31 October 2011

RFMD creates corporate VP, business development

RF Micro Devices Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA has appointed technology veteran Hans Schwarz to the newly created position of corporate VP, business development, based in RFMD's West Coast office in California's Silicon Valley. Reporting to president & CEO Bob Bruggeworth, Schwarz will have responsibility for corporate business development initiatives, including strategic planning, merger & acquisition (M&A) strategy and execution, and IP-based acquisition and licensing.

Schwarz brings more than 30 years of technology industry expertise to RFMD as well as wide-ranging involvement in business development and M&A activity. “In previous positions at other semiconductor industry leaders, Hans successfully developed and executed large-scale business development programs that drove growth,” comments Bruggeworth. “We expect him to contribute immediately to our strategic efforts to deliver incremental growth and profitability,” he adds.

“I am pleased with the successes our corporate development team achieved in the past through several strategic business and manufacturing asset acquisitions,” says Jerry Neal, co-founder & executive VP of corporate marketing. “These corporate development successes have enabled RFMD to become a diversified growth company.” The organizational changes will allow Neal to continue his focus in the areas of RFMD’s branding, strategic marketing and other corporate marketing initiatives, he adds.

Before joining RFMD, Schwarz was managing director for a $300m late-stage venture capital crossover fund, where he was responsible for searching for and investing in innovative, market-leading late-stage companies in semiconductors, storage, networking and telecom, cleantech, and other industries.

Prior to that, Schwarz spent 15 years at programmable logic firm Xilinx Inc (most recently as VP of business & strategy development), where his responsibilities included global strategy development, managing a $300m strategic investment fund, corporate partnerships, and developing and implementing an M&A process. Previously, Schwarz held various management, marketing and engineering positions at Chips and Technologies Inc; LSI Logic and Fairchild Semiconductor.

Schwarz holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. He is also an independent board member of Lattice Semiconductor Corp.

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