Advisory Board
- Dr. Dan Maydan, President of Applied Materials (retired)
- Professor Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School
- Dr. Kurt Petersen, KP-MEMS
- Dr. David N.K. Wang, CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC)
Dr. Dan Maydan
Dr. Maydan was President of Applied Materials Inc., a semiconductor manufacturing equipment company, from January 1994 to April 2003 and a member of that company's board of directors from June 1992 to October 2005. From March 1990 to January 1994, Dr. Maydan served as Applied Materials' Executive Vice President, with responsibility for all product lines and new product development. Before joining Applied Materials in September 1980, Dr. Maydan spent thirteen years managing new technology development at Bell Laboratories during which time he pioneered laser recording of data on thin-metal films and made significant advances in photolithography and vapor deposition technology for semiconductor manufacturing. In 1998, Dr. Maydan was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He also serves on the board of directors of Infinera Corporation, a digital optical communications company. Dr. Maydan is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (P.A.M.F.). Dr. Maydan received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Physics from Edinburgh University in Scotland.
Professor Clayton Christensen
Professor Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Technology & Operations Management and General Management faculty groups. He is best known for his study of innovation in commercial enterprises. His first book, The Innovator's Dilemma, articulated his theory of disruptive technology. He holds a B.A. with highest honors in economics from Brigham Young University (1975), an M.Phil. in applied econometrics and the economics of less-developed countries from Oxford University (1977, Rhodes Scholar), an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School (1979, George F. Baker Scholar), and a DBA from the Harvard Business School (1992). Before joining the faculty of Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1992, Professor Christensen worked for the Boston Consulting Group and then founded Ceramics Process Systems Corporation (CPS) an advanced materials manufacturing company, in 1984. In 2000, Christensen founded Innosight, a consulting firm that builds on disruptive innovation frameworks to help companies create new growth opportunities. In 2007, he founded Rose Park Advisors, an investment firm, which is focused on identifying investment opportunities by applying the framework of disruptive innovation. Christensen is also the founder of Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank, whose mission is to apply his theories to the most vexing problems in the social sector. He joined the board of directors of Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai, India in 2006. He took a leave of absence from BCG to serve as a White House Fellow (1982-1983) as assistant to U.S. Transportation Secretaries Drew Lewis and Elizabeth Dole.
Dr. Kurt Peteresen
Dr. Petersen is a Consulting Professor of EE at Stanford University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1970. In 1975, he received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Petersen established a MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) research group while at IBM Research from 1975 to 1982. Since 1982, Dr. Petersen has co-founded four Silicon Valley companies in MEMS technology, Transensory Devices Inc. in 1982, NovaSensor in 1985, Cepheid in 1996, and SiTime in 2004. Each of these companies has become technical and commercial leaders in the field of MEMS devices and applications. NovaSensor is owned by General Electric. Cepheid is now a public company (CPHD) selling advanced DNA diagnostic products; particularly to the US Postal Service for detecting anthrax in the US mail, as well as for human diagnostic testing. Most recently, SiTime was established with the mission of commercializing MEMS-based resonators for electronic timing products, and transforming a large fraction of the $4B, 40-year-old quartz crystal marketplace. SiTime shipped its first 100K resonators in 2007. Dr. Petersen has published over 100 papers, and has been granted over 35 patents in the field of MEMS. In 2001 he was awarded the IEEE Simon Ramo Medal for his contributions to MEMS. Dr. Petersen is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of the IEEE in recognition of his contributions to "the commercialization of MEMS technology".
Dr. David N.K. Wang
Dr. Wang is currently the CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC, Shanghai, China). Dr. Wang also is the chairman of the board of Ether Optronics Inc. and an overseas advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China. He is also an advisor to the Greater China Innovation and Entrepreneurship project of Stanford University in the United States. He was a member of the board of directors of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and chairman of its China Regional Advisory Board. From September 2005 to June 2007, Dr. Wang served as the chief executive officer of Huahong Group and concurrently chairman of Huahong NEC, a subsidiary of Huahong Group. Prior to joining Hua Hong Group, Dr. Wang served as executive vice president of Applied Materials and president of Applied Materials Asia. Dr. Wang was responsible for Applied Materials' business strategy, planning and execution throughout Asia. Dr. Wang has also been a member of, chaired and helped found a variety of councils, committees and associations related to technology and Asia-Pacific business and economy. He received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
