SEMI Board Welcomes New Members From Advantest, TEL US, Westerwood Global
January 10, 2023 | SEMIEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
SEMI announced the election of three new members to the SEMI North America Advisory Board (NAAB): Colin Ritchie, Vice President of Industry & Government Relations at Advantest; Nate Baxter, President of Tokyo Electronic Ltd. (TEL) US; and Nigel Wenden, Chief Executive Officer at Westerwood Global.
The Board appointments took effect Jan. 1, 2023. Members serve a three-year term. The SEMI NAAB is the principal advocate for member companies located in North America. The Board provides guidance on SEMI Americas programs designed to advance the business interests of member companies and address significant challenges in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain.
“The SEMI North America Advisory Board warmly welcomes Colin, Nate and Nigel,” said Joe Stockunas, president of SEMI Americas. “Each brings extensive industry experience to the Board and are intimately familiar with SEMI through their participation in SEMI events including Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) and International Trade Partners Conference (ITPC) as well as SEMI workforce development and advocacy programs. Their expertise and stewardship will be vital as member companies face ever-increasing chip industry complexity and look to seize new business and technology opportunities amid strong secular industry growth.”
As Vice President Industry & Government Relations at Advantest, Colin Ritchie leads external industry engagements and government advocacy. Ritchie has more than 30 years of industry experience leading teams in engineering, operations, marketing, product management, investor and corporate relations as well as M&A ventures. He joined Advantest-Verigy (formerly HP and Agilent) in 2008 through the acquisition of Inovys, a venture capital-backed startup that developed innovative Design for Test solutions. Prior to Inovys, Ritchie spent more than 15 years at Schlumberger, where he held key engineering, operations, product line management, and marketing positions in Asia, Europe, and North America. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland.
As President of TEL US, Nate Baxter leads production of semiconductor and flat panel manufacturing equipment. Prior to his current role, Baxter was General Manager of the Development and Production division of TEL US and President of the TEL Manufacturing and Engineering of America, Inc. (TMEA) subsidiary. Baxter’s previous roles at TEL included Technology General Manager for one of the company’s large customer accounts and President of TEL US subsidiary TEL Epion. Prior to joining TEL in 2007, Baxter worked for more than a decade at Intel in various technology, supplier development and management roles. He holds a master’s degree in Materials Science from Georgia Institute of Technology and undergraduate degrees in Physics from Rollins College and Physical Metallurgy from Georgia Institute of Technology.
As Chief Executive Officer of Westerwood Global and President of Westerwood Global Board of Directors, Nigel Wenden oversees private equity, strategy, marketing, and international operations. Westerwood is a leading provider of managed service solutions to the semiconductor, solar, flat panel, LED and storage industries. Prior to Westerwood Global, Wenden served as President of Banner Industries, CEO of MDC Precision and held leadership positions with Mattson Technology, Edwards Vacuum, NWC Consulting and Millipore Corporation. He holds a bachelor of science degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Coventry University and a diploma in Manufacturing and Production Engineering from Anglia Ruskin University.
Suggested Items
U.S. Companies Invest Heavily in Robots
04/30/2024 | IFRManufacturing companies in the United States have invested heavily in more automation: total installations of industrial robots rose by 12% and reached 44,303 units in 2023. Number one adopter is the car industry followed by the electrical and electronics sector.
Flex Receives Ericsson 2023 Supplier Sustainability Award
04/30/2024 | FlexEricsson recently awarded Flex with its 2023 Supplier Sustainability Award — the second time since 2021. The award recognizes the extended supply chain benefits from sustainable manufacturing operations in the Flex facility in Tczew, Poland, that runs on 100 percent renewable energy.
USPAE to Springboard U.S. Technology Forward
04/30/2024 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineThe U.S. Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE) was launched as a nonprofit subsidiary of IPC in 2020, specifically to manage the DoD relationship and access to funding, and to develop a cooperative facility to develop UHDI capabilities in the U.S., not only for the defense sector, but for the whole of the U.S. electronics industry. It is a tall order, but industry veteran Joe O'Neil believes it will happen. Having been tasked with making the UHDI Capable Cooperative Production Facility (UCCPF) a reality, he provides an update on this important project for U.S. electronics manufacturing.
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Insight into Summit Interconnect's Success
04/30/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOShane Whiteside, CEO of Summit Interconnect, discusses the company's recent recognition as one of the best PCB fabricators in the industry by receiving IPC's Peter Sarmanian award. Whiteside touches on the impact of changes in the marketplace, such as the Defense Production Act and presidential determination, on their growth. Whiteside also shares the company's focus on mechanical and data automation to enhance manufacturing processes and anticipates more automation and evolution in the industry.
Latest Test and Inspection Solutions from GOEPEL electronic at SMTconnect 2024
04/29/2024 | GOEPEL electronicGOEPEL electronic will be demonstrating automated test and inspection equipment at SMTconnect, taking place in Nuremberg from June 11 to 13, 2024.