Michael has over 25 years of experience in the technology sector. He began his career in Northern Telecom's Financial Management Program and later served as an engagement manager with McKinsey & Co. in New York and Atlanta, and as a principal with Booz/Katzenbach in San Francisco, leading a range of strategic, performance improvement and corporate development assignments.
His leadership experience includes several executive level roles, including CEO of a publicly listed computer storage network equipment company, founder and CEO of an energy technology startup, and executive level marketing roles with IBM, Compaq, and Quantum.
Michael holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA from Fuqua at Duke University.
Steven Soss, Chief Technology Officer
Soss has over 15 years of experience in delivering new technologies to enable next generation products. His experience spans process development and integration for Flash and leading edge Logic processes from early technology definition through high volume manufacturing. Soss began his career in Intel's process engineer group, moved to Thin Films and Diffusion as the Technology Manager and then became the Department Manager of the Advanced Module Technology and Development Department. While at Intel, he was awarded several patents and was twice the recipient of the Intel Achievement Award. He became Director of the Advanced Module Technology Department at Numonyx when the company was formed as a spin-off combining the Flash memory divisions of Intel and ST Microelectronics. Soss then moved to Globalfoundries as a principal member of the technical staff and then as FEOL Technology Integration Manager where he was responsible for technology definition and development of the 20nm and 14nm Logic technologies. Soss has a B.A. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jeff Hawthorne, Vice President, Applications Engineering
Hawthorne has more than 20 years of experience in the research, development and marketing of commercial sensor systems and manufacturing process control technologies. He worked for Motorola's Corporate Manufacturing Research Center for 8 years, where he established and managed a group responsible for the research and development of process monitoring and control technologies for electronics assembly applications. He was the first employee in North America for Machine Vision Technology (MVT), a startup headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that provided automated, in-line inspection systems for the printed circuit board assembly industry. As North American Product Manager, Hawthorne established and managed the growth of technical operations in North America, as well as assisting with marketing efforts in Europe and Asia and providing guidance on product enhancements and new product development. MVT was acquired by Agilent Technologies in 2001. Hawthorne joined Qcept in 2002, and led the effort of building and managing Qcept’s technical team and the development and deployment of products for the automated inspection of semiconductor wafers for non-visual defects. Since 2006, he has been responsible for developing advanced capabilities and technologies for use in Qcept's products. Hawthorne is also the manager of Qcept's intellectual property strategy and is an inventor on numerous U.S. and foreign patents dealing with the application of non-vibrating contact potential difference sensors to semiconductor wafer inspection.
Hawthorne received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Richard Hong, President, Asia Pacific
Hong has 25+ years of experience in the semiconductor industry. His career began at Samsung Electronics Corporation as a Process Engineer where he eventually became Assistant Manager of Process Engineering in Korea and later became Manager of Process Engineering, SSI, America. In 1991, Hong began working at KLA-Tencor Corporation in San Jose. He served in a number of positions within the company including Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing/Viper Division, Sr. Director of Sales/Wafer Inspection Group. In 2003, he was appointed VP & GM of Samsung BU-Korea and in 2004 he became President of KLA-Tencor Korea. In 2007, Richard received the prestigious Bob Graham Award regarding the Inspection Inline Monitoring Concept (ILM) he introduced to the semiconductor space.
Hong received a BS/MS degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Yonsei, an Executive MBA from the HASS School of Business, Berkeley and an MBA in Marketing from Golden Gate University.
Robert Newcomb, Executive Vice President, Global Business Development
Newcomb has more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor and high technology industries spanning sales, marketing, customer support and engineering. His semiconductor experience includes more than eight years working for device manufacturers IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation in the areas of metrology, inspection and plasma etch. He has spent the past twelve years working with semiconductor capital equipment start-ups primarily focused on the metrology, inspection and factory automation areas. Newcomb has published and presented numerous papers in the areas of wafer metrology and inspection.
Newcomb received a B.S. in microelectronic engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA in marketing of technology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Ralph Spicer, Vice President, Product General Manager
Spicer has 20 years of high technology experience, including 11 years in the semiconductor equipment industry at KLA-Tencor, the world’s leading inspection and metrology supplier, where he was Senior Director of Marketing. He has served in a number of marketing, program management, and M&A positions within the firm, including key roles for the 21xx / 23xx brightfield patterned wafer inspection, SP1 / SP2 unpatterned wafer inspection, NP1 wafer geometry, and eDR-5000 e-beam review products. Spicer also has prior experience in electrical design, systems engineering, and engineering management.
Spicer received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
