People Update
01/01/1997
SEMATECH, Austin, TX, has named Mark Melliar-Smith president and COO. He has served as chief technical officer of Lucent Technologies` Microelectronics Group since 1990, and is also executive director of the Integrated Circuits Division of Bell Labs. He will succeed William Spencer as CEO in 1998. Current COO Jim Owens will stay on into the first quarter of 1997 before returning to National Semiconductor.
Materials Research Corp. (MRC), Orangeburg, NY, has named Robert Foster president and CEO. He was formerly VP and GM of MRC`s Chemical Vapor Deposition Division. Stephen J. Breckley has been appointed executive VP and COO. He was VP of strategy and business development at MRC. In addition, James Feijoo has been named VP of North American sales. Prior to joining MRC, he served as VP of sales operations for Philips Components, and VP of North American sales for Philips Semiconductors. He replaces Paul Segal, who was named VP of Asia/Pacific sales.
Charles E. Erickson has been named president and CEO of ExpertEdge Corp., San Jose, CA. He was president, CEO, and chief technical officer of Digital Pathways Inc. Erickson succeeds David Lam, who will remain with the company as a director.
Fluoroware Inc., Chaska, MN, has appointed Stan Geyer president and CEO. Geyer has served Fluoroware for 18 years, most recently as president and COO. In addition, Jim Dauwalter has been named executive VP and COO. A nearly 25-year veteran of Fluoroware, he was previously executive VP of the company. He also served as VP of sales and marketing, VP of operations, and sales manager.
Karl Suss America Inc., Waterbury Center, VT, has named Peter Szafir president. Since joining Karl Suss in 1983, Szafir has worked as manufacturing manager and, most recently, as GM. Before that, he held positions at Motorola and Varian Associates. He succeeds Peter Heinz, who has been named president of Suss Advanced Lithography, the x-ray lithography unit of Karl Suss in Munich, Germany.
Robertson Stephens & Co., San Francisco, CA, has appointed Susan Billat semiconductor capital equipment market analyst. Billat was senior VP of marketing at Ultratech Stepper.
Novellus Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, has named Sheila Vaidya group VP of its newly formed Metals Business Group. Prior to joining Novellus, Vaidya served as director of the Advanced CVD Metals Product Unit of Applied Materials, and was supervisor in three research groups at AT&T Bell Labs.
Particle Measuring Systems Inc., Boulder, CO, has appointed Mike Haas director of finance. Most recently, he was a business analyst at IBM in Boulder, CO.
Before that, he served as advisory financial analyst at IBM`s Endicott, NY, facility.
Daw Technologies Inc., has appointed Peter J. Spransy VP of research and development. He has been with the company for nine years.
ADE Corp., Westwood, MA, has named Tony Muraco VP of manufacturing operations. Since joining ADE in 1992, he has held positions as materials manager and director of manufacturing. In addition, Steve Brylinsky has been appointed director of US sales. He was VP of sales at SemiTest.
Victoria Hadfield has been promoted to VP of public policy at SEMI, Mountain View, CA. Hadfield joined SEMI in 1987 as director of public policy.
Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co., St. Louis, MO, has named Stephen Desloge VP of finance and administration. Before joining Watlow, Desloge spent 19 years at Coopers & Lybrand, most recently as a partner.
David Walker has been promoted to director of Connecticut operations by Photronics Inc., Brookfield, CT. He joined the company in 1995, and was most recently manager of operations. He replaces Lance Kramer, who now directs an employee empowerment program.
CFM Technologies Inc., West Chester, PA, has named Garry Mayers VP of customer satisfaction. Mayers has more than 20 years of experience in customer support and field service, most recently as director of worldwide customer service at ADE Corp. Huw Thomas, executive VP in the customer satisfaction organization, is leaving the company to pursue personal interests.
Chemwest Systems Inc., Portland, OR, has appointed John A. Calhoun to the company`s board of directors. Calhoun is currently president of CMC Research Inc. He spent 19 years with Intel Corp.
Semifab, Hollister, CA, has named Edward Erickson director of engineering. He has 12 years of service with United Technologies-Chemical Systems Division, where
he was most recently manufacturing operations manager.
DuPont Photomasks Inc. (DPI), Round Rock, TX, has appointed Gilbert V. Shelden director of engineering. Prior to joining the company, Shelden headed photomask development at SEMATECH. He succeeds Paul Chipman, who has been named GM of the DPI Reticle Technology Center. In addition, Randal W. Chance has been named manufacturing technology consultant to DPI`s Round Rock production facility. He has held positions at Texas Instruments, Mostek, and Micron Technology.
Zmation Inc., Portland, OR, has appointed Don Tennyson manager of field service operations. He was formerly a regional service engineer for Mydata Corp.
Kinetico Inc., Newbury, OH, has named Robert Shaw electrical engineer. Shaw has more than six years of engineering and computer programming
experience.
Anthony S.S. Chan has been appointed CFO and VP of finance and administration at Tessera, San Jose, CA. Most recently, he was CFO, treasurer, and VP of finance/administration at QuickLogic Corp. Before that, he held senior financial positions at NEXGEN Inc., Cygnus Therapeutic Systems, LSI Logic Corp., Memorex/Telex Inc., and VLSI Technology Inc.
Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (AE), Fort Collins, CO, has promoted Tim Kerr to VP of engineering. Before joining AE in 1987, Kerr worked at Hughes Aircraft Co.
GaSonics International, San Jose, CA, has appointed Avner Shelem to VP and GM. He joined GaSonics as VP of engineering in 1994. Before that, Shelem was chief operation officer at AG Associates, and held various managerial and engineering positions at Intel Corp. in Israel. In addition, Ralph C. Kerns has been named VP of technology. He was previously VP of the Metal Etch Business Unit of Lam Research.
Tylan General Inc., San Diego, CA, has named John T. Rabbitt corporate VP of quality and procurement. Most recently, Rabbitt was VP of quality and materials for Span Instruments, a division of Tylan General acquired in July 1996.
Esmat Hamdy has been appointed senior VP of operations at Actel Corp., Sunnyvale, CA. He joined Actel in 1985 as a cofounder and manager of device development.
Micron Technology Inc., Boise, ID, has announced a restructuring of its board of directors. Ed Heitzeberg has resigned, but remains as VP of design, product engineering, and quality assurance. Bill Stover has also resigned, but continues to serve as CFO and VP of finance. In addition, Tyler Lowrey has left the board and will no longer serve as chief operating officer of the company. He will focus his efforts on research and development of advanced technology for future product generations. The board is considering the appointment of independent directors with outside industry expertise to fill these slots.
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., Camarillo, CA, has appointed Robert J. Cutter VP and GM of its Colorado Springs facility. Previously, Cutter was in charge of operations at Rockwell Semiconductor Systems.
Plasma-Therm Inc., St. Petersburg, FL, has promoted Edmond A. Richards to VP of engineering and company officer. He was formerly director of engineering at Plasma-Therm.
SpeedFam Corp., Chandler, AZ, a wholly owned subsidiary of SpeedFam International Inc., has appointed Philbin L. Scott VP and GM of the products group. Scott joined SpeedFam in 1992, and held positions as product manager and assistant general manager for the products group. Before joining the company, he was an industrial engineer for McDonnell Douglas, and served as an environmental engineer for the Toxic Waste Division of the EPA in Ohio with Batelle Labs.
Friedrich Herold has been named GM of the Arizona Photoresist Products Unit of Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, NJ. Herold joined Hoechst AG in Germany in 1985, where he held positions in the Plastic and Waxes Division, Corporate Research and Development, and the Corporate Center. He was most recently business director of Hoechst Celanese Corp.`s Fine Chemicals business.
Soitec, Grenoble, France, has appointed Edward P. Pierrot director of operations at its manufacturing facility. Pierrot has more than 15 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, most recently as VP of operations at CEPE, a Thomson-CSF company. He has also held director and supervisory positions in manufacturing at SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, and Honeywell Inc.`s Solid State Electronics Center.
Defect and Yield Management Inc., Bedford, MA, has named John Whittaker NeuralNet Engineering Data Analysis (NEDA) product manager. Before joining the company, Whittaker held various positions at Teradyne`s Semiconductor CIM Division, including product manager for the Factory Integrated Resource Management System (FIRMS) product line.
Lam Research Corp., Fremont, CA, has appointed Graham Hills director of technology for dielectric etch. He formerly served as director of the Silicon Etch Key Product Unit of Applied Materials, and was a technical staff member with AT&T Bell Labs.
The Semiconductor Division of Greene, Tweed & Co., Kulpsville, PA, has appointed David Johnson sales representative of its Southwestern US territory. In addition, Paul Zamprelli has been named sales representative in New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.
California Eastern Laboratories, Santa Clara, CA, has appointed Eric Bergles market research analyst. Before joining the company, Bergles held market research positions at Strategies Unlimited, Memory Devices Corp., and Frost & Sullivan Market Intelligence.
Extraction Systems Inc., Franklin, MA, has promoted John Piatt product sales manager for VaporSorb filtration systems. He was previously Western regional sales manager for the company, and before that, held positions at Crest Ultrasonics Corp., the J. M. Ney Corp., and Watkins-Johnson Co. In addition, Cameron Case has been named Western regional sales manager. He was most recently Western regional sales manager at Flanders Filters.
Burleigh Instruments Inc., Fishers, NY, has named Edward Friedrich director of sales and marketing for its nanopositioning and life science business unit. He has more than 30 years of experience at Kodak in sales, marketing, distribution, development, and operations, most recently as GM of the Channel Management division.
Catalyst Semiconductor Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has appointed Frederick Chia area sales manager for Southeast Asia, India, and Australia, based in its new sales office in Singapore. Chia was previously a senior sales engineer at Memec Asia Pacific Ltd.