SKYWATER - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
Amanda Daniel is responsible for driving all aspects of SkyWater's human resource strategy and execution. Her strong background includes the creation of organizational development programs that are derived from a culture based on diversity, equity and inclusion. As CHRO, she leads talent acquisition and retention strategies that further enable the execution of SkyWater's business growth objectives.
With more than 20 years of experience in the high-tech manufacturing space, Ms. Daniel has gained critical knowledge leading high performance global HR teams. Prior to joining SkyWater, she served as senior vice president and CHRO at MTS Systems Corporation, a global supplier of test systems and industrial position sensors. Her previous roles include vice president of human resources at Twin City Fan Companies, Ltd., Equus Holdings, Inc., and Stratasys, Ltd.
Ms. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied psychology from St. Cloud State University and a Master of Arts degree in human resources and organizational development from the University of St. Thomas.
Job Titles:
- Director of SkyWater Technology Foundry
Amy Leong has served as a director of SkyWater Technology Foundry since January 2022 and as senior vice president, chief marketing officer, mergers and acquisitions, and general manager of emerging growth business unit of FormFactor, Inc. since November 2017. Previously she served as senior vice president, marketing and customer solutions since October 2012 and as vice president, marketing for MicroProbe Inc. before its acquisition by FormFactor. Prior to MicroProbe, Ms. Leong worked in a variety of semiconductor process engineering and technologist roles at Gartner, KLA Corporation and IBM. She has served as an advisory board member of International Semiconductor Executive Summits since 2016 and as a director of Simple Steps Community Connection, a nonprofit organization supporting women leadership initiatives, since 2020.
Ms. Leong received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkley and a Master of Science degree in materials science and engineering from Stanford University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Government Affairs Officer, Government Relations
- Chief Government Affairs Officer, SkyWater Florida Senior Vice President and General Manager
Brad Ferguson is focused on accelerating the growth of SkyWater's advanced packaging technology, expanding the company's value chain, and strengthening strategic U.S. government relationships in support of microelectronics manufacturing.
Previously, he served as chief technology officer, creating a strong foundation for this critical function. In this role, he was responsible for developing the company's technology roadmap and IP strategy by identifying high growth markets for SkyWater's Technology Foundry business. In addition, Ferguson was focused on leading SkyWater's government relations efforts. Prior to this, he served as senior director of sales in the custom foundry line of business at SkyWater and was also responsible for the government relations strategy.
Mr. Ferguson started his career in photolithography process development at Cypress Semiconductor. In 2008, he started up the Cypress custom foundry business to provide differentiated solutions to technology innovators. He also drove the accreditation process to achieve Trusted Foundry status and secured many defense customers, which launched the site's entry into the aerospace and defense market, a key component of SkyWater's market strategy.
Mr. Ferguson received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He also received a doctorate and Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt University
Kosier is an adjunct professor of electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University, where his research interests include radiation effects on microelectronics and semiconductor device reliability physics.
Dr. Steven Kosier is responsible for forming and managing strategic technology partnerships and alliances, developing the company's technology roadmap and IP strategy, and growing the value of the company's technology portfolio.
His background includes 25 years of experience and successive growth in technical, marketing, and business leadership positions. A founding member of PolarFab and Polar Semiconductor wafer foundries, he has developed and transferred to volume production many generations of analog, mixed-signal, and high-voltage technologies for automotive and industrial end markets. Most recently, Dr. Kosier was president at Kanomax FMT, a nanoparticle measurement instrumentation start-up with industry-leading resolution down to 2 nm.
Dr. Kosier is an Adjoint Professor of electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University, where his research interests include radiation effects on microelectronics and semiconductor device reliability physics.
He holds 12 U.S. patents and has authored or co-authored over 30 publications in the areas of radiation effects, high voltage and power devices, integrated magnetic sensors, and nanoparticle measurement solutions.
Dr. Kosier holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Science degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona.
Job Titles:
- Board Member at HN Precision
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of SkyWater Technology Foundry
Gary J. Obermiller has served as the chairman of the board of directors of SkyWater Technology Foundry since March 2017 and served as the interim chief executive officer of SkyWater Technology Foundry from March 2017 to October 2017. He is a co-founder and Operating Partner of Mill City Capital, a private equity firm investing in lower middle market companies, which position he has held since January 2016, after previously serving as Managing Director since January 2010. From 2004 until 2010, Mr. Obermiller was a Managing Director of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, a private equity investment firm. Prior to 2004, Gary served with Deltak for 14 years in several senior management roles, including as President, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Global Power Equipment Group Inc., Deltaks eventual parent company, an international manufacturer of equipment for gas turbine power plants. Mr. Obermiller also held managerial positions in operations, sales, marketing and engineering with Graco, Inc. and Econo-Therm Energy Systems Corporation both domestic and internationally.
Mr. Obermiller currently serves as a board member at HN Precision, a specialized machining company, as a director for Kobuk Holdings (formerly ABP Induction), a German large electrical equipment supplier, and Acme Industries, a specialized machining company, and is a member of the Deans Advisory Board for the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering, and a member of the University of St. Thomas Board of Governors for the School of Engineering.
Mr. Obermiller holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer (inactive).
The board selected Mr. Obermiller to serve as a director because of his investment and management experience.
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- General Counsel
- Secretary
Jason Stokes is focused on leading SkyWater's legal and compliance function to enable and support the company's strategic growth initiatives while protecting its interests and reputation. His leadership experience in complex enterprises and high-growth environments drives an effective and efficient legal services value chain informed by a deep understanding of the company's business, strategies, opportunities and risks.
Prior to joining SkyWater, Mr. Stokes served in a series of positions at Pentair plc beginning in 2011, including most recently as its vice president, corporate law and chief compliance officer leading a global team responsible for corporate law, M&A, legal operations and compliance and ethics. Over his 20+ year legal career, he has advised businesses, boards of directors and leadership teams on matters across the substantive legal and compliance spectrum in technology, medical device, manufacturing, services, consumer, logistics and agriculture industries.
Mr. Stokes is a U.S. Navy veteran, having served with the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Operations
John Spicer is responsible for delivering world-class levels of performance at SkyWater's Minnesota and Florida wafer fabs, establishing an integrated value chain across both facilities that brings maximum value to the company's customers. His expertise includes executing automated manufacturing systems/processes and operational excellence initiatives, while enhancing performance, improving quality, reducing costs, and generating sustainable revenue gains.
Mr. Spicer's decades of semiconductor manufacturing experience include serving with ON Semiconductor, AMI Semiconductor and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Most recently, he served as ON Semiconductor's vice president of global fab operations. In this role, he managed six factories worldwide driving a significant increase in overall wafer fabrication capacity including the successful integration of two acquired fab operations (AMI and Fairchild) into the company. Mr. Spicer previously served as the general manager of ON Semiconductor's Pocatello, Idaho 200 mm wafer fabrication facility where he was responsible for directing operations and leading the site's support functions.
Mr. Spicer holds a Bachelor's degree in business administration from Idaho State University. He has been serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the Bank of Idaho since 2012.
Job Titles:
- Principal of Kurtzweil Consulting
John T. Kurtzweil has served as principal of Kurtzweil Consulting, LLC, providing consulting services in the area of capital formation and accountancy, since November 2014. Mr. Kurtzweil has served as a member of the board of directors of Axcelis Technologies, Inc., a semiconductor capital equipment company, since May 2015, and he currently chairs its audit committee. Mr. Kurtzweil previously served as a director of Akoustis Technologies, Inc., an integrated device manufacturer for mobile and other wireless applications, from January 2017 to July 2017, at which time he became the Chief Financial Officer until November From June 2015 to March 2017, Mr. Kurtzweil was Vice President of Finance of Cree, Inc., a provider of light emitting diode, lighting and semiconductor products, and Chief Financial Officer of its subsidiary, Wolfspeed, a Cree Company. From 2012 until 2014, Mr. Kurzweil served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of Extreme Networks, Inc., a provider of open networking innovations. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Kurtzweil served as Executive Vice President, Finance and as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Cree, Inc. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Kurtzweil was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Cirrus Logic, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President Corporate Development
Kevin Jackson's more than 20 years of experience as an aerospace, defense, and space executive includes specialized expertise in developing and growing agile organizations. He is responsible for leading the company's strategic planning, revenue modeling and financial risk analysis capabilities. He is focused on driving business performance metrics and handling potential mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures to enable manufacturing scale and market development, including penetration into new verticals and geographic expansion.
Mr. Jackson's broad experience executing space-based military programs is invaluable to SkyWater's rad-hard, ROIC, advanced packaging and customized platforms. He most recently served as senior vice president and general manager for the Space Systems and Semiconductor Business Unit within Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions (CAES), and held various executive management roles at United Technologies Aerospace Systems.
Additionally, Mr. Jackson served eight years active duty as an engineer officer in the United States Army. His active duty assignments included two combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He continues to serve his country as a member of the Army National Guard as he proudly enters his 20th year of total service.
Mr. Jackson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in general management from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Loren A. Unterseher has served on our board of managers and as our president since March 2017. He is the Managing Partner of Oxbow Industries, LLC, a holding company investing in middle-market private companies, which position he has held since 2004. Over his career, Mr. Unterseher has completed over $2.5 billion in corporate finance transactions. Prior to Oxbow, Mr. Unterseher was a Principal/Shareholder & Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for CraigHallum Capital Group LLC. Prior to Craig-Hallum, he was Director of Private Equity for Lazard Middle Market LLC (formerly known as Goldsmith, Agio, Helms & Lynner LLC). Mr. Unterseher started his investment banking career as a Vice-President in Mergers and Acquisitions at Royal Bank of Canada (formerly known as Dain Rauscher Incorporated). He began his professional career as an attorney and was a Partner at Stinson Leonard Street LLP (formerly known as Leonard, Street & Deinard), a major Minneapolis-based law firm.
Mr. Unterseher also has served since 2018 as a member of the board of directors, and chairs the audit committee, of Insignia Systems, Inc., a publicly-traded manufacturer of signage and promotional media. Mr. Unterseher is currently Chairman of the Board of Inno-flex, LLC, a private company (a director since 2016), and serves on the boards of Town & Country Fence, LLC (since 2017), Ascent Solutions, LLC (since 2018) and FactRight LLC (since 2018), each of which is a private company. Mr. Unterseher has served on several other private company and not-for-profit boards of directors.
Mr. Unterseher holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Iowa and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Dakota.
The board selected Mr. Unterseher to serve as a director because of his investment, mergers and acquisitions, and finance experience.
Mark Litecky is focused on building and aligning revenue generating teams to meet the needs of targeted markets, further expand SkyWater's diversified customer relationships, and drive profitable and predictable growth for the company. Mr. Litecky's 30+ years of industry expertise includes: building out revenue teams, sales, marketing, revenue generation, strategic partnerships and business development. He has leadership skills in corporate strategy, organizational structure, technology development, new product roadmaps, engineering, operations, acquisitions, company integrations and IPOs.
Prior to SkyWater, Mr. Litecky served as sales & marketing vice president with GCM, a provider of product design and manufacturing serving medical, aerospace and industrial markets. Previously, he held various executive leadership positions. With Interlink, he worked on transitioning the company from a component supplier to a sensor systems solutions partner. Mr. Litecky served with Soligie (Molex), a leader in printed and flexible hybrid electronics, and with August Technology (Rudolph Technologies), a provider of automated visual inspection equipment used in manufacturing semiconductors, optoelectronics and data storage. He started his career at Rosemount Inc. (Emerson) in industrial process controls and sensors.
Mr. Litecky holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Job Titles:
- Director of SkyWater Technology Foundry
Nancy Fares has served as a director of SkyWater Technology Foundry since January 2022 and as a strategic advisor and board member with Olarm, an application-based home security provider since July 2018. Ms. Fares previously served as vice president software product management at Qualcomm, Inc. from August 2016 to December 2018. Prior to joining Qualcomm, she held senior leadership positions at NXP Semiconductors N.V., Foravest, LLC, Micralyne Inc. and Texas Instruments Incorporated.
Ms. Fares holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas, a Master of Science degree in telecommunications from Southern Methodist University and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.
The board selected Ms. Fares to serve as a director because of her strategic roles with leading semiconductor companies, her strategic advisory and board member experience and her history of building shareholder value.
Steve Manko utilizes his extensive finance background in working with his team to drive profitability and enhance the value of the organization. He achieves this by collaborating with other leaders in the company to understand their challenges and opportunities and develop a strategy for increased returns on investment.
Prior to joining SkyWater as CFO, Mr. Manko was managing director at Riveron Consulting where he led the Financial Advisory Services practice in Minneapolis. He and his team assisted companies through various change events such as acquisitions and internal process changes and optimizations. Previously, Mr. Manko was at Ernst & Young and specialized in the Banking & Capital Markets industries. He spent time in the Cleveland, Ohio and Honolulu, Hawaii offices, before moving with his family to the Twin Cities in 2015.
Mr. Manko holds a Master of Business Administration from The University of Akron and a Bachelor of Arts in accounting and business administration from Malone University. He is also a member of various accounting and finance committees and organizations.
Job Titles:
- Director of SkyWater Technology Foundry
Thomas R. Lujan has served as a director of SkyWater Technology Foundry since March 2017, as the Secretary of SkyWater Technology Foundry since July 2017, and as a manager of SkyWater Federal since September 2018. Mr. Lujan is the founder of Lujan Legal Counsel, LLC, where he has served as an attorney since June 2015. Mr. Lujan represents and advises various corporate entities in all areas of general business law. From 2001 until 2015, Mr. Lujan served as an attorney and founder of Lundquist & Lujan, PLLP, where he provided legal advice to companies in a general business law practice and served as a consultant to the DoD. From 1979 until 1998, Colonel (Ret.) Lujan served as a Judge Advocate Officer in the U.S. Army.
He has served on the boards of various private companies and charitable organizations.
Mr. Lujan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and holds a Juris Doctor. from the University of Minnesota Law School.
The board selected Mr. Lujan to serve as a director because of his legal and governmental expertise, as well as his significant leadership experience.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- President
- in 2017 As the Lead Executive
- President & CEO Director
Thomas Sonderman joined SkyWater in 2017 as the lead executive, driving the company's successful business transformation from an IDM to a pure play foundry. He has effectively diversified SkyWater's customer base by defining new product markets and target customers while simultaneously improving operational efficiencies. Mr. Sonderman has leveraged SkyWater as the only U.S.-based and U.S.-owned semiconductor foundry to expand the company's government business and to focus on reinstating a strong commercial manufacturing presence in the U.S. He has built a world class leadership team that inspires 500 employees to deliver process R&D innovation and operational excellence.
Mr. Sonderman's extensive industry experience in all aspects of fab operations has delivered market leadership and increased shareholder value to high-technology industry leaders Rudolph Technologies, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and AMD. Notably, he played a critical role serving as part of an executive team at AMD that spun-off manufacturing operations to form GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
A widely recognized subject matter expert, Mr. Sonderman is the author of 50 patents and a highly sought-after industry speaker. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Missouri University of Science Technology and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from National Technological University.
Job Titles:
- Principal and Founder of Gold Star Strategies
Wendi B. Carpenter is a principal and founder of Gold Star Strategies, LLC, a consulting company providing services in strategic planning, organizational transformation, risk assessment, human capital and corporate governance, which position she has held since January 2012. Ms. Carpenter served as the Tenth President and Special Envoy and Advisor of the State of New York (SUNY) Maritime College from August 2011 to January 2014. From 1977 until 2011, Ms. Carpenter served as a Naval Officer in the U.S. Navy, during which she commanded or was the deputy in multiple organizations which oversaw worldwide maritime and air operations, logistics, manpower, installation and facilities management, and training of forces. Ms. Carpenter also served in key advisory roles and board positions with private, education and government organizations. Ms. Carpenters career in the U.S. Navy culminated in the rank of Rear Admiral.
Ms. Carpenter holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Georgia and a Master of Arts in International Relations from Salve Regina University, and is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval War College. Ms. Carpenter has also completed numerous executive courses in business, organizational transformation and diplomacy, including the Capstone Program at the National Defense University and the Senior Policy Course at the NATO School.
The board selected Ms. Carpenter to serve as a director because of her extensive experience with government agencies and the DoD, work with disruptive and leading edge technologies, and decades of senior leadership and management experience in large and complex organizations with global reach.