Semitool Chief Financial Officer Resigns
Thursday May 29, 6:55 pm ET
Company Appoints Successor
KALISPELL, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2003--Semitool, Inc.'s (Nasdaq:SMTL - News) Board of Directors announced today that William A. Freeman has resigned as senior vice president and chief financial officer effective May 31, 2003, due to personal considerations.
At the same time, Larry A. Viano, currently controller and treasurer, has been appointed to the position of chief financial officer.
Freeman joined Semitool in March, 1998 and has served as chief financial officer for his entire tenure with the company. After May 31, he will continue to be available to Semitool in an advisory role on financial and strategic issues.
Viano has been with the company as its controller since 1985 and as its treasurer for over 10 years. He holds a B.A. in accounting and an M.B.A. degree, both from the University of Montana. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
Raymon F. Thompson, Semitool's chief executive officer and founder, praised Freeman's contributions to the company over the last five years. "Bill has been a key member of our senior management team and made significant contributions. In particular, Bill was instrumental in our ability to meet the financial challenges of one of the steepest growth ramps our company and industry has ever seen, while he also helped prepare us to face the downturn that we and our industry are enduring. We look forward to his advice and counsel as he assumes an advisory role to Semitool's Board of Directors and management team."
Commenting further, Thompson said, "Larry Viano's appointment as chief financial officer is a natural progression of his long-standing career with Semitool. He has the experience and acumen to provide Semitool with an excellent successor to Bill."
About Semitool, Inc.
Semitool is a worldwide leader in the design, development, manufacture, and support of high performance, single-wafer and multi-wafer batch wet chemical processing systems for use in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. The company's primary suites of equipment include electrochemical deposition systems for electroplating copper, gold, solder and other metals; surface preparation systems for cleaning, stripping and etching silicon wafers; and wafer transport container cleaning systems. The company's equipment is used in semiconductor fabrication front-end and back-end processes, including wafer level packaging.
Headquartered in Kalispell, Montana, Semitool maintains sales and support centers in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company's stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol SMTL. More information is available at the company's Web site, www.semitool.com.
Note to Editors: Semitool is a registered trademark of Semitool, Inc.
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Contact:
Semitool, Inc., Kalispell
Larry A. Viano, 406/752-2107
or
Investor Relations Partners, Inc.
Joanne Barbieri, 973/535-8389
joanneb@irpartners.com
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Source: Semitool, Inc. |
