26 August 2016

GaN Systems' founders Girvan Patterson and John Roberts to retire

GaN Systems Inc of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, a fabless developer of gallium nitride (GaN)-based power switching semiconductors for power conversion and control applications, says that, ten years after launching the firm, its two Ottawa-based co-founders president Girvan Patterson and chief technology officer John Roberts have announced their retirement.

Having achieved their goal of building GaN Systems into a manufacturer of GaN power transistors and supplier to more than 500 customers, serial entrepreneurs Patterson and Roberts will leave their operating roles. Patterson will retain a position on GaN Systems' board of directors, while Roberts will remain available to the company as an emeritus contributor.

Prior to starting GaN Systems, both Roberts and Patterson had extensive experience in the semiconductor industry, each with careers launching new companies. Roberts was founder & president of two Ottawa-based semiconductor companies: Calmos (later Tundra) Semiconductor and SiGe Semiconductor. Patterson founded graphics workstation producer Orcatech and co-founded Plaintree Systems, a pioneer in Ethernet switching. Together, Patterson and Roberts have taken a dozen companies either to an IPO or acquisition.

"I am honored to have presided over a company that has delivered a core technology for achieving the energy efficiency the world needs, by making electronic systems more efficient, lighter and compact," states Patterson. "Saving a data center millions of dollars in energy costs or enabling hybrid vehicles to dramatically increase miles per gallon fuel efficiency is very satisfying as well as very important in today's world," he adds. "I am immensely grateful to our early investors who had sufficient faith in us to allow us to lead the company to this stage… It is time to transition leadership to the team that will take revenue to $100m."

"It is very satisfying to see our customers' products – batteries charging in minutes instead of hours, Internet server racks with more Terabytes per second of data, cars with extended range, and motors with tiny embedded electronics – all because of our transistors," says Roberts. "I look forward to watching GaN Systems team continue to bring efficiencies to power system designers."

"Founders Girvan Patterson and John Roberts both are visionary leaders who together have successfully navigated the development of GaN Systems' product development, manufacturing and quality processes," comments CEO Jim Witham. "They built a robust product portfolio, established the supply chain, and signed on a world-class global distribution and support channel," he adds. "Under their stewardship, for the first time wide-bandgap power devices have enabled power systems with vastly superior performance and lower cost than was possible with silicon."

Tags: GaN Systems Power electronics

Visit: www.gansystems.com