Chairman of the Board of Qorvo
Dr. Rhines has served as Chairman of the Board of Qorvo and Lead Independent Director since November 2023. He joined the Board of Directors in January 2015. From 1995 until 2015, he served as a director of TriQuint Semiconductor. Since March 2020, he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cornami, Inc., a semiconductor processor company focused on fully homomorphic encryption. Since October 2019, he has served as Chief Executive Officer of Rhines Consultants, a consulting firm in the semiconductor, integrated circuit design and manufacturing fields. Dr. Rhines was also CEO Emeritus of Mentor, a Siemens Business, an electronic design automation company, until October 2020, having previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mentor from its acquisition by Siemens Industry, Inc. in March 2017 until October 2018. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Mentor Graphics Corporation from 1993 and chairman of its board of directors from 2000 until the acquisition of Mentor Graphics by Siemens in 2017. Prior to joining Mentor Graphics, he spent 21 years at Texas Instruments, a leading global semiconductor and technology company, with his most recent position as the Executive Vice President of its Semiconductor Group with responsibility for its worldwide semiconductor business. Dr. Rhines serves on two private company boards, Silvaco, an electronic design automation software company, and Pallidus, a producer of silicon carbide wafers. He also served as a director of Cirrus Logic, Inc., a semiconductor company, from 1995 to 2009, as a director of Electronic System Design Alliance, a trade association for electronic design companies, from 1994 to 2019, and as a director of Semiconductor Research Corporation, a technology research consortium from 2002 until 2020. Dr. Rhines served as a director of PTK Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in 2020 and 2021 and as a consultant to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research investment arm of the U.S. government. In 2021, Dr. Rhines was the recipient of the Global Semiconductor Alliance's highest honor, the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals for their exceptional contributions and leadership within the industry.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Qorvo
Mr. Bruggeworth has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since Qorvo’s incorporation in December 2013. Prior to becoming a director of Qorvo, he was RFMD’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a director from January 2003 until January 2015, having previously served in several senior management positions at RFMD beginning in September 1999. From July 1983 to April 1999, Mr. Bruggeworth held several manufacturing and engineering positions at AMP Inc. (now TE Connectivity LTD), a supplier of electrical and electronic connection devices, most recently as Divisional Vice President of Global Computer and Consumer Electronics based in Hong Kong. Since 2007, Mr. Bruggeworth has served on the board of directors, including as lead independent director since May 2017, of MSA Safety Incorporated, a publicly traded global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of safety products that protect people and facility infrastructures. Since November 2022, Mr. Bruggeworth has served on the board of directors of Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a publicly traded provider of storage solutions. Mr. Bruggeworth served as the Chair of the Semiconductor Industry Association in 2021 and served as its Vice Chair in 2020.
Former Executive Vice President, Administration and CFO of SanDisk, Corp.
Ms. Bruner has served on the Board of Directors since May 2021. She served as the Executive Vice President, Administration and Chief Financial Officer of SanDisk Corp, a supplier of flash storage products, from June 2004 until its acquisition by Western Digital in May 2016. Ms. Bruner was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Palm, Inc., a provider of handheld computing and communications solutions, from September 1999 until June 2004. Prior to that, she held financial management positions at 3Com Corporation, Ridge Computers and Hewlett-Packard Company. Ms. Bruner has served as a member of the boards of directors of Applied Materials, Inc., a publicly traded semiconductor equipment manufacturer, since July 2016, Rapid7, Inc., a security data, and analytics solutions provider, since October 2016, and Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a publicly traded provider of storage solutions, since January 2018. She previously served on the boards of directors of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. from January 2009 to November 2017 and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. from August 2016 to April 2021.
General Partner of Harding Partners, LP
Mr. Harding has served on the Board of Directors since January 2015. From 2006 until 2015, he served as a director of RFMD. Since January 2020, Mr. Harding has served as a consultant in the fabless semiconductor design and manufacturing field as the General Partner of Harding Partners, LP. Mr. Harding co-founded eSilicon Corporation, a privately held company that designed and manufactured complex, custom chips for a broad portfolio of large and small firms. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eSilicon from its inception in May 2000 until it was acquired by Inphi Corporation (and concurrently sold certain assets to Synopsys, Inc.) in January 2020. Before starting eSilicon Corporation, Mr. Harding served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of publicly traded Cadence Design Systems, Inc., which acquired his former employer, Cooper & Chyan Technology, Inc. Mr. Harding held a variety of senior management positions at Zycad Corporation, and his career also includes positions with TXL and IBM Corporation. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Harding served on the board of directors of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Mr. Harding has also held leadership roles at Drew University, where he was Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Indiana University, where he was a member of the Advisory Board for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In addition, Mr. Harding has served as a member of the Steering Committee at the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and was a former member of the National Academies Committee for Software, Growth, and the Future of the U.S. Economy. From 2004 to 2020, Mr. Harding served as a member of the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance. Since August 2022, Mr. Harding has served as a director and Chair of the Board of Meta Materials Inc., a publicly traded developer of high-performance materials and nanocomposite, and since April 2021, as a director of SandFirst, Inc., an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company. He is a frequent international speaker on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship and semiconductor trends and policies.
Chairman and Founder of Kiina Investment Ltd.
Mr. Ho has served on the Board of Directors since January 2015. From 2010 until 2015, he served as a director of TriQuint. Mr. Ho is Chairman and Founder of Kiina Investment Ltd., a venture capital firm that invests in start-up companies in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. Mr. Ho previously served as a senior advisor for Permira Advisors LLC, a private equity buyout fund, Chairman of Greater China for Nokia Siemens Networks, President of Greater China for Nokia Corporation and Senior Vice President of the Nokia Networks Business Group. He has also held senior leadership roles with Nortel Networks and Motorola in China and Canada. Mr. Ho currently serves as a member of the board of Sun Life Financial, Inc. and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (since 2021) in Canada; Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (since 2013) in the United States; DBS Group Holdings Limited and DBS Bank Limited (since 2023), a leading financial services group located in Singapore. Mr. Ho previously was a director of DBS Bank Hong Kong Limited from 2019 to 2023, China COSCO Shipping Corporation, the world’s largest shipping conglomerate, from 2016 through 2021, China Mobile Communications Corporation, the world’s largest mobile communications carrier, from 2016 to 2020; Pentair plc from 2007 until 2018 when it spun off its electrical business into nVent Electric plc; nVent Electric plc from 2018 until 2020; Dong Fang Electric Corporation from 2009 through 2015; 3Com Corporation from 2008 through 2010; Owens-Illinois Inc. from 2008 to 2012; and Sinosteel Corporation from 2008 until 2012.
Founder and Principal of Nelson Technology Partners, Inc.
Mr. Nelson has served on the Board of Directors since January 2015. From 2012 until 2015, he served as a director of TriQuint. An expert in wireless technology, in 2022 Mr. Nelson founded and is principal of Nelson Technology Partners, Inc., providing strategic and operational advice to communications companies. Since 2009, he has been the co-founder and principal of Tritech Sales and Services, LLC, a strategic product, business development and sales function consulting firm. In 2017, he co-founded Geoverse, LLC, a company which designs, deploys and manages in-building cellular LTE systems, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from June 2018 through April 2022. Mr. Nelson served as the Chief Technology Officer for Globetouch, Inc., a privately held global provider of 3G and LTE mobile broadband services for connected devices and IoT applications, from January 2015 to August 2017. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of AT&T Wireless Services where, over a twenty-year career, he led the Technology Development Group responsible for the development and deployment of the first 3G networks in the United States. During his career, Mr. Nelson has worked closely with both national and international regulators and standards bodies on the creation of wireless specifications and standards. Mr. Nelson holds numerous patents covering broad and fundamental aspects of wireless communications.
Partner, TAP Growth Group
Ms. Spradley has served on the Board of Directors since January 2017. Since April 2023, Ms. Spradley has served as a partner in TAP Growth Group, a senior executive consulting firm, where she previously served as a partner from August 2017 to June 2019. From January 2018 to September 2022, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Motion Intelligence, a privately held software-as-a-service company. Ms. Spradley served as principal of Spradley Consulting LLC, a consulting firm that she founded, from February 2017 until January 2020. From January 2013 until January 2017, she served in various roles at Viavi Solutions Inc. (formerly JDS Uniphase), most recently as Executive Vice President and General Manager–Network and Service Enablement. Prior to joining Viavi Solutions Inc., Ms. Spradley served as executive director at US-Ignite from April 2011 to December 2012. Prior to that, Ms. Spradley was President of the North America region at Nokia Siemens Networks from 2007 to 2011, responsible for regional profit and loss, sales, and service. From 1997 to 2005, she held executive positions at Nortel Networks Corporation. Ms. Spradley has served on the board of directors of Avaya Holdings Corp., a publicly traded communications applications provider, since December 2017, and NetScout Systems, Inc., a publicly traded real-time operational intelligence and performance analytics company, since April 2018. She previously served on the board of directors of publicly traded EXFO Inc. from October 2011 through November 2012. Ms. Spradley is a board member of Catalyst Campus, a non-profit organization focused on advancing start up technology for the U.S. Government.