Executive Forum

Ajit Manocha is the president and CEO of SEMI, the global industry association serving the electronics manufacturing supply chain. Manocha has more than 35 years of global experience in the semiconductor industry.

Manocha was formerly CEO at GLOBALFOUNDRIES, during which he also served as vice chairman and chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).  Earlier, Manocha served as EVP of worldwide operations at Spansion.  Prior to Spansion, Manocha was EVP and chief manufacturing officer at Philips/NXP Semiconductors.  He began his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories as a research scientist where he was granted several patents related to microelectronics manufacturing.

Luc Van den hove is President and CEO of imec since Juli 1, 2009. Before he was executive vice president and chief operating officer. He joined imec in 1984, starting his research career in the field of silicide and interconnect technologies.
In 1988, he became manager of imec’s micro-patterning group (lithography, dry etching); in 1996, department director of unit process step R&D; and in 1998, vice president of the silicon process and device technology division. In January 2007, he was appointed as imec's EVP & COO. Luc Van den hove received his PhD in electrical engineering from the KU Leuven, Belgium.
He has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and conference contributions.

Since November 20th, 2017, Emmanuel Sabonnadiere is appointed CEO of the Leti of CEA Tech. Before, he was in charge of the Industrial Partners of CEA Tech.
 
Previously, Emmanuel Sabonnadiere was CEO of the Business Group Professional of Philips Lighting based in Amsterdam (NL). From 2008 till 2014, he was CEO & Chairman of General Cable Europe based in Barcelona (Spain). Emmanuel Sabonnadiere was CEO of NKM Noell at Wurzburg (Germany) from 2005 till 2008.  He was vice-president of the Distribution Transformers division of Alstom T&D for 5 years. He began his career in 1992 with Schneider Electric holding various positions including that of Managing Director of development for equipment units.

Emmanuel Sabonnadiere has a strong technological background combined with a successful business track record over decades. With 25+ years of executive leadership of large operations, he had produced successful operating Result and great Team building. He had gained a sound experience of change management in large multi-cultural matrix organizations in order to adapt to the new markets conditions and a strong knowledge of European and International environments. He designed and set-up Strategic Plans including innovation process. Emmanuel Sabonnadiere believes in operational excellence, innovations in technology, talents management and enthusiasm in leadership.

Emmanuel Sabonnadiere obtained a PhD in physics (France), and an engineering degree in Information Technology (France). He holds an MBA (France).

Emmanuel Sabonnadiere is a fully qualified instructor at the ski school in Les Ménuires, and member of the Advisory board of IAC.

Aki is currently the Vice President & General Manager of the Advanced Semiconductor Technology Division at Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL). He is broadly responsible for technology development at TEL, including Patterning Technology, Process Integration, Global R&D, and New Product development among others.

Prior to joining TEL 9 years ago, he worked at IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center for 17 years. At IBM, he worked on process technology development (DRAM, logic) mostly on unit process development and module process development (FEOL to BEOL). During his last two years at IBM, he was the Process Technology Transfer Manager for the "Cell" project (Sony, IBM, Play Station 3) working on all aspects of technology from substrate to final shipped product quality control.

He attended universities in the United States, and has earned a B.S. and M. Eng. in Applied & Engineering Physics from Cornell University, M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Columbia University, and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business, New York University.

His past notable speeches include key note at SPIE and EUVL forums among others

Maria Marced is President of TSMC Europe BV., with responsibility for driving the development, strategy and management of TSMC’s business in Europe. Before joining TSMC, Maria was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sales and Marketing at NXP Semiconductors/Philips Semiconductors. Maria joined Philips Semiconductor in September 2003 as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Connected Multimedia Solutions Business Unit overseeing Philips’ semiconductor solutions for connected consumer applications. Previous to her work with Philips, Maria was employed at Intel where she developed her professional career for more than 19 years, reaching the top position in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region as Vice President and General Manager. She currently serves as Chairwoman of the EMEA Leadership Council of the GSA (Global Semiconductor Alliance).

Maurice Geraets MSc MBA is Co-CEO NXP Semiconductors Netherlands. He has over 25 years of experience in the IT and electronics industry and works at NXP Semiconductors since 2002.

In his current position he focuses on disruptive innovations for ‘secure connections for a smarter world’. This concerns e.g. intelligent transport systems (ITS) and automated driving. Next to his role at NXP, Maurice is active in the governance of the 1 billion Euro Dutch SmartwayZ program, is board member of several associations on automotive and mobility, is member of the Corporate Partnership Board of the OECD International Transport Forum and is member of the management committee of the European industry association AENEAS.

Mr. Geraets holds an Executive MBA degree and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science. Mr. Geraets is Dutch and was born in 1968.

Ruediger Dorn is responsible for driving the Google business across customers in the High Tech and Semiconductor industry. In his work he specializes on how leading digital technologies can solve real business problems with a specific focus on innovation and operational excellence.Prior to Google Ruediger has worked in several international leadership roles for leading US IT companies as well as consulting firms.

An Steegen (°1971) holds a Ph .D in Material Science and Electrical Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven, KUL, in collaboration with the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center, IMEC, in Belgium . She joined IBM Semiconductor R&D in Fishkill, New York, in 2000. As R&D director and executive of IBM’s International Semiconductor Alliance, she was responsible for IBM’s advanced logic semiconductor technology development for the mobile and wireless application market.

In 2010, she rejoined imec, in Belgium. As Executive Vice President, she was in charge of imec’s Semiconductor Technology & Systems division . Dr. Steegen is a recognized leader in semiconductor R&D and an acclaimed and inspiring thought leader in innovation in the IoT and digitalization era . Recently, Dr. An Steegen joined Umicore as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the company’s overall innovation strategy. She is in charge of Umicore’s R&D in the areas of clean mobility materials, recycling and sustainability and she is responsible for Umicore’s new business incubation in adjacent and new opportunity markets. She is also Executive Vice President of the Electro-Optical Materials and Thin Film Products business lines.

Kevin Crofton is CEO of Comet Group, a leading technology company in plasma control and x-ray space.

 His career began 1982 in the aerospace sector. In 1994, Kevin Crofton switched to the semiconductor industry, where he held various management and leadership positions at companies like Lam Research Corporation in the USA, Newport Corporation, NEXX Systems and Aviza Technology UK (now SPTS Technologies). Kevin Crofton was President and Managing Director of SPTS Technologies from 2006 to 2020, and Senior Vice President of KLA.

Kevin Crofton holds an MBA with a concentration in international business from American University and a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech University. He is very well established in the semiconductor industry: as an author of numerous important technical articles, as Vice Chairman of the SEMI International Board of Directors, winner of awards such as the MEMS Industry CEO of the Year 2013 and Board Chairman of Innovate UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult.

Axel Fischer joined Samsung Semiconductor Europe in Year 2002 and is heading as Vice President the Foundry Business Unit in EMEA since 2017. He is leading the European Strategy, Sales, Marketing and Technical Support Organisation.  Prior to this he lead the SLSI Business Unit in Europe.

Previously he worked at Texas Instruments in Nice within the ASIC and Wireless Terminal BUs in Marketing and Business Development Management roles. He started his professional career at Cypress Semiconductor in 1995. 

Axel served as a Board Member in the OSPT Alliance.

Kate Wilson has more than 25 years’ experience in the development and delivery of vacuum and abatement solutions for the global semiconductor industry.Kate joined Edwards in the UK in 1994 on the company’s graduate scheme, moving on to develop her career through a number of product management and business development roles. In 1998, Kate relocated to the US to take up the role of Applications Engineer, working closely with semiconductor OEM customers to understand and develop solutions for their vacuum and abatement requirements.From 2011, Kate played a key role in developing Edwards’ global Applications capability, with a focus on knowledge management and the conversion of customer and market information into product requirements. In the role of Global Applications Manager, Kate relocated to Korea for two years, during which time she gained excellent knowledge of Korean culture and was instrumental in helping Edwards build customer knowledge and relationships across the Asia region.Kate has held the role of VP Marketing Subfab Solutions for Edwards’ global Semiconductor business, based in the UK, since 2017, successfully supporting revenue growth through the delivery of market technology roadmaps, differentiated products, sales support and operations forecasting enabling market share growth.Since 2019, Kate has also served as Diversity Champion for the global vacuum and abatement business, and is a passionate ambassador for diversity and inclusion both within the organisation, and in the wider semiconductor and engineering sectors.Kate will take up the role of President of Edwards’ Semiconductor division in January 2021, based in Burgess Hill, UK.Kate is a dual British and US citizen, and holds a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from Brunel University in the UK.

John joined UTAC in October 2012 with more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry.

From 2007 to 2012, John was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ON Semiconductor. He oversaw the company's world-wide manufacturing, quality, world-class supply chain and information technology operations. Under his leadership, the company doubled its revenues to US$3 billion. He successfully streamlined its global manufacturing operations which included the consolidation of numerous front-end and back-end facilities and the integration of nine corporate acquisitions which involved complicated broad-scope production transfers.

From 2002 to 2007, John was the Chief Executive Officer of 1st Silicon, a wafer foundry in Malaysia.

He successfully built up a diverse customer base and turned the business to breakeven. John was instrumental in selling the company to X-FAB Foundry.

From 1990 to 2002, John served in several executive positions in General Instrument/General Semiconductor, including Chief Operations Officer and President of the company's Asia-Pacific operations. John's industry experience also includes key positions at Unitrode, Fairchild Semiconductor and Analog Devices.

John has a Bachelor of Science degree with honours and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.

As the Group VP of Sustainable Development at Air Liquide, Ashutosh is responsible for development and deployment of the Sustainability roadmap across the organization. This includes all environmental and societal components that are key to the Group’s strategy.

Prior to his current position, Ashutosh was the Chief Technology Officer of Air Liquide’s Electronics business line, leading the definition of global technical vision and product development strategies for the semiconductor market. In previous role as the Worldwide Director of ALOHA™ Electronics Performance Materials, he oversaw Air Liquide’s advanced precursor business that supplies leading edge materials for CVD and ALD processes.Ashutosh joined Air Liquide in 1997.

He holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and was nominated Air Liquide Group Senior Fellow in 2018. He is a co-author of the Handbook of Chemicals and Gases for the Semiconductor Industry, holds 27 US and International patents and has published over 25 research articles in refereed journals.

WALDEN C. RHINES is President and CEO of Cornami, Inc., a fabless software and semiconductor company focused on intelligent computing for fully homomorphic encryption and machine learning. He was previously CEO of Mentor Graphics for 25 years and Chairman of the Board for 17 years.

During his tenure at Mentor, revenue nearly quadrupled and market value of the company increased 10X.Prior to joining Mentor Graphics, Dr. Rhines was Executive Vice President, Semiconductor Group, responsible for TI’s worldwide semiconductor business. During his 21 years at TI, he was President of the Data Systems Group, held numerous semiconductor executive management positions and was directly responsible for the creation and growth of the digital signal processing business which eventually comprised about 50% of TI’s total revenue.Dr. Rhines has served on the boards of Cirrus Logic, QORVO, TriQuint Semiconductor, Global Logic, PTK Corp., SRC and as Chairman of the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (five two-year terms).

He is a Lifetime Fellow of the IEEE and has served on the Board of Trustees of Lewis and Clark College, the National Advisory Board of the University of Michigan and Industrial Committees advising Stanford University and the University of Florida.Dr. Rhines holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, a Master of Science and PhD in materials science and engineering from Stanford University, a master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and Honorary Doctor of Technology degrees from the University of Florida and Nottingham Trent University.

Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He initiated and oversees the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international instruments that have created a global platform for policy-makers, researchers and educators across nations and cultures to innovate and transform educational policies and practices.He has worked for over 20 years with ministers and education leaders around the world to improve quality and equity in education. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that Schleicher “understands the global issues and challenges as well as or better than anyone I’ve met, and he tells me the truth” (The Atlantic, July 11). Former UK Secretary of State Michael Gove called Schleicher “the most important man in English education” – even though he is German and lives in France.Before joining the OECD, he was Director for Analysis at the International Association for Educational Achievement (IEA). He studied Physics in Germany and received a degree in Mathematics and Statistics in Australia. He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the “Theodor Heuss” prize, awarded in the name of the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany for “exemplary democratic engagement”. He holds an honorary Professorship at the University of Heidelberg.

As Chief Executive Officer of AEM, Chandran Nair takes the lead in growing the global business and expanding product offerings for the company. Together with his regional teams, Chandran is responsible for elevating AEM’s position as the global leader in offering application-specific, intelligent system test and handling solutions for semiconductor and electronics companies serving the advanced computing, 5G, and AI markets.

Prior to joining AEM, Chandran was the President of the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Business Unit at ST Engineering, driving the projects on autonomous vehicles and robotics solutions for ports, logistics warehouses, and transport. Before ST Engineering, Chandran joined National Instruments (NI) in 1997. He was responsible for the growth of the industry-standard modular instrumentation platform, PXI, and the expansion of NI’s offices in APAC as Vice President. Under his leadership, NI’s business in APAC achieved revenue growth of almost USD400 million.

Chandran is recognized as an accomplished business and technology leader as well as an expert and thought leader in the engineering and tech global community. The Asian Manufacturing Awards presented him with the Industry Leader of the Year (2016), and he sits on the board of the Singapore Science Centre and the advisory board of the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC). Chandran is committed to inspiring, coaching, and empowering the people around him to innovate and grow their business. 

Ingu Yin Chang is Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, at ASE, based in Sunnyvale, California. In his current role, he is responsible for developing and executing sales strategy, while driving marketing activities for ASE’s expanding packaging, systems, and integration solutions portfolio. 

Prior to joining ASE in 2013, Yin was CEO of Vertical Circuits Inc. (VCI), a company focused on the development of next generation vertical interconnect for next generation silicon integration. Previously, Yin performed a variety of management roles covering sales and operations at Amkor with responsibility for the Greater China region. He has over twenty years of leadership experience in executive management, sales, business development, IP management and strategic alliance. 

Yin received his material science engineering degree from University of California, Berkeley.

Philippe Delorme is Executive Vice-President of Energy Management and a member of the Executive Committee at Schneider Electric. He leads a 21bn€ business with a passionate team to provide world-leading energy technologies, software and services to make energy safe and reliable, efficient and sustainable, open and connected. He has over 25 years of experience at Schneider Electric, where he has held a variety of leading management positions across different business units and functions, originally in the US and France then globally. Philippe graduated from the Centrale Paris engineering school and holds an MBA of International Business from Science Po Paris. Today he is based in Hong Kong.

Jason Shields is Lam Research vice president of Equipment Intelligence®, a position he has held since June 2019.  In this role he is responsible for interfacing Lam Research’s Equipment Intelligence® across the company to customers’ Smart Manufacturing roadmaps. Prior to his current position, he was general manager of Advanced Equipment and Process Control, where he oversees company strategy for this area. Before joining Lam in 2015, Mr. Shields was vice president of Integrated Metrology at Nanometrics. Earlier, he served as vice president of Brion Fab Products at ASML and held various technical marketing and program manager positions at KLA-Tencor. He began his career working in the areas of process, process integration, and yield enhancement at semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Shields earned an MBA from Santa Clara University and a B.S. degree in physics from Texas A&M University.

Since joining Arm as one of its first employees, Simon has driven technical and business innovations to help transform the company into the leading architect of the most pervasive compute technology the world has ever seen.

Simon led the development of early ground-breaking Arm processors – the Arm7 and Arm9 – powering the world’s first digital mobile phones. He played a key role in developing industry standards, and his engineering work led to him being granted several embedded-systems patents. He became vice president of engineering in 2001, and before being named as Arm CEO in July 2013, he held several other strategy positions including global head of sales. He was personally responsible for expanding the company’s U.S. business and strengthening its leadership and relationships in California’s Silicon Valley, where he still lives with his family.

Simon helped steer the company through the 2016 acquisition by SoftBank, and, in June 2017, was elected to serve on the SoftBank board. He also sits on the boards of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), TechWorks and is a non-executive director at Dolby Laboratories, Inc.

Simon earned his BEng in electronic engineering from the University of Sussex and an MSc in computer science from the University of Manchester.  In recognition of his extraordinary lifetime accomplishments and his impact to the global tech industry, Simon was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Sussex.