PLYMOUTH, UK - Leading UK electronics manufacturer, Plessey Semiconductors, has announced a key appointment as it gears up to grow global sales of its innovative, new LED technology.
Dr Jose (Joe) Lopez has joined the company in the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Reporting to Michael LeGoff, Plessey Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Lopez will assume overall responsibility for the commercial and customer aspects of the organisation, with the main focus being to grow Plessey's LED sales.
During a 25 year career in the semiconductor industry, Dr Lopez has been a key player in the solid state lighting (SSL), communications and consumer market segments.
Welcoming Dr Lopez to Plessey, Michael LeGoff said: "We are delighted to have Joe with the Plessey team. Having spent the last three and a half years at Cree in a leading global sales role, Joe brings a wealth of LED commercial experience, key customer contacts and senior level relationships within the SSL industry. Joe will drive new levels of customer engagement and revenue growth as we move into commercialising our LED technology and making Plessey a world leading, LED components company."
Plessey has developed a revolutionary new process to produce high brightness LEDs at a fraction of the current cost. The company's Gallium Nitride on Silicon LEDs are produced using standard, silicon-based, semiconductor manufacturing processes in contrast with current generations of LEDs which use expensive sapphire and other exotic materials.
The company's ambition is to drive global uptake of its patented MAGIC (Manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) technology as a cost-effective alternative to existing lighting systems, and expand its world class UK manufacturing facilities in Plymouth, Devon.
Dr Lopez, said, "Plessey is one of UK's leading technology brands and I believe it is years ahead of the industry with its proprietary GaN on Silicon process technology. Plessey's LEDs offer performance comparable to that of sapphire, but at a substantially lower cost. This makes the Plessey LEDs ideal for high volume, cost sensitive applications such as linear fluorescent tube replacement, indoor commercial and retro-fit bulb markets that characterise the high growth, general lighting segment."
Dr Lopez has a degree in Computer Science and a PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Sussex and an MBA from the Open Business School. He has lived and worked in the UK, Germany, France and Spain and speaks a number of European languages.
