in a more creative way than joint-leadership roles based on fear of leaders being “captured” by competitors and taking many of their loyal staff with time, as Lester Hogan did when Fairchild bought his entire team, leaving Motorola very weak from 1968 to 1975 during which time the dual leadership idea was developed and many mid-level-managers were moved around into roles they did not fully understand.
One almost has to assume a time limit, such as the older leader planning to move to the board, perhaps as Chairman, or retire. Clarification of long term roles and timing might make this type of leadership-sharing easier to understand for investors who have seen it fail elsewhere.