People

10/01/2000

The Air Liquide Group, Paris, France, has named Pierre Dufour head of North American operations, based in Houston, TX. Dufour becomes CEO of Air Liquide America Corp. and chairman of Air Liquide Canada, as well as a member of the group's executive committee. Dufour joined the group in 1997 as VP of worldwide engineering, and has been COO at the American subsidiary since last August.

Jack Penrod has been appointed GM and COO of Strasbaugh, San Luis Obispo, CA. He has 35 years of executive management, operations, manufacturing, and quality experience, and has held several positions with SAES SpA, an Italian company, including COO and GM for SAES pure gas operations in San Luis Obispo.

Mitchell G. Tyson, president and CEO of PRI Automation Inc., Billerica, MA, has been elected to the board of directors of Structural Dynamics Research Corp. (SDRC), Cincinnati, OH. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Semiconductor Industry Suppliers Association of America, the North American Advisory Board of Semi, and the board of directors of the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

Geoffery Ryding has joined the board of directors at Ion Implant Services, Sunnyvale, CA. Ryding is president of

Orion Equipment Corp., an ion implant technology development and manufacturing company, and is the former president/CEO of Ibis Technology.

EPI MBE Products Group, St. Paul, MN, has named David Reamer president. He was most recently director of business development for ADC Telecommunications; before that, he was associated with EPI as director of marketing and sales. He is also a member of EPI's board of directors. Reamer replaces Paul Colombo, who remains as the company's founder and chairman.

The BOC Group plc, London, UK, has appointed Dick Grant to its board of directors. Grant is CEO of BOC's process gas solution business and a member of the company's executive management board. Separately, BOC Gases, Murray Hill, NJ, has promoted Ned Galbally to senior VP of global operations for its process gas solutions business. He previously served as senior VP of operations for the company's tonnage and applied gas solutions business.

KeyAssets.com Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has appointed John C. Matthews to its board of directors. Matthews, a former president of Fusion Systems Corp., has more than 20 years of semiconductor experience.

ESM Ltd., Newport, UK, has appointed Robert C. Wright CEO for its worldwide operations. Wright will take on the role of CEO following a close working relationship with ESM operations in its 6-in. and 8-in. wafer fab facilities.

Kopin Corp., Taunton, MA, has named Hong Choi chief technology officer. Before joining Kopin, Choi spent 17 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Lab, most recently as a senior staff member.

PDF Solutions Inc., San Jose, CA, has named Steve Rowe VP of human resources. He was most recently VP of human resources at Trident Microsystems Inc. Roland Ruehl was appointed VP of layout analysis. He was previously CEO of Integrated Systems Engineering AG. Daniel A. Miranda was named director of business development. He was formerly manager of strategic business planning for the Epic Technology Group of Synopsys Inc.