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SemiSouth Laboratories Inc, which manufactures silicon carbide-based microelectronic power devices and epiwafer materials, has appointed Vess Johnson as president and CEO.

SemiSouth says that Johnson will leverage his 18 years of industry experience to drive execution, build image and awareness for the firm, and grow business.

Picture: Newly appointed president and CEO of SemiSouth Laboratories Inc, Vess Johnson.

“Vess has a proven record of success with venture-funded start-ups,” says board member and co-founder Mike Mazzola.

Previously, he was president and CEO of Nascentric, a supplier of high-speed circuit simulation products, where he established early partner relationships with companies throughout the USA, Europe and Asia (such as Infineon, ST Microelectronics, ARM, TSCM, Chartered and AMD).

Johnson was also president and CEO of Silicon Metrics Corp, which provides characterization and modeling of foundation IP for IC design (continuing as general manager when it became the Silicon Correlation Division of Magma Design Automation in October 2003).

Johnson also has executive management experience at Omniview Design Automation and Xynetix as well as being a co-founder of Cellular Sessions.

Johnson brings a fresh vision for leading the company to the next level, says Mazzola. “This is the culmination of a multi-year plan,” adds co-founder and chief operating officer Dr Jeffrey B. Casady. “We have produced very advanced SiC JFETs and epitaxy in our new fab... Now is the time to increase our market footprint.”

SemiSouth was spun off from SiC R&D activities at the Mississippi State University (MSU) in 2000, and since August 2006 has been based at its 20,000 square foot MSU-owned manufacturing facility in Starkville, MS ( Johnson received BS and BA degrees from MSU, as well as an MS in Computer Science from its Bagley School of Engineering). However, SemiSouth recently moved its headquarters to Austin, TX (where Johnson is n ow based), providing office space to support infrastructure and business needs (including sales and marketing, as well as a design center).

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