Company targets to double revenue base over the next 4 to 5 years
NASHUA, N.H. Aug. 1, 2012– GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) today announced that Dan Squiller has joined the company as President of PV and Worldwide Operations in a newly-created senior role based out of the company’s global operations headquarters in Hong Kong. Squiller will be responsible for the company’s DSS™ and HiCz™ PV businesses, as well as the company’s worldwide manufacturing and field service operations.
“As the company continues to grow and diversify, we need to add depth and broaden the experience base of our executive leadership team,” said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer. “In Dan Squiller, an executive with whom I have had a long association, we have added an experienced operations executive with a track record of successfully leading and growing global companies.”
Squiller comes to GT with over 25 years of senior technical and business leadership experience and a track record of success in operations, R&D, business development, and sales and marketing roles. Most recently, he was CEO of PowerGenix, a cleantech battery company, where he helped grow the organization from an eight person R&D company to a high volume producer with production and R&D operations in China. Prior to that he was president of the power components business at Invensys, a global division with over $1 billion in annual sales serving the semiconductor, industrial, telecom/datacom, medical, instrumentation, and defense markets.
The company also announced that Vikram Singh, Ph.D, previously vice president and general manager of PV Equipment and Engineering, has been appointed to a new position as executive vice president of advanced systems development, PV R&D and Corporate Engineering Services. In this new role, Singh will focus on next generation solar technologies that are expected to lower cost per watt to levels that can make solar more competitive with traditional sources of energy. Singh will also support Squiller as interim general manager of the HiCz business until the initial launch of GT’s HiCz equipment offering, slated for calendar year 2013.
“We are fortunate to have a talented technology leader like Vikram Singh on board to lead our efforts in next generation solar technologies,” continued Gutierrez. Dr. Singh, who joined GT in 2010, has over two decades of experience in the capital equipment arena including technology development leadership roles at Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates and Novellus Systems Incorporated. In his tenure at GT, Singh has led the development and launch of 3 generations of DSS furnaces, including the recently launched DSS™ MonoCast™, as well as the integration of Confluence Solar and development of the company’s HiCz product.
The company’s chief technology officer, Dr. P.S. Raghavan, who will continue to report to the company’s chief strategy officer, Dr. David Gray ,will separately lead the company’s expanded focus on advanced systems for silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and other emerging crystalline technology areas that leverage GT’s core competencies and support the company’s diversification strategy.
“These moves are intended to broaden the company’s executive and technical management teams as the company increases its investment in R&D, navigates through near term market challenges, drives diversification and seeks to double its revenue base over the next 4 to 5 years,” concluded Gutierrez.