Experts from government agencies and the semiconductor industry bring decades of experience to fast-growing technology foundry
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – October 27, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the trusted technology realization partner, today announced the appointment of Rear Admiral (U.S. Navy retired) Wendi B. Carpenter and John T. Kurtzweil, CPA, CMA, MBA to its board of directors. This move expands the board from four members to six.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Wendi and John to the board. They have unique skill sets that will complement those of our existing members while bringing new perspectives and tremendous value to the table,” said Gary Obermiller, SkyWater’s chairman of the board. “Wendi’s high-ranking and extensive experience with government agencies and the DOD will be an incredible asset to the company. In addition, we will benefit greatly from John’s impressive semiconductor industry background and financial management expertise serving leading technology companies.”
Wendi Carpenter is currently a principal and founder of Gold Star Strategies, LLC, a consulting company that provides services in strategic planning, organizational transformation, risk assessment, human capital and corporate governance. Previously she served as the tenth president and special envoy and advisor of the State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College. Prior to SUNY, 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. Her career in the U.S. Navy culminated in the rank of rear admiral.
“I am excited for this opportunity to serve on SkyWater’s board of directors. With its focus on private-public partnerships, SkyWater is leading the charge to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. This is evidenced by the DOD’s substantial investment in SkyWater and its recent facility expansion,” said Ms. Carpenter. “I look forward to helping SkyWater continue to innovate and build relationships with both the defense community and commercial organizations.”
John Kurtzweil currently serves as principal of Kurtzweil Consulting, LLC, providing consulting services in the areas of capital formation and accountancy. Previously, he served as vice president of finance and as chief financial officer and treasurer of Cree, Inc., a provider of light emitting diode, lighting and semiconductor products, and chief financial officer of its subsidiary, Wolfspeed. Prior to this, Mr. Kurtzweil 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. He also served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Cirrus Logic, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company.
“I’m pleased to join SkyWater’s board of directors and bring decades of experience in the semiconductor industry to this fast-growing, strategic and well-managed company,” said Mr. Kurtzweil. “I’m impressed with how quickly SkyWater has broadened its customer base, enabled by its technology foundry business model that offers technology development and manufacturing in the same secure U.S. facility.”
About SkyWater Technology
SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DOD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom technology development services and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Advanced Technology Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.
SkyWater Company Contact: Tara Luther | 952.851.5023 | tara.luther@skywatertechnology.com
SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com