PEOPLE
01/01/2006
Acacia Research Corp., a Newport Beach, Calif., holding company whose CombiMatrix division makes microfluidic products, announced that Jonathan Said joined CombiMatrix’s wholly owned subsidiary, CombiMatrix Molecular Diagnostics, as a member of its scientific advisory board. Said is chief of the division of anatomic pathology at UCLA Medical Center for the Health Sciences.
Advance Nanotech Inc., a New York-based provider of financing and support services for nanotechnology companies, announced the appointment of Thomas Finn as chief financial officer. Finn was formerly financial controller. As CFO, he will be responsible for designing and implementing financial reporting infrastructure, policies and procedures. Advance Nanotech also appointed Tony Goncalves to its board of directors. Goncalves is associate director at Purdue Pharma L.P.
Arrowhead Research Corp., a Pasadena, Calif.-based funder and developer of nanotechnology research and companies, announced the appointment of Leon Ekchian as president. Ekchian’s responsibilities will include overseeing the day-to-day operations of Arrowhead’s subsidiaries and developing its long-term strategic plan. Ekchian was president and chief executive officer of Litex Inc., a Lockheed Martin spinoff focused on the commercialization of advanced electronic automotive technologies.
 Ken Thouvenot |
FKI Logistex, a St. Louis maker of integrated material handling solutions, named Ken Thouvenot as vice president of project management and engineering in the company’s North American manufacturing systems unit. Thouvenot was most recently vice president of project management and marketing. The company also named Matt Wicks as director of systems engineering and Brett Felton as international sales manager.
iCurie Inc., a Miami maker of thermal management products for computers and consumer electronics, named George Meyer vice president of sales and marketing and general manager for the Americas and Europe. Meyer will be responsible for developing key customer relationships, managing the company’s product portfolio and growing sales throughout the industry. Meyer was an executive at Thermacore International, a subsidiary of Modine Manufacturing, from 1977 to 2004.
MFIC Corp., a Newton, Mass., manufacturer of industrial submicron processing equipment, announced that Eric Walters and George Uveges have been appointed to its board of directors. Walters will serve as chairman of the audit committee, while Uveges also joins that committee. Walters is vice president and chief financial officer of CardioTech International Inc. Uveges is a founder and principal in the Tallwood Group.
Microchip Biotechnologies Inc., a Dublin, Calif., company that is developing nanofluidic sample preparation and analytical instrumentation for the genomics and biodefense markets, named Barney Saunders as chief operating officer. Saunders was with Agilent Technologies, where he held the positions of general manager and vice president for bio research solutions and senior director of science and technology.
Nanomix Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based developer of sensors using carbon nanotubes, named Gregory Schiffman to its board of directors and appointed him chairman of its audit committee. Schiffman is executive vice president and CFO of Affymetrix.
 Steve Leach |
Nanotechnologies Inc., an Austin, Texas, nanoparticle synthesis and applications company, named Steve Leach chief executive officer. Leach is responsible for the company’s overall strategic direction, with emphasis on developing its product and application roadmap and accelerating commercial programs. Leach was with Dell Corp. in a variety of roles in product development and corporate venture capital.
Qcept Technologies Inc., an Atlanta maker of chemical metrology tools, named Erik Smith as president and COO. Smith will be responsible for product development, applications, sales and marketing, and day-to-day operations at Qcept. Smith was with Ultratech Inc. as senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing.
 Cliff Chen |
Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials’ CMP Technologies group, a Phoenix developer of chemical mechanical planarization technology, named Cliff Chen plant manager at its Asia Pacific Manufacturing and Technical Center in the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan. Chen will be responsible for the construction and execution of the pad manufacturing operations at the facility. Prior to joining CMP Technologies, Chen supervised the manufacturing department at CMC Electrical Ltd.
Veeco Instruments Inc., a Woodbury, N.Y., maker of metrology tools and process equipment, named Jeannine Sargent as executive vice president of metrology and instrumentation. Sargent was formerly executive vice president and general manager of the research atomic force microscope and nanobio business unit. The company also named Robert Oates as senior vice president of data storage. He was formerly senior vice president of ion beam operations.