Motorola vet takes COO post at Silicon Labs
By Patrick Mannion
EE Times
(08/29/01, 4:17 p.m. EST)
eetimes.com
MANHASSET, N.Y. — After a 25-year career at Motorola Inc., Daniel Artusi has left his post as general manager of the company's Networking and Computing Systems Group to take a position as chief operating officer at Silicon Laboratories Inc., a mixed-signal and RF chip company based in Austin, Texas.
Artusi will be second in command at Silicon Labs behind Nav Sooch, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. He will oversee daily business operations, including the company's wireless, wireline and optical networking divisions, as well as sales and manufacturing.
"I wasn't looking to leave Motorola, [but] this was different," Artusi said. "I found [Silicon Labs] to be a fast-moving company with an unbelievable team." Silicon Labs' mixed-signal technology, product portfolio and road map are "all extremely exciting," he said.
"It all clicked for a guy like me who has spent a long time growing businesses within Motorola to come in and learn a lot while bringing in a lot of my prior experience," Artusi said. In his years at Motorola, Artusi served stints running the company's discrete, mixed-signal and RF businesses, as well as its wireless infrastructure and DSP divisions.
But Artusi said the corporate structure of the sizable Motorola was stifling at times. "All corporate decisions were made out of the Chicago headquarters," he said. "So this decision was a very personal career move to do something totally different, like moving from a four-door sedan to a Ferrari."
Asked whether his decision was influenced by Motorola's current troubles and the rumored sell-off of its Semiconductor Products Sector, Artusi said, "Motorola is a great company in challenging times, and it's working to address that at the Chicago headquarters. The company will reinvent itself."
Artusi said his corporate-level position at Silicon Labs will be less technology-oriented than previous posts. "I will spend a lot of time doing what I do very well, namely cultivating a strong relationship with customers and long-term partnerships that would enable us to grow to hundreds of millions in sales. That's our vision," he said. The company reported $106 million in sales for the fiscal year ended Dec. 30.
Though Silicon Labs reported a 3 cent/share drop in the second quarter this year, "the fundamentals are here," Artusi said. "We're at the locus of the communications industry — wireless, wireline and optical — at three of the fastest-growing, most exciting areas." The company's current goal is to engage the opportunities in each of those markets with big customers, he said.
Artusi said his decision to move to Silicon Labs wasn't an easy one. "I got the call before leaving on a diving trip," he said. "The only times I wasn't thinking about it was when I was 100 feet under water."
Twenty-five years at Motorola left a lot of room for nostalgia, he said. "It was a nice journey to get here, and I'll miss my friends and colleagues after so long," Artusi said. "But it's a process of renewal — businesses need it and people need it and I'm excited about doing what I preach." |
